I respect this game for being incredibly ambitious for the NES era, pretty much the grandaddy of the metroidvania games in the series. In that regard it's fascinating, seeing the developers experimenting with what worked and what didn't back when the "rules" of game design were still being written on the fly.

But it's just not that fun to actually play, frustratingly cryptic hints and those FUCKING SLOW MOTION TEXT BOXES grind the pacing to a halt.

I think as a piece of history it's neat, the atmosphere is legitimately haunting (the final walk to Castlevania, empty and run down is nostalgic and eerie in equal measure) and the soundtrack is as excellent as ever. But it's not something I'd ever have any desire to play again.