Super Castlevania IV is just a game I wish I liked more. And I can't even truly explain why. The graphics are awesome for such an early SNES game, it's really impressive, and the visual details are pretty cool. The music, I see it as an acquired taste. At first, I didn't enjoy it, I didn't really get the appeal. I don't love it now, but I can appreciate it much more. And Treasury is STILL the best song in the game. I don't need to say this, it's already been said a hundred times before, but the atmosphere is great, and the music definitely adds to that. I like the new additions and mechanics, such as mid air control, 8-direction whipping, whip swinging (this is my favorite), flaccid whip (kinda wish this could've been mapped to L button or somethin though), etc, etc. Now let's get to the bad parts. First of all, this isn't really part of the game, this game is HELLA overrated. Second, the level design is not good. Third, this isn't something I find that big a deal as other people, but the weapon balancing is weird, too (whip good, cross good, everything else SUCKS). Fourth, ALL OF STAGE 8. And you may think, "These complaints seem minor for the game to get a 6/10 rating." And to that, I would agree. As I said before, I don't really know how to explain why I dislike this game, I just do. Consider me a member of the Super Castlevania IV haters. This game, frankly, isn't that super.

Also...what the hell? Why does everyone say this game is easy? Definitely one of the hardest Classicvanias I've played, second to probably Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.

Es el primer Castlevania que juego y que maravilla, como no habia jugado esta joyita antes? se siente muy bien de controlar al personaje, la musica es jodidamente increible (el tema de Simon Belmont es de los mejores temas de videojuegos con musica retro que existen) y el diseño de niveles tambien es increible. SCIV No se siente para nada oxidado a dia de hoy, el gameplay es muy fluido y jugandolo me olvide completamente que estaba jugando un videojuego de hace mas de 30 años atras, recomendadisimo.
Me genero mucho hype y expectativas por Rondo Of Blood y Symphony of the Night (que seran los 2 siguientes Castlevania que juegue)

The first 16 bit CastleVania has us back in control of Simon Belmont as he, once again, wants to kill Dracula.

Despite being reboot of the original, there is still very little story, it's just an excuse to go back to basics. No more non-linearity, no more extra playable characters or hidden stages, we're back to a straight shot formula as you battle through many levels and bosses to your final confrontation with Dracula at the top of the grand staircase.

The adventure is much larger this time, and also significantly easier, while the game still doesn't pull it's punches with tough level obstacles, the control has been improved greatly. Simon can influence his jump in midair, drop through the stairs, can aim his whip in 8 directions, and even dangle his whip to deal with awkward enemies. Sub weapons are now equipped to shoulder buttons making them much easier to use, and generally enemies are less of a hassle to deal with, even bosses which fall apart so fast when you learn their patterns.

It's still a really hard game, some levels still have unfair moments and bullshit enemy placement. But it's overall a much more balanced experience... which loses points for playing it so safe.

While a huge improvement gameplay wise, it's a shame it strips back on the ideas 2 and 3 tried to implement. Just because they didn't work the first time doesn't mean they can't ever. While still a fun game, SCIV is a fun one - 7/10

Castlevania IV is an odd game, but a good one. It feels like the designers are beginning to move towards the feel of the more modern games while still using the structure and ideas of the NES trilogy. Typical for an early SNES game, it feels more like an NES game than like the system's later and more polished experiences. To this end, the controls have been improved, but there's still some stiffness to be felt in the jumps and knockback physics. Overall, it's a game that falls right in line with the first and third games.

