I been playing the Castlevania series in order of release, Draculas Curse is most def the hardest, but IMO it’s the best of the first 3, Castlevania IV is next in my list. Have patience when playing this, it’s def not easy but its def worth your while. Ill be honest and say that I played it on the Switch and was able to save in difficult areas, but this did not mean it made it easier and I still found it challenging to beat the last boss lol, I could only imagine how it must of felt back in the day (I was never into Castlevania when I owned an NES and I missed out). Overall, the game did studder a bit with the frame rate, but this may be more in areas where there was a lot going on in the level (like moving gears, etc.)