Handhelds Protected Metroidvania | Castlevania Dominus Collection Review

Handhelds Protected Metroidvania | Castlevania Dominus Collection Review. For years I've heard discussion of how strong the DS Castlevania games are, and now thanks to this new Dominus Collection Port by M2, I have been given a strong visit to check them out and I was pleasantly surprised by how strong their take on the Metroidvania genre is. My favorite of the three is definitely Order of Ecclesia, but Portrait of Ruin is really strong as well.

What these games are doing well is focusing back on what makes the Classic Castlevania series strong -- Difficulty, Level Design, and Boss Design -- and integrating these strengths into the non-linear structure of Symphony of the Night very well. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that all this strong design occurred on the humble Nintendo DS handheld. I do not think this is a coincidence, however, and in this review, I explain why I think handhelds were the last bastion of classic game design due to their hardware limitations and iterative nature.

In addition to the core three Nintendo DS games, the Dominus Collection also features the arcade version of Castlevania, Haunted Castle, as well as a brand-new remake of Haunted Castle by M2 themselves called Haunted Castle Reborn, which is a very fun bonus that only pros like M2 would be able to include.

Right now you are able to get the Castlevania Dominus Collection on Nintendo Switch, PS5 , Xbox Series X, and Steam (PC). I ended up playing the Switch version of the game for this review, and I was really happy how well it ran on the platform.

Thumbnail art is by hungry_clicker/@click_burgundy
Awesome thumbnail created by @boghogSTG
Cool intro animation: @verygoodfreelancer

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00:00 The Two Strains of Metroidvania - Movement vs. Combat
02:48 The Buffet of Game Mechanics
05:40 Handhelds Are the Last Bastion of Classic Game Design
08:15 Handhelds Limit Game Size Inflation
09:45 Ecclesia Reduces Backtracking and Improves Pace
14:32 Ecclesia Ups Enemy Aggression and Level Design
18:09 Active Map Screen is So Refreshing
19:45 Glyph Sleeve is Real Time Weapon Swapping (Finally)
24:00 Ecclesia Improves Boss Fights
27:29 LVL 1 Hard Mode is the New Standard
32:15 The Port Quality and Features by M2 are Excellent
34:20 Metroidvanias Should Start Adding Linear Arcade Modes (Ecclesia is So Close!)
35:44 Haunted Castle Revisited is an Awesome Bonus
36:54 Final Thoughts - The Series Ends Right When it Got Cooking :-(

#castlevania, #castlevaniadominuscollection, #metroidvania