This is a bit of a tough question. T
he Adventure Rebirth has been the first 2D Castlevania to enthrall me since
Aria of Sorrow, which says a lot. The return to a classic Castlevania was a joy, despite the fact that it clearly was a low-budget sort of endeavor meant to play with nostalgia. I give it a lot of credit, though, for not going the easiest route. It has 3 difficulty settings with differing level layouts and enemy sets/placement, it has a competent and amusing motion control mode, a classic mode for diehard players, and a stage select option to help one practice or skip to their favorite level. The multiple routes and hidden rooms a very strategically developed, which becomes clear when playing on Hard Mode, and it's cool to see this and the lock-and-key mechanic used in such an elaborate way from level to level. Honestly, I think Hard Mode's layout with the modern controls is the best way to play the game, despite the frustration it can bring. The content itself includes nice musical and visual references from a big chunk of the series, new and old, and despite some reused spritework, it has some very creative new bosses and level segments. On the whole, I think it's much better made than its cousin, Contra Rebirth, which forgot the key gameplay element of earning extra lives for destroying numerous amounts of baddies. And actually, it's not as if it totally abandons The Adventure heritage. It has a flame-shooting whip, the exploding eyeballs (including a new boss eyeball), the shooting wall pike platforms, the rolling bug enemies, the circling bird enemies, and takes music from Belmont's Revenge, the sequel to The Adventure, and its jumping knife-throwing enemies.
That said...I think the title
should have been called
Castlevania Rebirth. I like the nods to The Adventure, but they are very small all things considered. And so, the uniqueness, charm, and challenge of the original The Adventure probably gets the nod from me at the end of the day. But The Adventure Rebirth was a really solid entry given the circumstances it was made under. Honestly, I think it laid the groundwork for a strong return to classic Castlevania, at least one more time. I imagined how the sequel to Rebirth could bring in the unused elements of The Adventure, combining them with Belmont's Revenge and SCV-IV. (Though, in retrospect, I might tap some more bosses from Legends) SEE:
http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php?topic=2620.0As an aside, I plan on writing up a re-evaluation of Legends soon, as I've been playing through all the Original GB titles.