I dunno. I just made it past the spinning room and the stone monster boss, and I am approaching "man, fuck this game". For the whole of section 4 and the last part of section 3 I think it took me at least 20-25 tries - and I didn't die to hit point loss a single time. Every death was some kind of fall into a pit. Whether due to the imprecise swinging mechanic with unpredictable momentum when coming off the swing, or a medusa head that knocked me off a platform, or those green platforms that you have to jump onto and off really fast, or a fishman randomly popping his head up and ruining my day mid-swing, or trying to figure out the gimmick with the rotating room ... Sections 1 and 2, and the first parts of section 3 felt like an action platformer, and I was on board. But now it's just become a puzzle platformer with controls that aren't up to the job.

Does it get better going forward?

Super Castlevania is not a great Castlevania game. I haven't played it in years so I can't answer your question directly but I do remember not being impressed with that one.

just keep playing, it's not at the difficult parts of a game. The medusa heads are total cheap knock you out of the air deaths in the series, along with crows and owls.