This game essentially takes what made Mother 1 and Mother 2 great and expanded upon it, while simultaneously fixing the major issues plaguing each game. The story is excellent, a huge upgrade from the previous titles. The gameplay is similar to Mother 2, but is expanded with more fun options and fixes encounters by making them easier to avoid at times. Grinding never felt like an issue at all, and the chapter structure was great early on to introduce the cast from different perspectives. Also, this is easily one of the best soundtracks I've heard. This game is packed full of amazing songs throughout, and I can't say that I really dislike any of them. Hopefully someday more people can enjoy this game, at least in an official capacity.

Mechanically, the game is basically a better version of the first game. Multiple characters add a variety to the gameplay, also allowing more replay value than the first game. The game also has a route split that allows you to go through some different levels depending on which way you go, which is pretty cool. The music was about on par with the first game, having some very solid tracks throughout the game. I do feel like the levels were slightly more hit-or-miss than they were in Castlevania 1, but for the most part they were pretty fun. Bad damage scaling at the end of the game is back unfortunately, making it frustrating to make it through some of the harder levels towards the end of the game. The final fight against Dracula was actually really cool, and outside of his second form, I'd say it might be one of my favorites from the series so far.

The game is honestly pretty solid, although it definitely doesn't live up to all the hype it gets. I've heard some people say this is one of the best games on the SNES, and even with my limited history with the console I know that's not true. There were some pretty cool level setpieces, like the rotating room, or the background segment in the first stage, but later in the game it seems like they just ran out of ideas like that, or failed to utilize the same ideas in a more interesting way to take advantage of showing them off earlier in the game. I also think the game feels a bit too long. It could probably lose a level or two and still be a complete package, although I will say the overall asthetic of the levels was pretty cool throughout. A lot of the game was surprisingly easy too, which is pretty weird to see coming off of Castlevania 3 (although the final boss gauntlet is quite the opposite). The final boss was actually a pretty cool fight, especially in the final phase. Overall, a fun game that could be a bit more challenging and also maybe a few levels shorter. While it doesn't live up to the hype, it's still a solid experience and worth playing.

The game is honestly not that bad. It is definitely plagued by feeling very slow and having some pretty challenging jumps that are kinda hard to tell if you will make it, but it is otherwise a pretty short and straightforward game. The bosses were kinda cool since all of them were new as far as I can tell, and the last two levels were pretty well-designed. Stage 3 in particular was really cool, since you are constantly running away from spikes that are coming from the walls or the floors, making it pretty intense. That being said, it's not a bad portable Castlevania game, just not one I'd say is that good either.

This is definitely the best game in the series compared to the games that came before it. It has the most story (and a pretty good one too) and best general gameplay. The party changes throughout the game, which is cool. You can recruit monsters eventually, which helps pad out the lack of proper party members during some parts of the game, but it never feels overbearing or all that difficult to get decent Monsters to use. If you want specific ones it might take a while, but some of the best ones are very easy to get. This is the first in the series I played pretty much entirely without using a walkthrough, and it was nice being able to either know where to go or be able to figure it out reasonably quickly. The soundtrack was good, combat feels similar to DQ4, and the world is pretty fun to explore. Party chat was really cool in some spots. The story itself was surprisingly unique compared to most other rpgs I've played, which was nice to see. It was still somewhat simple in nature, but there are multiple memorable scenes that will stick with me for a while. Probably one of the least grind-heavy games I've played so far in the series. Sometimes the game could feel a bit too easy, but it was generally just an enjoyable experience throughout. I could easily recommend this to anyone who has yet to play it.

There really isn't much special about FF1 aside from being a more basic and simple JRPG. The spell casts system is definitely different than what I'm used to, but I think it works alright in place of MP. Equipment throughout the game seemed to go exclusively to my Knight/Warrior, which kinda sucks. Literally had a leather hat on my mages until the ribbons came along later. I do like the acquisition rate of new items though, even if a lot of them get immediately swapped out. To an extent the game is fairly straightforward, with it being not too difficult to know what to do next, although some parts were not the most obvious. I'm not a fan of enemy formations having up to 9 enemies sometimes, and I also don't like that basic enemies can inflict status ailments so easily, but other than that battles weren't that bad. Final boss, at least in the Pixel Remaster, is overtuned. The boss did not fit in with the overall difficulty of the game prior, which was really annoying. The story wasn't really there, basically nothing happens story-wise at all, and the characters are all blank slates that don't do anything. Not a bad game to play for a quick early JRPG, similar to DQ1, but also not without the same flaws of those early games either.

