The point at which it became clear to me that the addition of weapons to metroid is actually a detriment to this style of game. At some point "Action RPG" got turned into "a subpar action game where you have to compare products on amazon" and while not the worst example of this trend, it's very obvious going back to the other GBA Castlevanias that the variety of weapon choices is a salve onto a world that has to be sanded down so you can have the option to make those choices.

besides, whipping skeletons to death with a chain is so much cooler than using swords or whatever