Super Castlevania IV
Super Nintendo
Nostalgia Factor:
I had been so excited to play Super Castlevania IV. I'd missed out on it as a kid because I had a Genesis rather than a Super Nintendo. Over the years I’d heard nothing but good things about this game. So many people out there say that this is one of the best Castlevania games out there. Personally I’ve been playing all the Castlevania games in order – and I’ve been loving them all. Before I even had the chance to play this game, I already had it in my mind that I was going to love it.
I am sorry to say that I think my expectations for this were a bit too high. This may be my least favorite Castlevania game out there. Read on for the full details.
Story:
There really isn’t a whole lot to say about this game’s story. Every 100 years or so, Dracula resurrects himself and starts fucking shit up. It is the job of the Belmont clan to take him down every time he reappears. Taking control of Simon Belmont, you head out on a journey to Dracula’s castle to destroy him.
Sound familiar? It should. This is almost the exact same story as the first Castlevania game. In fact, in Japan this game was meant as a reimagining of the original Castlevania rather than a sequel. For some reason in the United States it is treated as a direct sequel to Simon’s Quest. This kind of messes up the Castlevania timeline a little bit, but it is what it is. Nobody really plays these games for their storylines, do they?
Gameplay:
I’ll get the basics out of the way first. If you’ve played Castlevania I or III for the NES, you will know how this works. Controlling Simon Belmont, you must work your way through a series of stages - whipping candles, destroying enemies, and jumping over pits and various game obstacles along the way. At the end of each stage you fight a boss character. Defeat this character and you move on to the next level. When you get to the end of the game you go into battle against Dracula. Defeat him and the game ends. Pretty standard Castlevania stuff.
What Super Castlevania IV does differently is in its controls. Gone are the stiff controls of Castlevanias past. Simon is much more maneuverable this time around. You can change directions mid-jump. You can jump and land on stairs. You can drop from stairs. You can whip up, down, and diagonally. Simon can even use his whip as a grappling hook from time to time in order to get across long chasms. Overall this game is much more smooth than its predecessors. As I played this I couldn’t help but wonder how different past games in the series would be if you replaced “stiff” Simon with the character from this game. It definitely would have made those games a lot more accessible, for sure.
My problem with this game mainly stems from its difficulty. Unlike previous Castlevania games, the issue isn’t that the game is too challenging. In fact, it is the opposite. It’s too easy. I played this just a few weeks after playing through Castlevania III a handful of times. Now that’s a challenging game. This game is like a walk in the park after playing that one. Nothing makes this more obvious than the boss battles. They are just sad and pathetic in this title. They go down SO quickly. I sat there in stunned disbelief my first time playing this. I don’t think I died during any of the boss fights until closer to the end of the game.
Not only is the game too easy, it also feels like it take a giant step back from Castlevania III. That game had so much substance to it. Optional stages, multiple branching paths, different playable characters, several different sets of endings. Super Castlevania IV does away with all of that. You only play as Simon, there are no branching paths, and you only get one ending when you beat the game. There’s absolutely no reason the series should have regressed like this. You’re telling me they couldn’t do better than an NES game with brand-new (at the time) SNES technology at their fingertips? Please.
Sequels are supposed to up the ante and build off the success of their predecessors – not take a step back. That’s mainly my issue with the game. It is completely outclassed by Castlevania III, and it’s not even close. I’m not saying this is a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, but if it can’t build off the obvious success of its predecessor, it’s like why bother?
Graphics:
Admittedly this game looks really good. The level backgrounds are terrific, starting from the game’s very first screen with the giant rock skull in the background. The color scheme is great. Things manage to be bright and colorful without losing any of that Castlevania grimness in the process.
The small details added to each stage are apparent right from the beginning. The plants and the ivy in the first level. The fact that you can enter doors and go into another “plane” in the game environment. There’s a stage where translucent ghosts are moving across the screen in front of you. Some of the later stages include things like rotating game screens, and there’s even a stage where it’s like you’re in a cylinder and the game’s background is constantly spinning. Cool stuff.
Simon himself is bigger and more detailed than he is on the NES. The game’s enemies look really cool. The bosses look terrific. I like how the enemies just kind of explode when you kill them, like they’ve been hit by a grenade or something and not just a whip. It’s super cool. It makes the presentation feel more like Contra rather than a Castlevania game, but it is still cool.
Sound:
Here is where I am going to make some people angry. I hated this game’s soundtrack. I know that people out there are nuts about it, but I just don’t care for it. It sounds like cheesy elevator music, and it completely clashes with everything I know about how a Castlevania game should sound. Give me that classic NES soundtrack any day of the week. There are a few stages later in the game that attempt to recreate some classic Castlevania tunes, but they still don’t sound as good as the originals to me. I won’t say the game’s entire soundtrack sucks. There are a few good tracks here and there, but to me they are few and far between.
Overall:
*sigh*
I really wanted to love this game. And I came into it thinking I would.
Super Castlevania IV does a lot of things right. I like the improved character controls. The graphics and presentation are very good. It’s fun. It’s accessible. It’s a fairly long game. I had a decent time with it. I know it sounds like I’ve been critical of this game, and I have, but I still enjoyed it overall.
I just couldn’t help but feel the whole way through that this game had taken a giant step back from Castlevania III. That game set the bar incredibly high in my mind as far as Castlevania games go. I thought based on all the praise I’d read for this game that it would have easily been better than its predecessor, but it wasn’t.
That’s my dilemma. This is a good game, sure, but if it isn’t going to move the series forward it is kind of like what’s the point? If I want to play a Castlevania game in the future I’m going to come back to Castlevania I or III for the NES. Heck, I’d even come back to Simon’s Quest before this one! Improved graphics and an improved control scheme don’t mean anything to me if the game isn’t as fun as the ones that came before it.
I guess this speaks to the quality of the Castlevania series that even with all this criticism I am still going to give the game a B-. Even at its worst, Castlevania is still good enough to put other titles to shame. And in a way I have to applaud Super Castlevania IV for this. Even though it is easily the worst console Castlevania game I have played, it is still better than so many games out there. Heck, I had a better time with this game than I did “legendary” SNES titles like A Link to the Past, Super Mario Kart, and Final Fantasy VI.
If you had an NES as a kid, but somehow missed out on the Super Nintendo like I did, I wonder if you’d have the same opinion as me. This game doesn’t come close to touching the original trilogy but hey – it makes a valiant effort. It’s fun, it’s playable, and I can see why people like it so much. I just can't say I thought it was great.
Final Score:
B-
If you liked this review, check out some of my other game reviews:
*Special guest review- RIP Jeff :(
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