If nothing else, the atmosphere is second to none. The intro cutscene spoken entirely in German(?), the chilling choral piece accompanying the main menu, the BADASS opening with Richter fighting Death on horseback, the effects of the turbo-grafx 16, the rockin soundtrack, the cutscenes (dated as they are) as far back as 1993, the almost comic book presentation. Come ON, man! I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that its atmosphere is what's kept classic Castlevania relevant, but I would say that you'd be hard pressed to find another game of this era so atmospherically impressive and immersive.

And the central gimmick (for lack of a better term) of this game, with unlockable alternate stages, putting an emphasis on secrets both in visuals and level design, and generally diverting away from bottomless pits, is SUCH a good direction, and feels ahead of its time. And even cooler is the secret moves and ultimate attacks between Richter and Maria and the subweapons. This game is so fucking COOL!

All of this to say, it's so PAINFUL to see how it's held back by unnecessarily restricted controls. In a post Super Castlevania IV world, why in the world can Richter only whip directly in front of him!? Why can you only sort-of manipulate your direction in mid-air?!?! Why, for the love of Dracula, do you get so few I-frames after being hit?!?!?! These archaic, sloppy choices clash so hard with a game that feels like it's going even further than its contemporaries could ever dream of. This feels like it was supposed to be the magnum opus of the series, and many people do consider it that. It's the perfect difficulty, made arbitrarily frustrating due to Richter's lacking mobility and offensive capability. Maria is a godsend, I exclusively used her once she was unlocked, because sometimes this game just isn't fun with Richter.

I will likely warm up more to this game with time and retrospection. It still captures the elation of victory that Castlevania does so well, and I think this series deserves to be remembered because of that. And the atmosphere, again, can't be praised enough. But until Dracula returns, this game sits at the bottom of my Castlevania totem pole. Wie tragisch.

You wanna talk about a good fucking Castlevania game, look no further than this beast. Rondo of Blood is everything you should be looking for in an old-school traditional 2D Castlevania game. Everything about this game is amazing to me. What I really love about it is that the level design is REALLY GOOD. Like I'm talking no more bullshit Castlevania moments that make me want to pull my hair out. The bosses are also a highlight. Them having actual enemy patterns and it just being a test of skill and no bullshit RNG is why I don't mind replaying these levels after a game over. Speaking of which, another thing is that these levels are SHORT and have multiple pathways and secrets to find. Leading to more replayability, and having a stage select really helps when you want to go back and do everything. Game Overs in this game don't carry the same weight as they do in other Castlevanias, you have unlimited continues and the worse it gets is just replaying the stage from the beginning. But again, may I remind you, these levels are not long to begin with. So that is just a non issue in my opinion. Richter may not be as nimble or capable of shit like Simon in Super Castlevania 4 but he doesn't even fucking need it. The level design is built around his moveset. And the music oh my god the music its all bangers. The main theme kicks so much ass and even the weaker levels have the best tunes to listen to. There's even 2D cutscenes with voice acting! A first for this series! The story is just "kill Dracula" but that was always the case with these games so it doesn't matter. Having an actual save file is also a first for this series up to this point. And little things like that you take for granted start to be more appreciative when you're a maniac like me who's marathoned like 8 games right now. I love that you can also play as someone other than a belmont, maria! Maria is like the easy mode of this game but I welcome it since she's just fun to play as. She reminds me of Grant, Sypher, and Alucard from Castlevania 3 except she clears all of them. Really the only flaw I can think of is that there's barely any invincibility frames when getting hit, leading to you getting juggled by enemies easily. But to be honest, I'll take that over any bullshit death from the previous Castlevanias.

Rondo of Blood is a game I think anyone can enjoy, and its definitely one you should be looking out for should you decide to ever get into the Castlevania series, it's the best of its kind.