46| Super Castlevania IV

Released: December 4th, 1991

Definitive Version: Super Nintendo; Also on: Virtual Console for Wii and Wii U

Yes, it's the "casual" Castlevania of the 16-bit era. Yes, it is the "boring" answer of what the best classic Castlevania game is. Yes, the game is "easy". Yes, it isn't as "dark" as the other games. But god damn it, if it isn't the best classic Castlevania out there. The reason? Because it is fun to play that's why. Releasing just a few months after the Super Nintendo crossed American shores, Super Castlevania IV gave gamers no excuse to not want a Super Nintendo. It took everything that made the original games good and refined it to create a highly enjoyable experience.

Anyone who is even familiar with the Castlevania games knows the deal. The player controls a vampire hunter out to kill Dracula. They venture off on a journey across the country to reach the castle. The perilous journey is conveyed in game in a sidescrolling fashion, as the player hops from platform to platform as they dodge projectiles and defeat enemies. The primary weapon in these games is the whip. It is truly the trademark to the series because, well whips are fun to use. In addition to that the player can pick up secondary weapons for range battle such as a knife, ax, and holy water. There is also a secondary weapon that can be used once to stop time, as enemies all turn into stone for a couple of seconds. The enemies the game offers are usually skeletons, bats, mermen, zombies, and pretty much any classic movie monsters you can imagine.

Admittedly, Super Castlevania IV doesn't deviate much from this. There are a few new features such as the useless, but addicting, spinning your whip around like a baton, and manually swinging off of hooks to hop on ledges. Again, these aren't the most groundbreaking features, but they are fun. What makes Super Castlevania IV head and shoulders above the rest is that it is so expertly designed. Levels are crafted as each platform and enemy are placed to give the player a sense of enjoyment. While there is a lot of trial and error in the game, it is always fair, because enemies never just pop out of nowhere, and as long as the player is paying attention to their patterns they can be easily defeated. This goes from the smallest baddies to the biggest bosses.

Presentation wise the game is great. The pixel art is very colorful, for a Castlevania game, and the sprites are large and detailed. This does come at a cost however, as the game features significant slowdown. This is especially true when fighting the "mud men" in which they break apart and create smaller versions of themselves until there are around half a dozen on the screen. The good thing is that the slowdown doesn't really effect the gameplay much as it only occurs during the flashy effects the game offers. This may sound like I contradicted myself as I just brought up the mud men, but they are so slow and have such a simple pattern that the game could be sped up by three hundred percent and they would still be easy to kill.

But let's be honest. Where Super Castlevania IV really stands out is the soundtrack. It's just baffling that such quality music is coming out of the Super Nintendo less than a year after its launch. The game could arguably be the pinnacle of midi music. Yes, later Castlevania games featured CD quality sound, but I always felt that the music was better with the "chip tune" aesthetic.

Saying all of this, the game isn't perfect. For one, it is a little on the easy side. The game isn't easy per say, but for a Castlevania game it is. There is a certain expectation one has when playing an entry to the series, sort of like when one picks up a Dark Souls title. Sure Castlevania isn't that unforgiving, but they are still a bit difficult to get through all the way. On top of that, the game doesn't have a save feature. There is a password system, but come on! This is the Super Nintendo and battery saving should be standard.

It is rare for a title to launch so early on its consoles life and sit on top of its throne as the best game in its genre. But Super Castlevania IV did just that. It released less than a year after the Super Nintendo hit store shelves anywhere in the world, and despite that it managed to push the system to its limits in many ways. It is unfortunate that Castlevania never returned to its popularity that it had with this entry. Rondo of Blood was only released on the PC Engine in Japan and received a less than favorable port to the Super Nintendo. Bloodlines was a good entry for the Mega Drive, but that's it. Symphony of the Night certainly is held in high regards in the hardcore gamer crowd, but it hardly lit up the charts. The series proceeded to be adored by handheld gamers, but only sold in the hundred thousands. Today the series is about alive for Konami as Mega Man is for Capcom. At least the last time the series was in the spotlight it was for its most exceptional title.