Why? Because its convenient?
Nope. Because Juste was the first to be a whip user with a decent equip system, even though it was directly lifted from SotN.
Don't play me silly, Lelygax. If I wanted to intentionally overlook Simon and Nathan, I'd simply not mention them at all. But their equip system is terrible, and they are whip users, thus this is a point in favor of Juste, not against..
In every Metroidvania the main character could equip things, so thats only natural that he would too. Castle B was obviouly a attempt to mimic the inverted castle, but its also like what they do on Silent Hill bizarre world, its creepy and have that "different aura" and they atleast gave a good explanation in the story, while there is none to why there is a Inverted Castlevania floating above another Castlevania.
That's why I excluded Simon and Nathan from the mention, since they were bad equipment systems for whip users. For Simon because it was an archaic system, and for Nathan because it is limited when the hardware allows for a better thing (without mentioning the quite small and uninventive inventory of the game).
And about the castle, well... Story doesn't excuse bad gimmicks, and IGA already stated that he works gimmicks first, and story last. The story in this game will never justify why the second castle is a copypasta from the first beyond "Fake Longevity".
Since IGA got this out of the way, both castles are on the same "storyless" level (meaning that they both had no story-intent, Symphony's because it hadn't for whatever reason, and HoD's because IGA said so). Going by this, I think it's pretty safe to say that HoD's is the poor-man-that-must-deliver-a-long-game's copy from SotN's idea, but shittier.
Im being impartial here, I could point a lot of flaws in a game that I still love the same and pointing facts that even harm my argument, so please, if I can ask, dont look at only one side of the coin. Like in HoD, you need to explore the 2 sides to progress
I honestly think you're not being impartial. Not only you, but also DarkPrinceAlucard.