This game holds many improvements and downgrades from Super Castlevania 4

The control has been reverted to the NES style of handling but honestly labeling it as a downgrade is kind of a surface level complaint.

The pure amount of options the player has leads this to be one of the few games I deem to be both difficult and fair. Every situation the player is thrown into can be worked around with the proper execution. The new backflip richter is able to do grants invulnerability for a part of the animation too so dodging enemy attacks is made infinitely easier

Using weapons in castlevania is much like Mega man in the way that using the right scenario to make an otherwise challenging section extremely more manageable never gets old. Almost every weapon has numerous chances to shine but none break the game like triple shot holy water in both castlevania 1&3.

overall the game just has alot of polish and the platforming elements along with the enemy placement just provides an experience not many platformers can replicate alongside the absolutely GORGEOUS visuals and fantastic soundtrack that give the game so much charm.

This game has the least amount of identity of any platformer I've played in recent memory. The levels you have are green hill 3.0, boring desert, and all the standard New Super Mario Bros aesthetics which takes away one of my favorite aspects of Sonic The Hedgehog. Even if you dont like the other games you've got to admit that the stage aesthetics were consistently top notch. Chemical plant , Hydrocity, stardust speedway, emerald coast, radical highway, egg fleet, kingdom valley, rooftop run, planet Wisp, and countless other stages all ooze charm.

The parkour system introduced in this game is just not utilized very well in the level design as its primarily optional and kind of jank to get working at certain times which is uber irritating. So all I'm left with is the base level design and the controls and one of the few positive things I have to say about the game is that the controls are very good. I think its standard for sonic to have tight controls and while this may not be the best he's controlled it's still excruciatingly accurate but one thing that puts this lower on the end for control is that moving sideways cuts sonic's speed by so much and this applies to the 2d sections as well so I'm left baffled by this choice. And the level design is just bare bones all around its comical. Going from SA1 and 2, heroes, etc then going to this is the closest I'll feel to being an old school paper mario fan if that makes sense. The game has fine ideas and mechanics in concept it just doesnt do a thing with them and all I'm left with is a boring package.

Also SEGA fire the writers for this game and remove the deadly six thanks.

This is one of the best ways a game can build upon an established formula.

It ditches almost everything fe4 brought to the table but keeps what few mechanics worked and improved them to craft the best game in the series.

One of the best things brought back from Mystery Of The Emblem are growth enhancing items to put on your units. these boost specific attributes chances to grow and they all stack so this can lead weak units being able to snowball groups of enemies which is hilarious but the fatigue system does try to prevent this and it works well enough but it's nothing spectacular

PCC, skills, powerful/unique weapons being gained early, staff user being at their peak here and not being used for exclusively healing 10 hp for 90% of the game really encourages the idea to just use whatever god tier items you have on hand to beat the current map which I dont think many fe games encourage. Capturing enemies is also crucial to keep your supply of weapons, staves, and other items up to par.

Speaking of encouragement this game loves to throw plenty of deployment slots later on when your army is much bigger and it made me realize how many units I decide to use on a casual playthrough of the game. Last run I used over half of the cast willingly and all of them contributed at one point or another and I genuinely didnt noticed until I took count later.

At the end of the day I feel like I can pop in this game for a 3rd run and it will still be as fun as the previous 2 runs.

This game is a unique one but still familiar to fans of the X series(specifically X4-6, and X8)

The game is another Mega Man X styled game at heart with dashing and wall jumping available to the player and various abilities gained throughout the adventure.

Unlike the later X games, zero is the only playable character but the player can still play the game like X with a buster with charging and rapid fire capabilities. The next weapon unlocked is the Z saber and its just as fun to use as the non x7 x games with fast swings that also actually cuts enemies in half instead of just making them explode which is just badass. Combining the 2 playstyle into 1 already makes me like this game as I'm not boned in certain areas like X5. Zero also gains 2 new weapons after clearing a few stages and the first one is definitely the better one and it's called the triple rod. It can be stabbed in one of 8 directions and that alone makes it my go to weapon for dealing with airborne foes along with the z sabers superior ground slashes. You can also pogo off of enemies heads too which makes for some cool moments ngl. The last one is pretty whatever all things considered and it's called the Shield Boomerang and it blocks the standard energy pellets that some enemies use and once its charged it can be thrown in an arc and it'll come back to you and if you jump over it it'll continue to spin around you which has its uses but it's overall just an "ok" weapon all things considered.

So with all the things said it sounds like this game is an automatic home run right?

Haha. No.

Before I get into the issues of the game I would just like to say that the level design is far from the worst thing this game has to offer and while the levels themselves arent memorable as a Great X stage the weapons and most importantly the controls just make every interaction with the enemies and even simple things like wall jumping just feel perfect. The controls in the Zero series in every aspect are genuinely perfect. The jumps in the ps1 era feel a bit too heavy for my taste even with dash jumping and the walking speed is a but too slow for my liking along with the SNES and ps1 era dashing feeling a bit stiff but using dashes,dash jumps, wall jumps, and dashing wall jumps consistently in the Zero series is seamless and in terms of traditional 2d and 3d platformers these controls are tied with X8's are hands down the best controls in the genre and maybe just games as a whole.

Now the negatives
The weapon leveling system is ok at absolute best and a bit boring at worst. You start the game off with 1/3 z saber slashes and getting the other 2 slashes is piss easy in the first stage if you primarily use the z saber anyway but it's still just executed poorly as the buster needs to be leveled to get the traditional Mega man 2nd level charge and it makes the first 2 real bosses more annoying to fight. The z saber can also get a giant charged slash later on which shreds boss health but it takes a while to unlock. The triple rod also needs to be leveled which nerfs its use in the beginning which overall makes the system just eh overall.

I would describe retry chips as a flaw but the legacy collection fixes it so no need to talk about them.

Another flaw is just occasional cheap spike placement in 2 spots but mmmm I don't really care.
Energy crystals being hard to obtain a mass amount is a pain and makes getting health upgrades a massive chore for first timers and makes the later bosses a tight rop walk which is baffling design

I have played this game 5 times and I have gotten more and more appreciative of the design each and every time

Base gameplay: 8.5/10
Graphics:8.5/10
Level Design:7/10
Weapon Selection:7/10
Music:8/10
Boss Fights:6/10
Difficulty Design:5/10
Overall:9.5/10