(Side note: played the Japanese version, generally considered the easier and better region between the two, and went for the Alucard route which is considered the hardest I think? Unsure on that one)
I find it so hard to rank this game. On one hand, it does everything the original Castlevania does, but better (except the soundtrack -- I prefer the original's a tiny bit). Multiple playable characters, more interesting settings and creative level design, more interesting creature designs and much more fun bosses. But... there's Block 7. Block 7. I swear, Konami hired a different team to design this one level. It would already be the longest level in the game with a whopping SEVEN stages with two bosses and no, you don't get a checkpoint after the first one stupid, go back to the beginning if you die. Oh and also here's the most annoying enemy in the game that's like the flying Medusa heads on crack. Not satisfied? Well let's throw in a section where you get to wait for blocks to fall for a full minute. Oh wait, you can skip that with Alucard? Okay, too easy, throw in another one but this time you can't skip it and it's three times as long!
Block 7 is so bad, so poorly designed, so unfun, that it was the breaking point. I didn't use any save states anywhere in the first game and was determined to do the same here, but I couldn't. I couldn't suffer through that one horrible level anymore. I put a save state at the beginning of the last stage and eventually cleared it, and it was the best decision I made. I didn't cheat anywhere else, but I sure am glad I did. But that level's existence is more than enough to place this solidly in the 7/10 range. Good game, so close to great with so many fantastic moments and easily some of my favorite levels and bosses on the NES. But man. They really could have been fine without Block 7 in the game at all.
I find it so hard to rank this game. On one hand, it does everything the original Castlevania does, but better (except the soundtrack -- I prefer the original's a tiny bit). Multiple playable characters, more interesting settings and creative level design, more interesting creature designs and much more fun bosses. But... there's Block 7. Block 7. I swear, Konami hired a different team to design this one level. It would already be the longest level in the game with a whopping SEVEN stages with two bosses and no, you don't get a checkpoint after the first one stupid, go back to the beginning if you die. Oh and also here's the most annoying enemy in the game that's like the flying Medusa heads on crack. Not satisfied? Well let's throw in a section where you get to wait for blocks to fall for a full minute. Oh wait, you can skip that with Alucard? Okay, too easy, throw in another one but this time you can't skip it and it's three times as long!
Block 7 is so bad, so poorly designed, so unfun, that it was the breaking point. I didn't use any save states anywhere in the first game and was determined to do the same here, but I couldn't. I couldn't suffer through that one horrible level anymore. I put a save state at the beginning of the last stage and eventually cleared it, and it was the best decision I made. I didn't cheat anywhere else, but I sure am glad I did. But that level's existence is more than enough to place this solidly in the 7/10 range. Good game, so close to great with so many fantastic moments and easily some of my favorite levels and bosses on the NES. But man. They really could have been fine without Block 7 in the game at all.