GetsuFumaDen

Back when Konami was still experimenting instead of milking the Contra [魂斗羅] and Castlevania [悪魔城ドラキュラ] series, Getsu Fuuma Den is one of the developer's most ambitious Famicom games. It merges the RPG mechanics and open-world of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link [リンクの冒険] with the familiar action-platforming of Castlevania to make a unique game. It can be tough adjusting to the floaty jump, lack of friction on ground and strange circular attack, but there is something satisfying in leveling-up your weapon so enemies that took two hits soon take only one. Unfortunately, the game is bogged down by excessive backtracking, an off-putting environment (it is hell, after all), bad difficulty curve that spikes on bosses and awful 3-D maze levels. The first time you come across the maze, it's a refreshing change of pace but within minutes you'll learn to loathe these segments. Between the labyrinthine design, simplistic combat and seizure-educing enemy introductions, I had to quit after the first one. It's an interesting game for the time and there is something to it, but I wouldn't advise trying to complete it.