'' Aria of Sorrow '' was first unveiled at a press conference in San Francisco by executive producer Koji Igarashi on January 16 , 2003 . Igarashi had worked on previous '' Castlevania '' games such as '' Castlevania : Symphony of the Night '' and '' Castlevania : Harmony of Dissonance '' . '' Aria of Sorrow '' was placed in production alongside '' Harmony of Dissonance '' , resulting in both games sharing similar programming engines and gameplay elements . '' Aria of Sorrow '' s Ability souls , for example , provide the protagonist with innate abilities like the Relic items in '' Harmony of Dissonance '' . Nevertheless , Igarashi claimed he wished to try a " different route " for the series with '' Aria of Sorrow '' via placing the game in a futuristic setting . Ayami Kojima , who had previously collaborated with Igarashi on the designs for the characters of '' Symphony of the Night '' and '' Harmony of Dissonance '' , was brought into the project . Following the " different route " motif , the character designs were made more contemporary , using modern clothing over the more medieval look of the previous '' Castlevania '' installments . In developing the game 's back story , Igarashi partially based it on Nostradamus 's prediction of a " big evil lord in 1999 " and the 1999 solar eclipse in Eastern Europe
1999 solar eclipse in Eastern Europe
Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow