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Originally recorded: October 20, 2020
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Frankly, I think it's nice that my 69th Let's Play ended up in the One Stream Wonders playlist. But I seriously wasn't expecting it. Honestly, I was originally expecting this game to take me two sessions, considering the fact that I ended up only barely beating the original Castlevania in a single stream a few years back. But I guess wussing out and doing the arrange mode helped me get through it in a single stream.

Honestly, this whole game always felt like a nice curio for me. The original version -- released on the Sharp X68000, a Japan-only computer (despite Dari's belief that it was a VCR) -- was one of the first games that inspired me to go outside of my comfort zone when it came to exploring retro titles, but since the PS1 version actually managed to hit the West, it seemed like that was a better version to play. I guess I could've gone with original mode, but playing with a worse soundtrack and the lamer Simon design feels like enough humiliation to offset playing on the rebalanced Arrange mode.

I still wonder what exactly was going through Konami's head when they made this version in the first place. After all, the SNES version came out two years before the original release and this almost felt like an attempt at blending some of the elements from that complete reimagining with the original NES version. I liked how some of the stages focused on downward vertical scrolling, which as I recall, appeared in several SCV4 stages. There also seemed to be a few stage themes taken from there as well: the underground cavern in Stage 2 definitely seemed to evoke more of the one from the SNES version compared to the NES original. I also have to wonder if the pseudo-transformation Dracula goes through when his first form's health goes below a certain amount was a reference to the SNES version as well -- you know, where he shoots out more fireballs and his face becomes slightly deformed.

That being said, I was surprised at just how much was actually changed from the original game. The mummy boss fight was completely excised, Frankenstein was demoted to... I dunno, would you count that as a mid-boss? The fact that near the end, the level transitions which traditionally accompanied checkpoints became a lot more common -- and by extension, no longer guaranteed I wasn't going to get sent further back. The boss fight with the Grim Reaper becoming way easier was definitely something I wasn't expecting. Seriously, the cross cut through him like butter this time around.

All-in-all, this is probably my second favorite iteration on the original Castlevania. Much as I hate to admit it, the SNES version is clearly the best, but for anyone out there that wants something that's more in line with the original, this is definitely the version I'd recommend playing. Both the original and arrange versions bring back the save mechanic from the original FDS release and the aesthetic pays homage to the original NES version, while improving it in every conceivable way. Best of all, the difficulty in the stages themselves feel a bit more balanced and the new boss fights are definitely more interesting than what was lost.

A solid 8.5/10.