Is it really a hot take to say that while I do think the improvements made to this game are definitely the highlight of it, the game itself feels like a step back in a few places. I'll start off with that Simon controls amazingly here, he's so capable of doing things he couldn't normally do in any Castlevania game. However, I do think this comes with a downside, because he is so capable now a lot of what made Castlevanias challenge is seemingly gone. Take the sub weapons for example, what purpose does the axe serve now if Simon can just whip up and diagonally? What does the holy water serve if the whip is the best course of action to tackle anything. I feel like they made the whip way too good in this game that in the first few stages the game practically plays itself. While accessibility is not an issue, part of what made the original castlevanias so charming is that they were challenging. Every sub weapon served a purpose and was supposed to be use for the situations at hand because the whip itself was very limiting.
But yeah, that's just what I think, this game at the end of the day can still be fun at times so it's not bad by any means. Just wanted to point it out, while its not my favorite. This one is definitely a good entry in the series.

This is both 1 or 1.5 stars really. The first half can be beaten by a 4-year-old; the game only really starts in the second half. The first half is so... yawn... They start the first level with a cool gimmick, only to never use it again. Some guy once said this is the Mega Man 5 of Castlevania games yet he wasn't wrong at all, everything dies with ease with the whip, and the weapons are mostly useless. The diagonal whip isn't bad, the first half is yawn with or without it anyways, half the time you take damage is because they make the enemy blend in with the ambient or because you get lost sometimes.
The game is actually nice looking for once, what isn't nice are the bosses (again), I don't remember 100% of it because I have beaten the game the same day I started, what I remember is mindlessly mashing to kill the bosses, some of the last ones actually had pattern you had to learn, but they were either annoying or just plain out repetitive, but hey, gotta give it to this game for having the first good boss in the franchise after all the load of shit, it's the very last one and he's just okay, but a huge step up from the rest of them. The levels in the second half of the game are pretty average, their quality is very inconsistent, sometimes they have fun challenges then 2 seconds later, Simon gets jumpscared by a giant gear, or you wanna get past a pit, and they spawn an enemy the moment you get at the very ledge 0.001 seconds before you jump. Teaching elements can be questionable, sometimes they introduce an enemy with 2 other enemies, you get past a platforming gimmick and when ur forced to use it you die because you didn't know that this one platform would flip, or there is this weird thing spinning around then suddenly it kills you because you're meant to go up before it gets to you.
The major praise I have is the enemy variety, almost every level has a new enemy, even if some of them are from other games. Overall It has a boring first half, average second, bosses are still bad, hitboxes are funky sometimes, nice music I guess, and the diagonal whip and easier movement isn't something I cared a lot about, it fits the second half but doesn't make a difference at the first. Can these games get good already? before I get salty replies

Castlevania makes its jump to the Super Nintendo, with Super Castlevania IV!
In spite of its title, this game is more of a re-imagining of the events of the original Castlevania, rather than being a sequel or anything of the sort.
There are some similarities with the original NES title, but a lot that you'll see here is brand new, and also showcases the power that the Super Nintendo has.

Super Castlevania IV is perhaps one of the best showcases of a console I've seen. Like yeah, it's not perfect, and there's plenty of slowdown when there's many things of screens, or when you're in one of those Mode 7 sections, but graphically, this game is very impressive.

Sprites are very detailed, backgrounds have many colors to them, and you can instantly recognize what type of stage it is by them, and there's so much variety in the places you traverse.

Just like Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, it takes a while for Simon Belmont to get to the actual castle.
You go from forests, to caves, to aquatic ruins up until you reach Castlevania itself in Stage 6. Then certain things will play out like the original game, but only really in concept, like falling down a hole to reach an underground layer of the castle, but the stage here looks much different than last time, and it takes a while longer for Simon to reach to the top of the castle.

While this game has some hard parts here and there, like Slogra being the bane of my existence, or Stage 8 having many spikes that are one-hit kills, Super Castlevania IV is much easier than Castlevania I and especially Castlevania III.

Not only is the level design this time around much less punishing, and there's way less bullshit enemy placements, Simon himself not only has mid-air control, but he can also whip in multiple directions, and jump off or on stairs with ease!

In addition to him being able to use the Vampire Killer to swing from specific chains, this game has some of the best controls in a Classic Castlevania game!

