Absolutely phenomenal game, the only downsides to Rondo of Blood are the bizarre cutscenes and to some at least the lack of Castlevania IVs whip controls, which I think are nice but ultimately change the game feel a little too much. Everything else about this game is peak classic Castlevania. They removed the strange whip upgrading aspect from the previous game to make the pace quicker after dying, the level design is great, there's an additional playable character in Maria that makes Castlevania IIIs swap system seem mundane in contrast, and most importantly, it's the most fun game in this style. Just playing as Richter feels better than any of the other classic Belmonts, his whip range is huge, he's the perfect size for the screen unlike CIV's massive Simon, and he has a backflip that takes some getting used to but feels great to pull off. Even though it's very hard to get your hands on, being as you either have to track down the original console and a copy of the game from Japan (good luck), download the fan PC port, or find some way to emulate it, the effort is worth it. If you want to play this, I'd recommend using RetroArch, there are some guides that can show you how to set it up for this game. It gives you save states, which I'd recommend using as both the saves on the PC port and on RetroArch just didn't work for me (don't know why) but having them as a backup is nice, even for such a short game. There's also the remake but I didn't want to beat it to unlock the original. Whatever you choose, go play this. It's one of the best games of its era and something anyone can like. Also Maria.