Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon Cheats & Secrets for Game Boy Advance

One of the Game Boy Advance’s launch titles, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is a hugely important game. Not only is it the first in a trilogy of excellent Game Boy Advance Castlevania titles, Circle of the Moon established the series’ trajectory for a full decade after its release. Rather than adhere to the style of gameplay in the original Castlevania trilogy, Circle of the Moon is what fans call an “IGAvania”. These are titles that take inspiration from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and fall into the Metroidvania subgenre of action-platformers. Circle of the Moon‘s success would see Castlevania mastermind Koji Igarashi return for two more entries on the GBA.

Interestingly, despite the title seeking to model itself after Igarashi’s masterpiece Symphony of the Night, Igarashi himself is on record as a critic of the title. The biggest knock against Circle of the Moon is how dark the game appears on a standard GBA screen. Due to the lack of a backlight, many players would find Circle of the Moon nearly impossible to play in certain lighting conditions. Interestingly, the game’s darkness is one of the only negative aspects that reviewers at the time would note. Despite heaping tons of praise on the title for its gameplay, Japanese publication Famitsu gave the game lower scores for its visibility issues.

Regardless of the criticism Circle of the Moon elicited, the title would go on to become a massive success. One of the highest-rated and best-selling launch games on the GBA, Circle of the Moon would act as an excellent technical showpiece for the handheld. The title currently sits at an impressive 91% on Metacritic, making it the 12th-highest-reviewed game for the console.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Premise

The story of Circle of the Moon puts players into the shoes of vampire hunter-in-training Nathan Graves. In the year 1830, Nathan heads into Dracula’s castle along with his friend and rival Hugh Baldwin to rescue their mentor, Morris Baldwin, Hugh’s father. Nathan eventually discovers that Hugh harbors a secret resentment toward him for being the favored student of his father, resulting in Dracula and his cabal being able to turn Hugh against Nathan. Ultimately, Nathan’s mission in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is twofold. After rescuing his mentor Morris, Nathan hopes to defeat Dracula and prevent his full resurrection, getting revenge for the deaths of his parents at the vampire’s hands years prior.

Gameplay in Circle of the Moon is very similar to what players would experience in Symphony of the Night. Players control protagonist Nathan Graves in a 2D, side-scrolling perspective as he makes his way across a vast, interconnected map. Each section of the map is its own distinct part of Dracula’s castle, complete with different enemies and bosses to defeat. Like in Symphony of the Night, certain areas of the castle are restricted to Nathan until he acquires new abilities that aid in traversal. Additionally, players will gain experience in defeating enemies, leveling up, and becoming stronger as a result.

The unique gameplay element of Circle of the Moon comes in the DSS card system. The “Dual Set-up System” cards are a set of 20 cards, 10 ability cards, and 10 attribute cards, that enable special effects when active. Some of these are as simple as boosting player stats, while others transform Nathan’s whip or summon special allies to aid in battle.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Main Characters

In addition to the game’s protagonist and its eternal antagonist Dracula, Circle of the Moon carries on the story-heavy tradition of Symphony of the Night by introducing several important side characters. Nathan Graves and his family are allies of the Belmont clan, whose members are traditionally the heroes of the Castlevania series. Interestingly, Circle of the Moon is the only game in the series to feature the exploits of Nathan Graves. Main characters in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon include:

• Nathan Graves: Nathan Graves is the hero and player-controlled protagonist of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. Instead of the Belmont Clan’s Vampire Killer whip, Nathan wields the Hunter Whip in his fight against Dracula. His parents were also Vampire Hunters and allies of the Belmont Clan.
• Morris Baldwin: Morris Baldwin is the former friend and ally of Nathan’s parents who takes Nathan under his care after their deaths at the hands of Dracula. After training Nathan to become a Vampire Hunter, Morris goes missing inside Dracula’s castle.
• Hugh Baldwin: Hugh Baldwin is Nathan’s best friend and the son of his mentor Morris Baldwin. Though the two are close friends, Hugh harbors a secret resentment of Nathan for being the superior student and Vampire Hunter.
• Camilla: Camilla is the mastermind behind Dracula’s resurrection and a vampire in his service. After successfully resurrecting Dracula at partial power, she concocts a plan to lure Morris Baldwin and his students into her castle to feed Dracula their life force and see him attain full power.
• Dracula: The immortal vampire and Dark Lord of Castlevania, Dracula is the antagonist of Circle of the Moon. As is typical in Castlevania games, the player works to thwart their full resurrection and domination of all life on Earth.

