I think this game has some decent potential with how it translated the feel of Castlevania into 16 bits and expanded on the move set. I don't really feel like it stuck the landing though. The game looks nice a majority of the time. I feel like it would have benefitted from smaller sprites and more screen real estate. The difficulty seemed to spike up real suddenly around the half way point. Levels got a lot more annoying with enemy placements and spikes. Bosses at the end of the game are the most obnoxious part by far. In some sections I felt like I was fighting the controls around jank stairs and the various moving platforms.

A lot of the music is really disappointing. I know some people consider it "atmospheric" but I wish they would've stuck with more upbeat tunes. The late game has good stuff but that's just because it's new versions of the OG stuff.

I was most excited for this when playing through the NES trilogy and admittedly I'm a bit disappointed. Liked playing it though.