Bloodlines has been the real odd man out of this bunch next to Kid Dracula. The best I can describe it would be to say it feels slightly like a knockoff game where a different studio was making their own version of the game because it was popular, yet at the same time, the production values are way too good to be simply a knockoff. In fact, I would almost say this game was likely developed by the same team that did the Game Boy titles since it has a few minor elements in common such as collecting gems and having a third tier weapon upgrade that downgrades once you take a hit.

Visually, the game looks better than Super Castlevania IV but I much prefer the SNES MIDI sound font over the Genesis one. Most likely due to growing up with one of them over the other. If Super Castlevania IV was a game meant to take the series formula and make it more user freindly, then Bloodlines is really more about letting Sega fans experience what Castlevania really is. This game is way tougher and feels more like the NES entries just with fewer instant kill deaths. Enemy placement is sadistic. What's kind of disappointing is the smaller repertoire of sub-weapons. There seem to only be four of them: The Axe, Holy Water, Bladed Boomerang, and some strange magic bubble orb thing which is broken as all hell and seems to be a bit special on how you acquire it. Like SCIV, the sub-weapon got relegated to its own button which took a bit of getting used to and Morris can swing on objects though the game never really tells you how to do it, and unceremoniously throws you into situations where you need it. The sprite work in this game is top notch though and I find the locations and levels more interesting than SCIV. My favorite secret I discovered which ended up making me restart the game just to implement it, is that if you change the BGM and SE tests to certain ones in the options menu and hit start, whenever you get the third tier weapon upgrade, the music changes to either Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears, or Beginnings. Neat little secret and great arrangements of all three I might add.

Going back to levels. This game is pretty unique and follows Belmont's Revenge in the fact the game doesn't take place solely in Dracula's castle. Instead, the dynamic duo chase Elizabeth Batherly across Europe during WWI although you won't realize it's WWI until Stage 4, when you come across a German Munitions Factory and the skeleton enemies start wearing picklehaubes. It's been a weird game so far but still enjoyable.