Super Castlevania IV

aka: Akumajō Dracula, Castlevania 4, 惡魔城
Moby ID: 6619
SNES Specs
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/24 1:51 PM )

Description official descriptions

Super Castlevania IV is, story-wise, a remake of the first game in the series. Set in the year 1691, the game casts the player in the role of Simon Belmont, a vampire hunter armed with a powerful whip, on a quest to defeat the evil Count Dracula in his castle. Despite the identical plot, the six castle stages have different layouts and themes; also, five initial stages that depict Simon's advancement towards the castle through various environments have been added.

The gameplay consists of traversing timed, linear platform stages, defeating enemies with the whip or sub-weapons that require collecting hearts and can be found by destroying parts of the scenery. Simon's stand-out ability in this installment are eight-directional attacks with his whip, which allow him, among others, to damage enemies standing below and above him. Holding out the whip will block enemy attacks. Simon can also latch his whip on special grappling points to swing over pits and obstacles. Game progression is saved by passwords given to the player after a stage has been completed.

Visually, the game uses hardware "Mode 7" effects such as parallax scrolling, rotating rooms, and pseudo-3D objects in some locations.

Spellings

  • 悪魔城ドラキュラ - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (SNES version)

15 People (14 developers, 1 thanks)

Main Programmer
Player Programmer
Enemy Programmer
Main Designer
VRam Designer
Object Designer
Sound Designer
Super Voice
  • Akkun
Total Director
Producer
Special Thanks
  • Konami Kurokotai
Presented by
  • Konami
Cover Artwork by

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 88% (based on 44 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 143 ratings with 7 reviews)

The greatest 2-D platform game ever made. Period.

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.

SNES · by Simon Wingate (30) · 2003

Easily one of the most enjoyable platformers for the SNES.

The Good
Super Castlevania IV is the fourth installment in the very famous Castlevania series by Konami. After releasing 3 successful titles on the NES, Konami didn't just rest, on the other hand they provided this gem early in the SNES live. It is basically some kind of remake of the original Castlevania story wise, you also take the role of Simon Belmont in this one, but on the design side it is totally different and improve most aspects of the older games.

Graphically wise, I often do not like early SNES games (prior to 1992), because they often just waste the 16-bit graphics of the console, since designer weren't used to this system, and I tend to prefer late NES games released in the same period. However, Castlevania IV is without a doubt an exception : It fully uses all of the SNES' graphical capabilities, and look just as good as many later SNES games. The look of the hero himself isn't perfect, I think it has some weird color in him. But that is my only small complaint. Every thing else in the game, background, enemies, special effects, looks absolutely perfect. The game does a whole load of very nice usage of the infamous mode-7 at several places in the game. Instead of trying to do dummy 3D, it does a smart use of this mode, featuring big rotating objects, a boss that will go smaller and smaller when you hit him, and at some place a very cool and very frightening rotating room, which won't leave you just forgetting it. However, there is quite some load of slowdowns here and here.

The music is very great, and fit very well the situation. There is also two different boss music (which is a great idea), and many levels are speared in different sections with different music, often a variation about the same theme, which is incredibly cool and more varied that just having the same music over the whole level (and the levels are long). And not a single level shares any music with another, unlike previous Castlevania games. Finally the music of the first level is easily the best music I've ever head in the whole Castlevania series (which globally have excellent music all the way). My only small complain is that a last boss music is lacking, the game re-use the strange frightening intro music for the first part of the final fight, which fills incredibly well the situation making you anger, and the rocking level 1 music is used for the last part of the final fight, helping you to have hope in defeating the final boss. This is fine as it, but why didn't they have a music especially written for the last fight ? The sound effects aren't very realistic, but they are quite exiting and very fun to listen overall.

The gameplay is 100% perfect all the way along. Just like previous Castlevania, you are travelling on side-view platforms, hitting enemies and candles (that hold powerups and score points) with your whip.

The game has standard SNES controls, B jumps and Y attacks. Older Castlevania games on the NES had incredibly corny controls, jumps were impossible to time (your player being jumping always the same distance), and you had to press up and down arrow to climb stairs, else you'll fall in the stairs. Now all this crap is gone for good, and Simon Belmont will always do what you tell him to do. You can time your jumps normally, you just have to press forward to climb stairs, and just press the R button to trow your special weapon, instead of doing that crap up+B combo like in the NES Castlevania games. You can attack not only forwards, but also up and down (in all 8 directions actually) Last, but not least, you can hold the Y button down to release your whip, blocking all projectiles from enemies ! And you can then swing your whip around with the control pad, destroying projectiles and slightly hurting enemies (however, this often won't be enough to seriously hurt them).

The levels are very well inspired and designed. It's always hard to determine what makes levels look like so inspired, but the CV4 levels should be one of the most inspired levels I've ever seen in many platformers. I think the huge amount of non-repetitive background details, the high density of different enemies, and the fact that often whole levels are made around "themes" is what makes them feel so inspired. For example, a particular level in the game is make all of gold. And, like if it was just a random fact, there is a very high density of candles holding gold bags. And guess which color the skeletons are in this stage ? While they are either withe or red everywhere, they are gold in that place. Definitely those levels are a constant surprise when making trough the game for the first time, that you'll never forget it even if you make trough the game after one hundred times knowing all levels by heart. That's just what I call a perfect gameplay experience.