From what I've seen, it appears that people think this is one of the better games in the series as a whole, and I sincerely hope that's not true. This game is hardly much of an improvement on the second game, making strides in combat through the job system, but not really improving anywhere else. There's still hardly any bosses (I think I fought 8, with 4 of them being at the end of the game). There's still hardly much for story. A lot of the game is spent just traveling around collecting specific items that you're just supposed to find. I feel like it would be real dumb without a walkthrough, mostly later on once you get a ship and have basically no direction since you can go almost anywhere. Towards the end some of the enemies got kinda annoying, then they got much better, and then they sprinkled some real shitheads at the very end. One enemy has a strong spell that hits the whole party, while also being able to revive other enemies. You can encounter a team of 4 of them at once. As far as the jobs go, it was kinda cool I guess? You can't even switch jobs until you reach level 20, which is likely about halfway through the game. Even then, the casters still learn spells until like level 41-43, so switching them early just means you don't get the best spells on them. Biggest complaint has to go to the lack of any real characters. The hero is silent, but so is the party since they're all characters you recruit/create. It makes the story pretty bland, which sucks because there are actual cool events in the story.

The actual gameplay is pretty fun, and it's cool that you can level up and collect different whip upgrades and sub-weapons to use. I also like the feeling of traveling between different towns and mansions to collect the parts of Dracula, since it makes for a cool story. I think that with a proper remake, this could be a really good game honestly. However, the game does have its fair share of issues. First and foremost it needs a map. I followed a walkthrough for pretty much my whole playthrough because of how confusing it could be on exactly where you needed to go. After playing for a bit, I do think I maybe could figure some of the stuff I looked up out on my own, but I still believe certain parts need to be explained better. The day and night system was a cool mechanic, but I wish you could still heal at churches at night. There's also only 3 bosses, and they're only in the last three dungeons instead of being spread out through the whole game (although they probably just should've had more). The leveling system only rewards you with exp if you kill something and pick up a heart that it drops, which means not every kill will level you up. There's also very little music in the game. I feel like I heard about 5 or 6 tracks overall, which for a slightly longer game (compared to the first game) really isn't that much. Finally, the bosses were too easy. I killed Dracula in under a minute, and I wasn't even cheesing him. I expected the fight to at least be kinda difficult. Overall, the game has some cool ideas, but ultimately it fails to put them into practice well.

While some of the earlier levels were both fun and challenging, the second to last level felt pretty bad and wasn't that fun at all. Most of the bosses are alright, nothing special. The bat was easy if you had axes and super annoying if you had anything else. Medusa was really easy, and Mummies was a kinda annoying, yet not too hard fight. I have mixed feelings about the Frankenstein and Flea man fight as well as the Death fight, because while they are both cool conceptually, they feel just a bit too hard in execution. I also did not like the Dracula fight at all. The window to hit in the first phase felt too short, and the second phase was extremely rng dependent of whether he would jump high enough for you to safely go under him and not take damage. Sometimes he just wouldn't do it and I had to take a hit just to not be trapped against a wall. I also don't really get why his whole body wasn't a hit box in second form, since he just transforms into a monster. I also disliked the damage scaling in the late game. Taking a single hit and losing a quarter of your health is just dumb, especially to the Medusa heads or the Death scythes. Overall I'd probably give it a 5 or 6 out of 10, since the game does still have some fun levels and good music, and while the Death fight and Frankenstein fights felt a bit difficult, they were still kinda cool fights.

Overall, the game improved a lot over the first one. Movement in general feels less stiff and more fluid overall, which is great. The game again had a bunch of cool new bosses, with Soleil and Dracula both being pretty cool fights. This game has pretty solid music throughout, and while I was initially disappointed that some of the unique mechanics in the first four castles weren't fully explored in those levels, they were used well in conjunction with each other later on in the final two levels, which was a cool way to bring everything together. I honestly don't think I disliked a single level this time, and they were all pretty fun and never overstayed their welcome. I like that you don't lose whip upgrades upon getting hit anymore (at least not by most enemies), and I loved the edition of the Holy Water and Throwing Axe sub-weapons. While it would've been cool to see more, both weapons offered something fairly unique and useful, so I don't mind it just being the two. Out of all the Castlevania games I've already played from the collection (1, 2, Adventure), this is the game I'd be most likely to play again at some point.

There's really just something special about this game. It's hard to put my finger on it exactly, but I just love this game, and its arguably my favorite 3ds game. The way the different "lifes" interact with each other is so fun and entertaining, and the dlc dungeon gives the added difficulty the game was lacking in the main story. Mastering each of the lifes in the game came to be somewhat tedious towards the end, but being able to always do something productive towards progressing life quests just feels so rewarding. The combat is also surprisingly fun, even if it is a bit simplistic overall. The music and graphics are also a nice touch, as are some of the customizable aspects throughout the game (your character, main combat style, gear setup, the allies you bring along, buying and furnishing houses in different towns). There's just a lot you can do, and it was really fun trying to do all of it.