Topic: Best GBA Castlevania

Which is it?
I just want to play through it once, I don't need to get 100%, collect every rare soul or item or whatever.
I prefer Symphony of the Night over Super Castlevania IV, if that helps.
I just got a GameCube GBA Player, and I'm looking for some games reminiscent of SNES that I may have looked over.
Any other non-remake recomendations?

How does an SNES game play different from a Genesis game? Or any other 16/32 bit game? You do realize SNES had more than one genre right? That's way too vague a description or disturbingly sad nostalgia. Or both.

that being said, every handheld Castlevania in the past decade is Symphony of the Night-like. I suggest Harmony of Dissonance.

Circle of the moon is my favorite. the music is sooooo good. also you collect cards and they give you awesome powers, like fire whip, or ice whip, or thorn whip, or fire force field, etc.

awesome sauce.

I've only played Aria of Sorrow and it was a good game with all the nice souls to gather which gave you awesome abilities.

Aria is the best one by a large margin and feels more natural than the other two, in particular the really rough Circle of the Moon. Harmony was better but the audio wasn't as hot and the mirrored over castles got very confusing to get around in at times. Aria has a great story backed with really nicely laid out castle territory to investigate with good magic, leveling and gear stuff to use like SOTN had. It was such a success it was given a direct sequel early in the DS life span too.

Definitely Aria. I think its possibly the best 'metroidvania' apart from SOTN. The choice of weapons and soul subweapons set it apart from the other games. Circle of the Moon was a decent first attempt and uncompromisingly difficult (if you are looking for a challenge). I didn't care for Harmony and its curious mirrored castles. It felt like a cheap way of expanding the game and didn't work that well.

Aria of Sorrow is exceptional, highly recommended for the above reasons.
Harmony of Dissonance isn't great, it's ugly, doesn't sound great, and doesn't play well, when compared to Aria.

Haven't played Circle of the Moon...