Boss Rush Mode: How it was, how it should be

Never played any type of Boss Rush Mode to a greater extent, only in Aria of Sorrow I believe for a couple of minutes.

Classic: Keeps time on your kills from start to finish, good time result in nice reward in terms of visuals, not things that make the character stronger (except if its exclusive to Boss Rush only to advance further or such.)

Locked Time Attack: So I would see it as you get a room to pick your weapon and skills which gets locked once you enter the bossroom and get to fight one random, after you finished it, a timer which keeps track will stop. This will last either for x amount of boss rooms or until you die. When these are reached, you get a reward. Same as classic, a visual thingy. This might not be Miriam exclusive, since we do not know if other characters have multiple skills they can utilize.

Side note: If you have unlocked all characters, this mode should give you the chance of playing them.

Visual stuff: Costumes, skins for weapons, UI huds, screen filters, skins for bosses.

This might be kind of obvious, but I hope there are some good incentives for doing Boss Rush Mode. As much as I like Lament of Innocence, I have to admint tha it did kind of suck Boss Rush didn't have any reward in that game.

The challenge itself is the reward

You can look at it that way if you want but if we go by this philosophy then there's no need for rewards for anything. The bigger point am trying to get to is while Lament of Innocence is probably my favorite PS2 game and one of my favorite Castlevania games it had room for more content.

Here's what I think should be the case for Bloodstained's Boss Rush Mode (some conditions might also be the case for Boss Revenge Mode):

- Definitely keep Data Select, especially if you want to play the Boss Rush as different characters (rewards may depend on whether the 2nd & 3rd playable characters are fully playable, rather than "bonus" characters.)

- For those who aren't quite as skilled, or are new to "Metroidvania" games, rewards for beating Boss Rush under certain Times (also going to the Save-File you selected) should also be available for beating it below 6 minutes, and even above that time. This definitely should depend on the specific Course selected, as well.

- IF the [true] Final Boss is included in Boss Rush, that enemy should be reserved for the most difficult Course; including all of the other late-game bosses from Gebel's Castle.

- Yes, I do think your character's Level should be locked in Boss Rush, but each Course (depending on the featured Bosses) determines the specific Level you're locked at. The restricted healing items should also be different depending on which Course you selected.

- Perhaps the "easiest" Boss Rush Course would mostly contain significantly-tougher enemies that serve as pseudo "bosses" in the game's story campaign, only to appear later on as normal enemies.

- Depending on how exactly the other two playable characters progress through Gebel's Castle, some of the Bosses they face might actually be different; determining a few of those they face in Boss Rush Courses.

What kind of rewards do you get for trying out the mode in Castlevania games?

As Galamoth said, it became a trend to give out rewards for fast boss killing in Boss Rush at Igavania games. To be fair, i understand your concern Enkeria but i belive they will do the same for Bloodstained. Those items normally don't give a HUGE advantage, but if you want to have everything, as a completionist, you need to play Boss Rush repeatedly to pick up all items (beating as fast as possible will always give you the item you don't have yet, until you end up just picking potions and that means you already got everything).

Well, Enkeria i don't know if it is tedius. Since you didn't played all Igavanias, you may not have the "usual feel" people have for the Boss Rush. Here's how it works in simple terms (at least, that's how i see it):

After you finish the game, Boss Rush is unlocked. You select it, and the game prompts you to choose a file data. That file will be the one you will be using for the Boss Rush. All equipment and Level (until a certain cap at both level and equipment) will be used for you to play at the Boss Rush and anything you pick up at the end will go straight to the same file. After beating all bosses, a item shows up at a last room, after the last boss, and that item is unique, you can only obtain there. 

Let's take Aria of Sorrow as an example:

In Aria of Sorrow, Boss Rush Level cap is 40. So, if you choose a file with Soma at LV 30, you will play Boss Rush at LV 30. But if you choose a file with Soma at LV 78, you will play the Boss Rush at LV 40, since that is the cap.
All equipment and souls that the file has, you will be able to use at the Boss Rush, but healing items are switched by a fixed selection for the Boss Rush mode itself (in Aria of Sorrow is Meat Strip x1, Tasty Meat x1, Mind Up x1, High Mind Up x1, Rotten Meat x1 and Spoiled Milk x1). Bosses doesn't give EXP, doesn't drop equipment, souls or anything. 

The items you pick up by finishing it, depends on the time it took for you to finish it. You will always get the highest tier if you finished as fast as possible. Since Aria has 3 items to pick up, you need to finish the Boss Rush at least three times. That's it.

If you are having difficulty in finishing it at a fast pace, you can just go back to the main game and level up the character (if it is not at cap yet), pick up more powers / equipment and such to make things faster.

It's not that tedius or hard, in my opinion, if you look at it in practical ways as i just did.

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People, check my new thread: Extra playable characters: How it was, how it should be