Dude, if you think the game engine designer and programmer had nothing to do with the end result then you’re out of your mind. Romero did some design, play-tested, and wrote some utility applications for game development. He is not the star of Doom by a long shot. There were others, but Carmack was the music maker, the dreamer of the dreams at that company.
You do know that symphony of the night is not the first Castlevania, right? The first Metroid and first Castlevania games both came out in 1986.
Get some culture Van Winkle, you have been asleep for too long.