4/5 ★ – Manic_Zucc's review of Castlevania: Bloodlines.

Now here we are at the end of my Classic Castlevania marathon, and what a great game to end on. Instead of simply porting Castlevania 4 to the Genesis, Konami went ahead and made a whole new game and in my opinion it’s the best of the bunch. The controls feel good, roughly on par with CV4, and while John is a slight downgrade from Simon the real star here is the new character Eric who has a totally different play style. I found Eric’s fighting style to be a blast and he’s probably my favorite character from the whole series from a gameplay perspective. The game also has some great visuals. Genesis games always got to be a bit more edgy than their Nintendo counterparts and the over the top blood and guts feel this one goes for really helps to give it a vibe that’s distinct from others in the series. On top of that the game features levels that take place across the globe instead of being restricted to a single location. Because of this levels have a distinct feel from each other and are able to have very interesting gimmicks, despite the fact that there are technically less than in most games. The game still had a few overly difficult sections, but nowhere near as bad as others in the series. I also wanted to give a serious shoutout to the boss fights. They’re basically all great and have a really cool aesthetic across the board. If I had to say any negatives it would be that the game is a bit short and doesn’t have as memorable of a soundtrack as others. But that’s small potatoes in the long run. In a series that’s super inconsistent in quality, I’m glad this marathon ended on a high note.