And the soundtrack, oh baby, that soundtrack!
Even though I never grew up with a Super Nintendo, I've always been a fan of its sound chip ever since I was young, and Super Castlevania IV puts it to good use, being able to pull off atmospheric music, while being pretty catchy!
There are so many themes I like, from Stage 2's theme, to the Prologue theme, to the theme that plays at the end of Stage 5, to Stage 9's theme, to of course, Simon's theme, which makes you feel like a badass, especially when it plays during the final part of Dracula's fight!

As you can probably tell already, while it's not perfect, Super Castlevania IV is my favourite Classic Castlevania game, and one of my favourites in the franchise. For being a game that came close to the Super Nintendo's launch, it's amazing how well this game has aged, and how fun it still is to this day!
It's a high recommendation from me!

After recently beating Castlevania 1 and 3 for the first time, I was very excited for this - and rightfully so. The graphics, of course, are superb. The pixel art still looks phenomenal, and the atmosphere is absolutely captivating. I can't imagine what it must have been like to play this back in the days.

The gameplay feels a lot more polished, though not as much as I had hoped. Being able to swing the whip in 8 directions was great, but especially whipping down-left or down-right while jumping was kinda clunky.
Speaking of clunky - the stairs are a lot more manageable, though still a little annoying. I wish they functioned a little more like in Super Mario World, for example, for I found myself often sticking to them when actually trying to jump over them.

This might be controversial, but I didn't enjoy the OST as much as in the NES games. They opted for a lot of rather ambient tracks, while I loved the many thrilling jams of the older games much more. Even the tracks that are supposed to feel thrilling sound a little dull to me, compared to the NES games. Guess I just don't like the soundfont.

What I also didn't enjoy as much was the inclusion of traps that you can't react to quick enough. Of course, it makes total sense for Draculas castle to have these kind of traps - gameplay-wise, I don't enjoy random deaths to stuff I couldn't see coming. Reminded me of I wanna be the Guy, but there you at least don't have to restart the whole level over again.

Still, the difficulty was much more managable compared to the NES titles. The difficulty curve felt quite well crafted, an exception being a few annoyingly hard difficulty spikes throughout the game.

The highlight of the game - as it should be - was the finale. The small boss rush before Dracula, the music, the torches that flare up as you walk past them - masterfully executed, and it really got you wrapped up in the atmosphere and hyped up for the last fight of the game.

So, although I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected, thanks to some leftover-jank and unfairness, this is rightfully considered a must play for the SNES.

Castlevania Perfected. If your familiar with the original Castlevania this game is a treat. It starts out quiet for you to collect your bearings, you realize how slick the whip is now and the improvements to stairs. The game feels like sutch an improvement without making it to easy.

What I felt could have been better. The sound track, while nice and I did like it didn't hit as hard as past games. Felt like a more chill version of the tracks vs the exciting adventure we got used to. Also stage A and B had sutch a jump in difficulty, I went from killing bosses in 2 seconds to to actually having to figure them out. The bosses were never unreasonably dificut except maby the stages themselves but they were very unforgiving and I felt the difficulty could have been ramped more insted of this spike.

Level design: 10\10;
Gráfico: 10\10;
Gameplay: 9\10;
Diversificação: 8\10;
Trilha: 9\10;
História: 8\10;
Fator replay: 8\10.

A great game that felt refreshing after playing the earlier games. This game introduced new mechanics, such as being able to use your whip as a grapple and being able to whip upwards and diagonally. Both of these mechanics made this game feel a lot more enjoyable than the earlier entries. It made the game feel less cheap in terms of enemy placement.

The pixel art was beautiful and really showed off what the SNES could achieve. The bosses were all amazing, except for 1 or 2 that felt a bit boring. The OST didn't disappoint either. Especially when my favourite tracks, Bloody Tears and Vampire Killer, showed up during the SAME level.

If you haven't played this one and like other Castlevania games (or even if you've never played a Castlevania before), try this one, it won't disappoint.