The collection itself is very well executed, including the original Japanese versions of the games alongside a first-ever English localization of Kid Dracula. The inclusion of the option for creating save states and different picture modes gives it a decent amount of flexibility for the player to get the best experience they can out of it.
Catlevania
Personally I went into it without any experience of the series and didn't know the Japanese versions are superior, so the difficulty of the first three bucked me off the games usually around 75% of the way in. This first game has such great music and atmosphere, controlling the character felt good but some stuff felt not really fine-tuned in the levels and veered into "this is bs" territory. I still feel a compulsion to beat it so I definitely will one day soon.
Castelvania II
Simon's Quest was initially much more fun and interesting to me than the first. The fact that someone had the realization this early on that an explorable world with non-enemy npcs and more of a present story in the world would be the way to go for the series was really impressive. It became sort of cumbersome to navigate and figure out though.
Castlevania III
Huge leap in every regard, the boss designs especially soar. The flexibility of being able to switch characters and alter your playthrough by taking different paths really make it timelessly enjoyable.
Castlevania IV
A departure aesthetically in many regards but I really liked it just the same. Sometimes the difficulty spikes would get really nuts for someone like me who isn't exactly excellent with reflexes.
Vampire Killer
Maybe my favorite of the collection, and the only one I fully beat. So creative and the fights felt really tough but actually were well-tuned enough to feel fair. In previous games it seemed sometimes like they didn't have a winning strategy in mind when designing a boss and just figured a skilled enough player would be able to make one up on their own. The visual tricks and variation in the level designs make it a premium experience.
Castlevania: The Adventure
Lots of cool stuff going on and good level design, but the performance is horrible (it was originally as well so this is just an accurate emulation) and the hitboxes on some enemies is truly whack. It's a learning experience in itself to try and figure out just how far outside the actual pixels of an enemy their hits will land. I made it to the final form of the last boss but after a few attempts figured I should move on.
Belmont's Revenge
If you can only play one of the GB games, play this one. Performs great, looks amazing, great level design, cool bosses.
Kid Dracula
Aesthetically really fun and cool, but gameplay wise it's kind of bs in my view. The game is a lot about failing over and over to learn exactly when and where something is going to shoot across the screen and knock you to your death, and that amount of backtracking after getting killed by something you had little chance of reacting to was not a great feeling.
The bonus art book with interviews and gameplay tips is a recommended read to, especially before you play the games because there are some vital bits of gameplay mechanics tips in there.
Catlevania
Personally I went into it without any experience of the series and didn't know the Japanese versions are superior, so the difficulty of the first three bucked me off the games usually around 75% of the way in. This first game has such great music and atmosphere, controlling the character felt good but some stuff felt not really fine-tuned in the levels and veered into "this is bs" territory. I still feel a compulsion to beat it so I definitely will one day soon.
Castelvania II
Simon's Quest was initially much more fun and interesting to me than the first. The fact that someone had the realization this early on that an explorable world with non-enemy npcs and more of a present story in the world would be the way to go for the series was really impressive. It became sort of cumbersome to navigate and figure out though.
Castlevania III
Huge leap in every regard, the boss designs especially soar. The flexibility of being able to switch characters and alter your playthrough by taking different paths really make it timelessly enjoyable.
Castlevania IV
A departure aesthetically in many regards but I really liked it just the same. Sometimes the difficulty spikes would get really nuts for someone like me who isn't exactly excellent with reflexes.
Vampire Killer
Maybe my favorite of the collection, and the only one I fully beat. So creative and the fights felt really tough but actually were well-tuned enough to feel fair. In previous games it seemed sometimes like they didn't have a winning strategy in mind when designing a boss and just figured a skilled enough player would be able to make one up on their own. The visual tricks and variation in the level designs make it a premium experience.
Castlevania: The Adventure
Lots of cool stuff going on and good level design, but the performance is horrible (it was originally as well so this is just an accurate emulation) and the hitboxes on some enemies is truly whack. It's a learning experience in itself to try and figure out just how far outside the actual pixels of an enemy their hits will land. I made it to the final form of the last boss but after a few attempts figured I should move on.
Belmont's Revenge
If you can only play one of the GB games, play this one. Performs great, looks amazing, great level design, cool bosses.
Kid Dracula
Aesthetically really fun and cool, but gameplay wise it's kind of bs in my view. The game is a lot about failing over and over to learn exactly when and where something is going to shoot across the screen and knock you to your death, and that amount of backtracking after getting killed by something you had little chance of reacting to was not a great feeling.
The bonus art book with interviews and gameplay tips is a recommended read to, especially before you play the games because there are some vital bits of gameplay mechanics tips in there.