Super Castlevania IV

The Good
The Music. The Friggin' Music of game is Mesmerizing. My favorite track is Dracula's Theme. I put it on my myspace. This game surpasses all Castlevanias even the new ones coming out. I don't care about graphical improvements, CV4 is the darkest and most gothic game in the world. Atmospheres flow eerily and gives off that ominous feeling that I've only experienced in a few games. My favorite part or should I say scene of this game is "the Bat Bridge". As Simon walks across, the bridge crumbles and bats are awakened from under the bridge and follow him to the Gear Tower. I love it. The Scariest part of the game is the final stage with the staircase. At this point, you don't know how hard Dracula is gonna be... so u slowly ascend the steps in the moonlight. By the way, don't miss the invisible steps in the bottom left-hand corner. Then, there he is... AHHHH!!! Awesome.

The Bad
Well, the difficulty of the game and the Torture Chambers. I HATE THE TORTURE CHAMBERS!!! That level is too hard for my taste.

The Bottom Line
A game good enough to leave in a death will.

By the way if u wanna hear Dracula's Theme. Here Ya go.

http://www.fileden.com/files/1235/Dracula.mp3

The Good
If you've ever wondered what thrashing an un-dead Count with a long, flexible chain feels like, then maybe this game is for you. In the grand tradition of Bram Stoker's horror classic, Simon Belmont takes it upon himself to rid his world of these unspeakable evils - an un-dead army full of ghouls, zombies, living skeletons, knights and all other kinds of graveyard trash.

So, as an action-adventure game, you move through (mostly) two-dimensional levels that challenge you to jump precisely, avoid attacks, and kill at will with the aforementioned whip/chain. You’re a 16-bit Van Helsing, and the body-count at the end of this game is phenomenal, but, unlike your Contra or your other action games, you feel less sympathy for these Lovecraftian abominations as they either explode in a burst of femurs and ribs, or simply implode, as if returning to the purgatory they were delivered from.

Throughout the game, Simon swings and whips his way among many locales - it's a tour of the unspeakable realms of evil. Broken and crumbling facades, wrought-iron bent and rusted, slime-dripping caverns and even a treasure-trove littered with golden monies and treasures, (a demented take on Scrooge McDuck's vault?!). The count really has quite a fun park for you to get through here, and the constantly changing areas are logged on a pre-level Mode 7 style map - unfortunately, this is a pre-determined course that you and Simon must traverse. And the count draws ever closer!

As this is quite an early release for this system, you can see that this is a more traditional platform-style game, understandably in the tradition of the NES Castlevania titles. Everything has been updated from these 8-bit entries, and overall the Super alluded to in the title is a promise that is kept. Animations are simple but effective, sprites are well-drawn and coloured, and the enemies are varied and truly aggressive, (who would of thought a simple bat would pose such a threat?!)

Does the game play match the vision? In a short answer, it does. Simon does controls stiffly, but it seems right somehow. He walks, never runs, and has a moderate jump that seems quite plausible. His whipping motion has a far enough reach, but takes that little moment of time to fully unleash - again this has a realistic touch. But, you will get frustrated somewhere along the way, for Castlevania has that unique phenomenon that video games posses - that in which when you fall from the screen view, you die inexplicably. Add to this the violent lunging Simon undergoes when struck by a foe (even of a light-weight bat!), and you'll find yourself dropping off whichever tiny platform you were perilously clinging to.

Castlevania must have set a precedent for the role of end-of-level enemies in games. The boss fights in this game, although not always challenging, are still epic in their vision. It's like a who's who of evil mythology - a veritable Necronomicon of the gaming world. Of course, I cannot name them all here, but I will say that the Count himself is rivalled in his horrendousness by many of his cronies. And an appearance by the scythe-wielding, black-robed Death is but one of the despicable characters Simon must challenge - whip in hand.

The Bad
One thing bothered me though. I find the colour-scheme used for several of the levels thoroughly un-scary. A terrible mix of mini-golf turf green and a heightened dog-crap brown in some of the earlier levels undermines the brilliant score and artistic sprite qualities. Thankfully, these levels disappear fairly quickly, and we begin to explore the darker, moodier and repugnant regions in coming levels. Simon, on his lonely and loathsome quest, is thrown into cracking dark grey stairwells, Atlantis-like columns blasted with underground cascades, and neglected Victorian mansions, complete with chandeliers and long echoing halls. It's creepy.

And, for whatever reason, the game has a mysterious element that has given it a long life. The silence of Belmont (he never utters a word, nor is one ever subtitled), the unexplained route we're taken on, and the lack of human beings (other than Simon himself) add to the isolation greatly. This point however, is a matter of taste.

The Bottom Line
I think Castlevania's success is due to it's cohesion in the development stages - something that seems to be lacking in modern games. When the credits role, you can't help but notice that some names repeat, and this got me thinking. When a talented and dedicated team of developers and programmers stick to a vision, and set sensible limits to their goals, they can't help but succeed in making something meaningful. Modern games have taken an almost Hollywood-style role in their production, with massive departmental and divisional staff working on fragments of the finished product. To my mind, this waters-down the core elements of the production.

The question I have is this: would such a small team of today, working on a severely limited platform as the SNES be able to create such a future-proof title as Castlevania? I'm not so sure.

The Good
As one of the first SNES games, Castlevania 4 is also considered one of the finest. Even though it was released fresh into the SNES's life, CV4 is undeniably one of the best-looking games on the system. Some of the game's detail reaches the level of PS1 classic Symphony of the Night, and quite frankly blows away the muddy look of fellow SNES 'Vania Dracula X.

And the sound... in terms of music, CV4 is the most atmospheric of the entire series. The music for each respective level fits the environment like a glove. From a slow piano and flute accompanying a drippy cave to dense bongos and a low-toned piano for a intimidating dungeon, the music was made for the level's look and feel extremely well, and vice-versa.

The controls are a HUGE improvement over the NES Castlevania's scheme. Simon can swing his whip in any direction you wish- up, down, left, right, and diagonally. While jumping, you can move Simon freely through the air, and a new crouch-walk maneuver makes it easy to dodge enemy attacks while creeping up for multiple attacks.

Almost TOO easy, in fact. In terms of challenge, CV4 is considerably easier compared to the NES installments. This is undoubtedly due to the big control improvement. If CV4 didn't have the improved controls it has, it would be just as difficult as Castlevania 3 for NES, if not much harder. The game's more forgiving difficulty may be considered a good thing.

The Bad
The one thing I didn't like about CV4 was how it lacked the multiple path option of CV3, but being a retelling of sorts for the first Castlevania, this minor complaint is understandable.

The Bottom Line
All-in-all, Castlevania 4 is simply one of the best games in the series, and for the SNES. You shouldn't have much problem tracking this game down, since it only runs for about $10 on eBay, and is also available for download on the Wii's Virtual Console service for $8. So go out and experience this masterpiece in game design, and thank Treasure (the same company responsible for Gunstar Heroes and Wario World) for making this beautiful land-mark in the Castlevania series.