Sypha has quite the arsenal, and IIRC the FC version has a glitch where her Bubble spell can near-instakill bosses. Even on NES though, she can bulldoze hard targets with a well-placed subweapon. Her staff (wooden spoon?
) is indeed a deceptively useful melee attack, too. Lacks reach, but snaps out nice n' quick - useful for swatting pests/projectiles.
NES Grant is my favourite partner. His Rygar jump introduces a sensible degree of improv, and while his dagger is cruelly short-ranged, he's actually the game's swiftest melee killer. Get in close and jam it in their fuckin spine
High risk/high yield ninja shredder. He can also skip massive chunks of stage by climbing walls but let's forget about that.
Ceiling-running can often be more trouble than it's worth, but there's no denying how cool it looks (and feels) to bust it out in situations where the other three would be forced to hack through or retreat.
Haha, I'd never considered Faxanadu's Mist area alongside CVIII's ghost ship. That'd have been one hell of an upgrade... I only saw it for the first time a couple years back and was floored at the pestilence of it. Especially checking the abandoned houses, sometimes finding only desertion, others a gibbering fiend rushing from the corner.
Wanna mention Sword Master's second stage here too, another highlight of Famicom horror. Best "serious" 2D zombie I've ever seen.
Poor fucker looks
ruined. Head and upper body lolling groundward, arms askew and sickeningly palsied, feet dragging flat... I like my undead with a degree of pathos; broken, ravaged bodies impelled by ruthless force to rise and lash out. In a peppier mode, Vampire Killer zombies are also exemplary. Look at those rotten puce-toned sods flinging themselves onward in the target's general direction! That's not the gait of a healthy individual! Also, sometimes there is a pesky snacky fly who scarpers at the first sign of trouble, ungrateful little fucker.
(Metal Slug 3's are more expressive, and have some pretty horrific animations in concept - old dude's spilling his guts, LITERALY ROFL! meanwhile his homie's licking his lips after puking up a fresh armload of scum, buhh - but they're ofc more comedic in tone)
) 
This is one of my ultimate comfy couch + big screen + bangin speakers (and a week to kill) games, couldn't see myself enjoying it as much on a portable tbh. 
) and although it's not a 1:1 comparison with Batman's single character versus CV3's four, there's nothing in the latter that compares to his billowing cape (take that Alucard!) or explosive wall-springs (get owned Grant! 
Checking under "Castlevania Chronicles" will probably get the best result. IIRC Original Mode's wallmeats are 1:1 with the X68k's.
