The dracula in this game is ACUALLY hard...
HoD's dracula was a total pushover. Hahaha!
Another point: COTM had a difficulty that consistently raised the bar with each new boss defeat. Soon, older areas were filled with harder baddies, and so backtracking was kept interactive still.
Overall the difficulty was solid.
I'm still impressed with this idea, because IGA still hasn't embraced it in his games -- well, only on occasion.
I really only had problems with the controls, and at first the dark visuals.
Once I got used to them (you never really get used to Nathan's running though), I found COTM a blast to play, and still think so to this day. I think it still holds somewhere on my top ten CVs list.
I also don't mind all the remixes in the soundtrack, 'cause to me they were done well. I even like "Nightmare" better here, though I know there are several here who'll bite my head off for it. "Sinking Old Sanctuary" was better composed than the Bloodlines original, due to a more pleasant chorus sample. I still think COTM had the best version of this song. Also, there was a nice upbeat version of "clockwork".
This is why I was pissed to find the COTM/HOD soundtrack favored HOD's score with longer loops. The music is grating by comparison. COTM still holds the "best quality sound" award for any GBA Castlevania. Even AOS didn't sound as clear.
I find HOD has aged much worse than COTM. It feels unprofessional by comparison. It feels older than it should due to crappy low-end music; repeating room designs and tiles, and a boring difficulty. Even on "hard" I wasn't impressed. The presentation overall is often ugly.
THough in many ways HOD had a more robust graphics engine, it didn't feel well used and most areas were underwhelming.
On a side note, both games have beauftiful chapels. Many visual memories made in those.