Back in high school, I used to play the GBA port of Castlevania 1 whenever I had a spare moment. I got pretty good at it too, and was generally able to ace the game over the span of a single lunch break.
Now?
My skills... may not be as sharp as once they were.
This game is hard. I've still memorized almost everything, from weapon locations, enemy placement, and where all the wall chicken is hidden. But, like Dark Souls or Bloodborne today, the game remains very exacting as to your reflexes and timing, and due to a long hiatus from this game, mine are back at almost beginner levels, and so all my knowledge isn't the advantage it once was.
Castlevania is a well tuned game that requires your knowledge, skill, and reflexes to all be top notch and in perfect sync, but it's rarely if ever cheap. Even the now legendarily infamous Medusa Head + Axe Armor hallway is a brilliant exercise in analyzing patterns, memorizing them, determining appropriate countermeasures, and then having the timing and skill to pull it all off, if not the most brilliant exercise in that craft in gaming history.
It's a strange turn of events that I am rocking Bloodborne currently and yet getting schooled by a game only a few years older than myself that I had once completely mastered.