The difficulty is very well balanced. All levels seems very hard on the first try, but you'll eventually pass them all when gaining knowledge. It is definitely easier than CV1 and 3 on the NES, and that is a good thing (unless you are one of those hardcore fans of CV1). It's not easy either, just perfect difficulty for me. If you're a hardcore CV1/3 fan and the easier difficulty bothers you, beat the game and try the second quest.

The Bad
Honestly, there is nothing much to write here. There is really no major issues (nor minor issues also). The only thing that came to me is that they censored some details of the game, like nude statues and blood for the US and European version. While this don't ruin the game at all I'm just against nonsense censorship, especially considering that Nintendo did place nude statues in their own Kid Icarus, and then force Konami to censor their statues. Oh, well.

The Bottom Line
I think this is the best of the Castlevania games I've played, but I did play only the early games, so I don't know much about the others. I think anyone that happen to like the console platformer genre should give a try on this one, because the game is simple very accessible to everyone. Personally I like this one a lot better than all of NES Castlevania games, which a lot of people seems to like. So if you liked them, you'll like this one even more. And if you disliked them, chances are that you may like this one.

SNES · by Bregalad (937) · 2007

An atmospheric masterpiece

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.

SNES · by Brad Shead (5) · 2007

[ View all 7 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Also released May 2019, part of Anniversary Collection, including a Windows version. Andrew Fisher (697) Jun 23, 2023
Odd resolution Mobygamesisreanimated (11069) Jul 12, 2007

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The SNES version of Super Castlevania IV appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Boss names

There are some interesting and quirky boss names in this game. The level 4 mid-boss "Puwexil", the skull with the lashing tongue, when spelled backwards is "Lix Ew Up". The level 4 end boss, a huge rock monster named "Koronot", when spelled backwards is "Ton O Rok". The level 6 end boss, the dancing spectres "Fred Askare & Paula Abgoul" is an obvious and very quirky play on names for Fred Astaire & Paula Abdul.

Version differences

There are differences between the US and Japanese releases of Super Castlevania IV. In Japan, the game is simply known as Akumajo Dracula. The cross on the tombstone at the beginning of the game was removed, for fear that people would be offended by lightning destroying the icon. Also, the name "Dracura" is visible in the Japanese version, but is merely a smudge in the American one.

There was also another censorship issue...the statues in level 6 were originally topless, but a toga was added for American release (why they changed this and not the nude Medusa is unclear). The font used in menus and the status bar is entirely different.

Then there is the gore. The opening logo drips blood. All of that green slime in level 8 was original red, and even bits of gore were cleaned off the spikes in the English release. Cryptically enough, the tears of the crying eyeball thing are still red.

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #20 (Best 100 Games of All Time)
  • Retro Gamer Magazine
    • (Issue 37) - voted #19 in the "Top 25 Platformers of All Time" poll

Information also contributed by PCGamer77 and Xantheous

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Castlevania Chronicles
Released 2001 on PlayStation, 2008 on PSP, PlayStation 3...
Castlevania
Released 1989 on Amiga, DOS, Game Boy Advance...
Castlevania: Anniversary Collection
Released 2019 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One...
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Released 2001 on Game Boy Advance, 2014 on Wii U
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
Released 2010 on Xbox 360, 2011 on PlayStation 3, 2019 on Xbox One
Vampire Killer
Released 1986 on MSX, 2014 on Wii U
Castlevania: Dracula X
Released 1995 on SNES, 2014 on Wii U, New Nintendo 3DS
Castlevania
Released 1999 on Nintendo 64

Related Sites +

  • Mr. P's Castlevania Realm
    A comprehensive hosted fan "shrine" site dedicated to everything and anything related to Castlevania including Super Castlevania IV. Tips, cheats, walkthroughs, enemy lists, backstories, collectors collections, the Castlevania timeline and more.
  • OC ReMix Game Profile
    Fan remixes of music from Super Castlevania IV.
  • Super Castlevania IV is Hard
    Alex explains why he thinks Super Castlevania IV is too hard
  • The Castlevania Dungeon
    A hosted fan "shrine" site devoted to all the games of the Castlevania series, including the SNES game Super Castlevania IV. Content includes game info/descriptions, plot summaries, various kinds of media (images, MP3s, etc.) and links to other Castlevania-related sites.
  • The Castlevania Treasury
    A fan "shrine" site dedicated to all the games in the Castlevania series including Super Castlevania IV. Includes music from the games, backstories, walkthroughs, trivia details and much more.
  • Video review of the Castlevania series (WARNING: Language)
    The Angry Video Game Nerd, James Rolfe, reviews games in the Castlevania series. In part 3, he reviews Super Castlevania IV and Castlevania: Dracula X, both on SNES as well as Castlevania on Nintendo 64. He mentions Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness but does not review it.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 6619
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by PCGamer77.

Wii added by Corn Popper. New Nintendo 3DS, Wii U added by Michael Cassidy.

Additional contributors: Xantheous, Satoshi Kunsai, Alaka, CaptainCanuck, Игги Друге, LepricahnsGold, Thomas Thompson, FatherJack, A.J. Maciejewski.

Game added June 7, 2002. Last modified March 27, 2024.