Somehow didn't really mind this, in fact I actually kinda like it. I get why it's so hated though, with the main American version of the game being ridiculously difficult. If you played this in an arcade you probably had every reason to hate it, and even now with emulators, I'll bet most people still ended up playing the broken American version (version M) because MAME makes it so complicated to find alternate versions of the same game if you set it up with a merged romset. I played it on version K, which was much more tolerable, but I think the original Japanese version is meant to be even easier (I couldn't get that version to even show up in MAME after hours of trying so I guess I'll never know). If you need to make it easier you can change the difficulty through the DIP switches in MAME as well. It makes sense that this was meant to be pretty forgiving considering it sticks to Castlevania's original 3 continue setup despite being an arcade game. You can feed it more quarters but it just adds to your health bar in your current life. Die three times and you go straight back to the start. If I tried to play this on version M I probably would have given up before the first boss, and just glancing at other reviews on here I'm sure that's exactly what a lot of people did. It's a shame because this game really isn't that bad. Get one of the decent versions running and it's a very charming reimagining of the original game with really pretty visuals. Like Vampire Killer, most of the stages here have a direct analog in the original game, but the higher visual fidelity here leads to some great elaboration on the original levels. The approach to the Castle is more drawn out, the underground caverns are more expansive and foreboding, and the bridge before the final boss now crumbles behind you as you walk along it. At one point in the third stage you get sucked through a portal to this faded ruin of a castle to be attacked by harpies, only to be sent back as soon as you beat them. It's more like something out of Dark Souls II than Castlevania, but it's those moments where the game hits you with something completely out of left field that make it so effective. I dont think Haunted Castle even comes close to Castlevania I or II, and even on easier versions it still has its flaws. The lack of unlimited continues really hurts with the amount of traps and surprise enemies, a lot of the levels are a bit monotonous design-wise, and the boss on stage four is incredibly annoying. All things considered though, this game's reception seems really undeserved. It's a shame it's still so complicated to get arcade games working through emulators with all the different versions and settings they could have, if version K was the way the majority of people played this game I can't imagine it would be so widely hated.