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
The mark of a genuinely great game, is one that can capture your imagination, and truely bring an atmosphere of other-worldlyness through the screen. This game did just that. The visuals are a vast improvement on the 8-bit versions of this classic series, as you would expect from Nintendo's new 16-bit box-of-tricks. The visual style is very gloomy and pixellated, which contrasts heavily with the clear, cartoon-style graphics of most games of the time. Despite this, though, the significant gameplay elements on the screen are normally clearly visible. The enemies are generally very impressive-looking, and read like a who's-who of cliqued Transylvania-based characters. Ranging from the plentiful skelitons, to the heavily-armoured undead knights, and very impressive bosses, the spites are all very well drawn and animated. While Simon himself strolls across the screen with the self-assurance and arrogance that you come to expect from a member of the Belmont family. As for the level with the swinging chandaliers, well that, at the time, really had to be seen to be believed. Also, along with F-Zero and Super Star Wars, this was one of the first games the make use of the Super Nintendo's new 'Mode 7' capabilities, which allowed game worlds to rotate round an axis. It's impossible to discuss the qualities of this game without paying homage to the soundtrack. It still stands out as one of the best ever, even when compared to wonderful audio present in more modern classics like Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy and, of course, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Gloomy, dark tracks add atmosphere to the more sedate levels, while the frantic all-action levels are played out to some brilliant fast beating music, which really contributes the feeling of danger. The gameplay is typically Castlevania. Simon Belmont has his trusted whip, which can be slashed in 8 different directions. Special tricks with the whips also include a slingshot-style spin attack, and, best of all, the ability to snap the whip onto a hook, and swing vast distances Tarzan-style. Because of the versatility and flexibility of Simon's whip, the extra weapons don't play as big a role as they do in the sequal, Dracula X. Throwing knives are useful for taking out enemies from distance, and the clock, which freezes all on screen enemies, has occasional uses. Generally, though, the trusted whip is all you need to progress. A general trend in Castlevania games is for them to be very difficult, and extremely frustrating, at times. This game, though, has the best difficulty curve of the whole series. It is truely challenging, without ever seeming unfair. The enemies are generally beatable, but health recovery items are rare. The bosses range from being very easy early-on, to being pretty tough towards the end of the game, but never seem unbeatable. Like most of the early Castlevania games, most lives will be lost through falling off platforms, or, to a greater extent, being knocked off by an enemy of some description. Again, though, this doesn't happen with sufficient frequency to make the game seem grossly unfair (unlike Dracula X, which truely is an unfair game).

The Bad
It's hard to think of much to say against this game. The password system, which consists of putting different items in a grid, was annoying. But this is a pretty trivial complaint. I think the main sticking-point is over the hero's ability to jump (not an insignificant factor in a platform game). From the evidence of this game, and many others in the Castlevania series, the Belmont family members all seem to inherit the ability to jump like artheritic rhinos. The character feels heavy in the air, and cannot re-adjust once he's taken off. Furthermore, some gaps seem to be further than he's capable of jumping (normally the ones over spikes and bottom-less pits), which can lead to some frustrating moments. Also, there are issues with the responsiveness of the character when you press to jump. This again is a pretty minor complaint of the straw-clutching variety (although try telling that to someone who's just seen Simon walk of the platform to his doom, despite his efforts to make him do otherwise....).

The Bottom Line
A true 16-bit classic, and a game that remains extremely playable to this day. Blessed with some of the greatest visual effects of the time, and one of best soundtracks ever made, this game was brilliantly atmospheric, and brought weird and wonderful fictional world of Transylvania to life.

The Good
For years now, fans of the Castlevania series have stood and argued their corner for what they feel is the greatest triumph of the series. For me, and for many others, it is surely Castlevania IV.

The game is a masterclass of music, environment and atmosphere. This game in the series inspires an almost macabre emotion within the gamer, a sense of spine-tingling dark excitement—emotion we use to bolster and enthuse our hero, Simon Belmont, that his diminutive strength overcome the many dark denizens and perils of the night.

Almost from the go you’ll encounter garishly drawn backgrounds, use of dark colours such as purples and greys—dismal tones indeed—the game establishing its setting through an impressive gloomy palette. Graphics appear at times insipid and tasteless, flawed, yet therein lies perfection in capturing setting, locality and feel. In Castlevania IV the experience of the game is everything. Landscapes are anxious, small crumbling towers decay in the backdrop, fell fogs roll in and out, the moon remains vacant in the night sky.

Musical compositions go a long way to assisting the immersive quality of the game. You’ll quickly come to realise this: the sinister introduction sequence is particularly effective through the use of a disquieting piece of music. You will literally feel your spine shudder. Even this is followed up with an eerie title display and music vaguely reminiscent of a Hammer Horror. Orchestral value is significant, with use of strings, cello, flute, and many more—the instruments frequently (and very comfortably) lying atop bass. Compositions are generally short, but take nothing away from them: each is a masterpiece; the collection a remarkable feat of instrument sound engineering and programming.

Castlevania IV doesn’t disappoint with the gameplay. It’s the only 2D game in the series to let Simon cast his whip around at any angle, let if freely dangle as a means of protection, or use it to swing off objects. There’s nothing more satisfying than whipping and dispatching an enemy with a downward forty-five degree angle assault, or making two or three successive whip swings and jumps to a rewarding platter of fowl (yum). There are eleven levels in the game, so it’s by no means small, and the levels vary significantly in feel and design.

The Bad
Admittedly, the game isn’t too difficult, and being able to flick the whip out at angles makes it easy to kill some enemies above you, for example, without becoming embroiled in direct hand-to-hand. The main character, Simon Belmont, is a little slow and sluggish, occasionally unresponsive. That said, when you get into the game, and become more adept at controlling the character and his whip, the fun will begin.

The Bottom Line
The game doesn’t have the depth of Symphony of the Night, the wealth of collectables, the size of the castle, etc. It more than makes up for this however with atmospheric action. Rondo of Blood is often argued a better game, although I think this depends on whether you like its anime style or not. Castlevania IV is infinitely darker, more mature, for the Hammer Horror in you.