Yeah I've gotten pretty decent at it over the years but it really does have pretty imbalanced difficulty.
My run was something like:
Lost 3 lives on stages 1-1 -> 6-2
Lost 2 lives on stage 6-2
Game over on Dracula after 2 or 3 attempts (lot of lives from points since I went through it all in one go)
Then killed Dracula before needing to continue again
I was kinda upset since I've never actually beaten the game without continuing before and I thought it was going to happen this time on my first try. Will probably replay it again when I get my controller extension cord in (NES Classic default controller cord length is so short).
Still kinda more fair than a lot of NES games though. Castlevania 3 is probably the tougher game overall I'd say.
No problem!
This is a cute and pop genocide of love!