A cute fluffy Castlevania made of marshmallows and flowers

An hour or so in to Dracula X I rescued Maria. A 12 year old vampire hunter who had ventured in to the Castle to rescue her sister. To my surprise I was given the option to play as her instead of the rather dull and generic Bellmont who I had believed to be the games only playable character.

Rather then the whip she uses white doves to fight off the enemies. Not only that, instead of the traditional secondary weapons like axes and knives she uses cute animals including a cat and a turtle. This goes completely against the Castlevania conventions and I love it. I never really liked Castlevanias dark gothic style so Maria fits me perfectly. Playing as a cute little girl and her animal friends really cheers up the whole game. Not only that Komami also added flowers to the menus and a new colorful game over screen to even further change the tone of the game when playing as Maria.

I think this is so awesome that I never changed back and played through the whole game with Maria. Now having finished the game is this the best old school Castlevania like so many say? I might just say yes because of the addition of Maria otherwise I think I liked Super Castlevania IV a little bit more.