Easily the best of the original Castlevania trilogy, though also the toughest. Goes back to the franchise foundation and builds a sprawling castle on it with improved biomic and challenge variety. Like its predecessors, emphasizes quick yet carefully positioned and spaced attacks. Branching paths and alternate characters were nice additions for that little bit of extra replayability. Engaging and demanding encounters. Better attempts at boss fights than the previous games, with most eventually learnable and often demanding that you do so to conquer them. All backed by a memorable and well-composed classical/baroque-inspired chiptune soundtrack that elevates the game's gothic adventure-horror aesthetic.

Massive difficulty spike in Dracula's Castle though, and the falling/melting blocks level in particular is ultra-boring to regain lost progress following every Game Over in its tough-as-nails latter half. It's basically 5-10 minutes of waiting around doing menial, repetitive tasks with little sense of self-improvement to be gained, like grinding low-level monsters in an RPG. Thankfully outside this one major misstep, most of the game remains rewarding if one can withstand its increasingly punishing brutality. Finishes with a strong final fight.

I recommend playing the Famicom version if possible, as it features a built-in sound chip that was used to make the already great soundtrack even better, as well as a slightly more balanced difficulty curve.