this is one of those games i probably couldve beaten without save states but just for the sake of not really feeling like repeating some annoying areas i just ended up using them. overall though, pretty solid classicvania. definitely not the best but not bad either. i was honestly expecting it to just be a castlevania 1 remake entirely and in some areas it definitely was, especially level 1, but as i kept playing it felt fresh enough and i had a pretty enjoyable time. just the same good classicvania gameplay with a little bit of polish, reminds me a lot of super castlevania 4 but not as freeing in terms of things like whip swinging. some parts were pretty not fun to play through, mainly the clock tower level and the one level with the section where you have to climb up and fight all the little toy enemies, and there are definitely some other things that sucked but they were pretty minor so they didnt come to memory right away. also the ost went kinda crazy on this one?? like castlevania is obviously known for good music but this one was just different because it didnt really feel like a castlevania ost, more like a later megaman/megaman x entry ost, but still really really good. i could probably see myself going back and listening to some of these tracks