I am probably waaaay late on this, but i think that the screenshots were just taken from the demo setup. I do not think that they paid >$1200 for the demo systems, and people would be screaming foul if the screenshots were better than the demo gameplay.

In 2003, i lent Castlevania Symphony of the Night to a neighbor kid whom i knew. The kid was 14, and when i was 16 i loved playing it. I asked him about it a month later, thinking he was probably halfway through it and he gave it back telling me "i only played it once, the graphics sucked." As to how i am not in prison for aggravated battery with a welding torch right now, i do not know, but somehow i did not kill him. I think it was because i had a brain aneurysm when i heard the words "i didn't play it" coupled with "because the graphics sucked."