I NEED MORE SOULS

I need to write more in this thing. Seriously. DKaufman mentioned CV reviews. He's right.
HERE WE GO.

Aria of Sorrow is the best Castlevania ever for however many reasons I end up writing down. Are you ready?

1. Soma Cruz. This guy is on opposite ends of the awesome spectrum. He is a clueless jerk who doesn't know wtf throughout the majority of the game, and as evidenced by the extra bit of dialogue in the 100% Souls ending he is a giant dork. "I'm a whole lot cooler now!" Only a dork would say that. He is a highschool jackass in an extrodinary situation, and for that he is easy to appreciate. He isn't an unimaginably awesome Belmont or a little girl who ruins monsters' shit with cats. On the other end of that awesome spectrum, he is That is arguably cooler than any Belmont. So Soma is horribly awesome yet inherently approachable. Good call.
2. Awesome Supporting Cast: In AoS, which is what we are talking about, we can pretty much disregard Yoko and Hammer, which is why I'll get them out of the way first. Yoko teases Soma a little which is awesome, and Hammer is a scary black man who sells you the Soul Eater Ring. Movin' on: Julius Belmont is probably the coolest Belmont ever. The "worst" ending (Worst in this case apparently means BEST) will explain better then I ever could. Then we have Mina. Look, call me a woman but I'm all for a little barely-explored romantic subplot in my games that involve killing monsters. Genya and Graham round out the bunch as mysterious jerks who end up awesome and hilariously dumb respectively.
3. Souls. Let's cut to the chase, as this is the crux of everything: Getting a soul in Aria (this is actually amplified in Dawn) is one of the best experiences in any game ever. Every enemy has a soul that grants you special abilities that are way cooler than anything Simon Belmont ever did except the 8-way-whip. When you kill an enemy, if you are a lucky bunny, their soul will fly out swirl around and slam into you like a subway train. Every single time this happens it is like a tiny Christmas party in my brain. Seriously. No other game has such a simple and satisfying experience.
4. Here is the paradox: As cool as souls are, it is equally cool when they are NOT. NoSoul mode amplifies the challenge of a relatively easy game by denying you access to the central system at work, and that is just good times.

Mix in the really good Castle and you've got the best CV ever. Seriously, try to fight me on this. I'll bury you in a hail of gunfire...which, incidentally, is another awesome thing about Aria of Sorrow. But seriously: I've gotta get the shaq-fu outta here.