Castlevania for the NES started one of the most polished and critically acclaimed game series of all time, and still lives up today as a great reminder of what made the NES so awesome. Castlevania has the 1980's technique of making a game incredibly hard to improve it's longevity, and it works really well here. However, sometimes this can go to painfully frustrating levels of hard, and it's all about control. Control is key to any castlevania game, without it, you're practically screwed. However, in this game, it takes control and shoves it up your ass. How? Simple, Simon Belmont moves too damn slow. Now on to the positives. The level design is great, amazing in fact. The boss encounters are hardly unique or exciting, but they will get you into states of shock at some points. Figuring out any pattern, any weak point, is the best way to do this. The satisfaction is incredible. Finding out where you went wrong and correcting it is one of the best feelings a game can give.