Games in the Castlevania Series

Since the series’ first entry in 1986 on the Famicom Disk System, the Castlevania franchise has grown to become one of the most important series in gaming. Though the games almost always fall into the action-adventure territory, the Castlevania series continually reinvents itself and even spawns new subgenres of games as a result. And, in recent years, the series’ expansion into an award-winning animated series has resulted in a surge of popularity for the franchise. Mainline games in the Castlevania series include:

• Castlevania (1986)
• Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (1987)
• Castlevania: The Adventure (1989)
• Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (1989)
• Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (1991)
• Super Castlevania IV (1991)
• Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (1993)
• Castlevania: Bloodlines (1994)
• Castlevania: Dracula X (1995)
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)
• Castlevania Legends (1997)
• Castlevania 64 (1999)
• Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (1999)
• Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (2001)
• Castlevania Chronicles (2001)
• Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (2002)
• Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003)
• Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (2003)
• Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (2005)
• Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (2005)
• Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (2006)
• Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (2007)
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (2008)
• Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (2009)
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (2010)
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate (2013)
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (2014)

In addition to the official titles in the series, the Castlevania franchise has two major series collections that compile two distinct eras of the series in a single place. Both of these collections are available across modern consoles and PC and include most of the games above. The one exception is Castlevania Requiem, which includes Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood and is exclusive to PlayStation 4.

• Castlevania Requiem (2018)
• Castlevania Anniversary Collection (2019)
• Castlevania Advance Collection (2021)

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Cheats & Secrets for Game Boy Advance

In addition to the expected Pro Action Replay/Code Breaker codes, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon also has a fair amount of secrets to uncover and some Character Name cheats that unlock new playthroughs.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Character Name Cheats

Magician Mode

After completing the standard game once, start a new game in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. Enter FIREBALL as your character name. The word “Magician” will now appear on the option screen. Playing the game in Magician Mode unlocks all DSS cards from the start.

Fighter Mode

After completing the game in Magician Mode, start a new Castlevania: Circle of the Moon game and enter GRADIUS as your character name. The word “Fighter” will now appear on the option screen. Playing the game in Fighter Mode causes Nathan to be stronger and be able to sustain more damage. However, the trade-off is that the DSS cards are no longer available.

Shooter Mode

After completing the game in Fighter Mode, start a new Castlevania: Circle of the Moon game and enter CROSSBOW as your character name. The word “Shooter” will now appear on the option screen. Playing the game in Shooter Mode causes Nathan to have a much higher number of hearts, higher sub-weapon damage, and the Homing Dagger sub-weapon.

Thief Mode

After completing the game in Shooter Mode, start a new Castlevania: Circle of the Moon game and enter DAGGER as your character name. The word “Thief” will now appear on the option screen. Playing the game in Thief Mode results in all of Nathan’s stats receiving lower starting values and lower bonuses on level up except for Luck (LCK). Players start with 1600 LCK and will gain an additional 160 LCK with each level.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Secrets

Spinning Attack

When using the whip, hold down the Attack button to make it spin around in a circle. The whip will deflect small projectiles and act as a shield in this mode, but Nathan will be unable to move while it’s active.

Easily Defeat the Dragon Zombies (Twin Dragons)

The Dragon Zombies fight is one of the more notoriously tough bosses in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. However, players can use the boss’ arena to their advantage. Anytime players’ health gets low during the fight, jump up to the platform by the door where you entered the room and activate the Jupiter + Mandragora DSS combo. Nathan should be sufficiently out of harm’s way and able to heal himself gradually over time before jumping back into the fight.

Easily Defeat Death

Death is yet another challenging boss fight in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, but players with all the DSS cards can easily defeat him. During the fight, activate the Jupiter + Manticore DSS combo. With this DSS combo active, Death’s flying sickles cannot hurt you and players should have enough MP at this point in the game to have Jupiter + Manticore active the whole fight.

Unlockable Minor Enemies

The following enemies will unlock or spawn in new locations in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon‘s map after certain conditions are met. Many of them are great for farming XP or items and drop some of the rarest equipment in the game.

Unlockable Candle Enemies

In addition to the minor enemies that spawn or appear in new locations after certain boss fights, defeating bosses will also result in special enemies spawning in former boss chambers. However, these candle enemies are tricky to defeat. Striking these candles causes the enemies to change into their true form. After, they will die almost instantly. To earn XP and items from these foes, players need to be able to defeat them before that happens. The easiest way to do this is to use the Stopwatch sub-weapon and freeze them in place.

Enemies that Drop DSS Cards

Refer to the table below for all enemies that drop DSS cards, including their location in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon‘s map.

Action Cards

Attribute Cards

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Pro Action Replay Cheat Codes

Players can utilize any of the following cheat codes with a Pro Action Replay cheat peripheral. Additionally, these codes will work by entering them into the “Cheat” menu of a GBA emulator.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Cheat FAQs

What is the max Luck in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon?
The maximum value for all stats in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is 9,999, but this value is only possible in Thief Mode where the stat increases by a value of 160 with each level up.

What are enemies weak to in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon?
Enemies don’t actually have weaknesses, but they do have resistances. Paying attention to what elements and status effects enemies are resistant to takes precedence over determining weaknesses since they don’t apply in the game.

What level should I be to defeat Dracula in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon?
From a pure statistic perspective, players will likely be unable to defeat Dracula without being Level 48 at minimum. That said, it’s much easier to defeat the final boss of the game if players are Level 50 or higher. Being at a higher level results in players having better stats and more survivability during the final fight.

How long does it take to beat Castlevania: Circle of the Moon?
Most playthroughs tend to take around 13 hours on average. However, players hoping to discover every room of the map (100%) and every enemy can expect to spend roughly 24 hours for a completionist playthrough.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Japanese box art.