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Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)
Castlevania Double Pack (GBA)

Surprise!  Aria has reclaimed the throne as my favorite Castlevania.  Oddly enough, it wasn't even Aria that made me decide to drop Dawn of Sorrow off the list, but Portrait of Ruin.  It erased the major downside to Dawn of Sorrow's otherwise excellent gameplay, and that was the required use of the touch screen.  No more Magic Seals, no more ice blocks.  PoR even offers up a mode that cleverly uses the touch screen in a creative new way to play a sidequest with.  DoS was a great game...but PoR made me realize that DoS had some rather serious design flaws while AoS does not.  A brief note from my old opinion:
So after I plugged this into my GBA, I witnessed 7 hours of my life blink into a blissful experience.  I had to work the next morning or else I'd probably would have stayed up late to finish it.  I finished the game in the morning, but when I got to the end I realized I didn't get the best ending...so another 3 hours later I truly and finally conquered it, and after that, I started a new game.  Rarely does that happen to me, and it says a lot on the gameplay to be able to keep a hold of someone after they beat the game for them to still be playing it right afterwards.  Following that tale, I have gone through the game more times and continue to love every moment.
As if I needed to recommend this game any further, Konami wisely bundled this with Harmony of Dissonance (probably the poorest Metroidvania game in the series, but it's still decent) for $30.  If you haven't played AoS yet, go get this!
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