Back in the NES days, developers often depended on some very punishing game mechanics as a way to extend the overall life of their games, and the clunky jumps in the Castlevania series is no exception. Tricky situations with narrow platforms and flying enemies would be trivial to a character with tighter controls (e.g. Megaman) but are outright dangerous to a Belmont, even when armed with a fully-primed whip and a decent sub-weapon.

This hack has a two-fold effect on the overall game. On the surface, the hack gives players a much greater range of control over both your direction while in midair, and the height of your jump, and this is a tremendous quality-of-life change. Simon’s jumps feel tight, even when attacking in midair, and this is very much like how other Belmonts play in the later games. This is especially apparent when trying to evade flying enemies and Medusa Heads while traversing moving platforms.

As a result of the tighter controls, the game truly shines through its level and enemy designs, and each level becomes a much more enjoyable romp. The quality of the game’s difficulty shifts as well, and I began to notice that the challenge was coming from the overall nuances that each level had to offer, instead of just the poor jump mechanics.

This hacks is a solid 10/10, transforming a good game into a well-designed game, and it easily stands out as a superior improvement over the base game.