I've loved the Castlevania franchise ever since I had my 486 computer, but became a true fan when Symphony of the Night was released. A new game in the series is always a treat. Word on the gaming street is, Castlevania DS is in the works.

It's an official followup to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for the Gameboy Advance. I've played all of the games on the Gameboy Advance in the series, but I decided I would "revisit" this game due to the upcoming remake on the new system. I wanted to be fresh for this particular game's combat and magic system because the update on the DS will be using the same system.

The basic premise of the magic system in Aria of Sorrow works like this: You are outfitted with various weapons. These weapons allow you to kill the nefarious demons and monsters in the castle that you must explore. When killing a monster, you have a incredibly small percentage chance of capturing that monsters "soul". When successfully collected these "souls" give you new abilities that related to the monster in some way. For example, Minotaurs are tough and carry a large ax. Kill enough minotaurs and you eventually will capture a soul which enabled will upgrade your strength.

The number of monsters in this game is huge and they all have abilities to capture. Some are more useful than others. Killing a demonic maid character named "Persephone" will give you a dragon shaped vacuum cleaner like device that will suck health points out of nearby damaged monsters. The only limitation is it's close range, rendering it useless. Sometimes you get good bonuses, sometimes not, but it's always interesting to run across new monsters and see what you can find.

As I was exploring a section of the castle, I discovered a monster called a "waiter skeleton". He's dressed in a suit and has a tray. His first attack is to fling his food at you, then he rips off his head and throws that at you too. I thought this was a very novel attack, so I repeatedly killed this particular monster to see what possible ability this monster's "soul" would unlock.

The waiter's soul gave me the power to throw a bowl of delicious curry at monsters. This is the best sub-weapon attack ever for multiple reasons. I throw a bowl of curry into the room and all the monsters attack the dish, allowing me to score free hits while they ignore me. Better yet, the curry is so spicy it damages anything it lands on and does good damage as well.

It has to be demoralizing for Dracula to see me defeating monsters with a bowl of curry. Seriously, how bad are your underlings when a determined cafeteria worker could defeat them? I keep it equipped on my character at all times. Fear the curry, Dracula, I'm coming for you next!