Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is set in the then-future year of 2035, where high school student Soma Cruz gets pulled into a total solar eclipse and finds himself trapped inside a recreation of Dracula's castle, alongside a small cast of other trapped visitors trying to figure out why the castle exists at all and what Soma's strange connection to it might mean.

Its defining mechanic is the Tactical Soul System — defeated enemies drop souls that Soma can equip for new attacks, passive buffs, and even movement abilities, effectively replacing the sub-weapon system from earlier Castlevania games with something closer to a full RPG loadout. It's widely considered one of the best entries in the Metroidvania-style Castlevania era for how tightly its map, bosses, and soul collection loop together.

This page hosts the verified Aria of Sorrow ROM, built for Delta Emulator on iPhone — load it directly with no BIOS file or extra setup required.