started playing Castlevania: The Adventure
This is the first game on my backlog progression that I want to try finishing before moving on to the next entry. Castlevania: The Adventure is a much derided Game Boy game--and the first portable Castlevania, I believe. It's a slow-moving and methodical microcosm of classic Castlevania's emphasis on character weight and limited movement options. A lot of people seem to hate how slowly this game moves, but a lot of the principles of 2D side-scrolling action-platformers of the late 80s are present here. NES Castlevania and the original Ninja Gaiden are kind of like the same design idea being presented at two different speeds: every level is a gauntlet of enemies and environmental hazards that you must get through in a rhythmic choreography. Castlevania moves slower and Ninja Gaiden moves faster. In both cases, levels and their individual obstacle timings can be mastered and memorized, provided that you play with consistent skill. Eventually, you can become untouchable as you internalize these games' patterns like a film script nobody shared with you beforehand.
Castlevania: The Adventure moves at an even slower speed than NES Castlevania, but the familiar design core is intact. There aren't sub-weapons or nearly as nice of graphics, but those are the kinds of tradeoffs made when you go from home console to tiny handheld. It's challenging but not bad at all if accepted on its own terms. That last point is the eternal struggle of many gamers: few seem to be able to approach games with an open mind and willingness to adapt to a unique set of constraints and rules. They'd rather that every game played the same and was effortless to grasp for them. You don't need to prefer or even like what Castlevania: The Adventure is doing, but writing it off as bad because it doesn't cater to your personal preferences is entitled behavior.