I gave this another go after picking up my Analogue Pocket and rather enjoyed it. I'll admit it's definitely an acquired taste and a game I much more appreciate having played it a few times before thus knowing what to expect out of it. The original version can be a bit impenetrable if you don't take advantage of the DSS system (ex: I have never beaten Dracula properly, always Thunderbird spammed) and the Castlevania Advance collection helped with this immensely by informing the player of possible card drops from enemies.

The DSS system itself is interesting given how equipment drops are just stat adjustments and flexibility of gameplay is tied to the card drops. I'm not so sure I'd ever want this system back but it makes for a very, very interesting novelty that I could see some indie metroidvania adopting down the line albeit with far more polish.

I'm not nearly as hard on this game as others seem to be on this site either as my ire is wholly reserved for Harmony of Dissonance but I suppose each of the Advance games is worth playing at least once if only to fully appreciate how well Aria managed to round out this group of Castlevanias. For as much as I enjoy playing this on the original hardware, the Advance collection is definitely the way to go given the QoL improvements present.