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.

beautiful Graphics, great variety in levels, oozing with spooky atmosphere and one of the best soundtracks of the 16 bit era , however the only thing that keeps this from getting a perfect score is the difficulty spikes. not all of the NES era horseshit is gone from this game. hell if I didn't know about the hanging whip exploit, I would've never beaten the grim reaper. some of the difficulty spikes are truly horsehit especially towards the end but this is still one of the greatest games on the super nintendo

Despite the title, this is actually more of a remake of the original Castlevania than anything (which is why the title is the same as the original in Japanese). Coming out in the first year of the Super Famicom and SNES, it still manages to be a really impressive entry for both the series and the console. This is the only entry on this list that I've beaten before, so while it has been years since I did so, this was ultimately a re-experience of this game rather than my first completion, so it didn't take me that long or that many save states to do it (save states were once again more of an infrequently used convenience thing rather than used out of necessity).

While in spirit this is certainly a remake of the original Famicom game, the content of it is anything but. Along with the addition of a "trek through Transylvania" lead up to Dracula's castle, even Dracula's castle is completely different from the NES original. The only real relation to the original is that it's once again Simon Belmont's quest to kill Dracula, and from there on out proceeds to be an entirely different Castlevania game. That said, it's still a very good and very impressive Castlevania game.

Once again we have linear stages, temporary whip upgrades, subweapons (you know the drill by now), but there are a few very interesting mechanical changes to how you play this Castlevania. Most important to mention is how your whip works: You can whip in EIGHT whole directions! You can even hold the whip button down to let it go limp and then you can flick it in any direction with the D-pad for a weak bit of damage. Additionally, the subweapon button has been bound to the R button instead of up + attack, so you can finally stop worrying about accidentally trying to use your subweapon while trying to climb some stairs and attacking XD. Even Simon himself has a real fluidity to it, and a level of maneuverability and play control rarely seen among the classic Castlevania games. You can even jump onto staircases! It provides a sense of control that I find really engaging, and that's a bit part of why this is my favorite game on the Anniversary Collection.

Level design is varied and interesting, and there are even new platforming mechanics to take advantage of your new whip abilities by means of grapple points Simon can swing from. The game as a whole has a very fair level of challenge to it. I would say it's probably one of the most fair-feeling out of any of the games on the Anniversary Collection. Part of this is definitely down to just how versatile Simon's move set is, but part of it is also definitely down to how tight the level design is and how well balanced the bosses feel. This game has a bunch of bosses that all feel good to fight, and the difficulty curve of the game is also well done so you don't really have huge walls of difficulty in the middle of the game.

The presentation is once again excellent, with a rocking soundtrack of remixes of old tunes along with new tracks, and the graphics are excellent as well. I can't help but feel that, had this come out a year or two later and Konami had had more experience with the SFC sound chip, the music would be even better, but what's here is still really impressive for such a relatively early SFC game.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. This is right up there with Rondo of Blood for me as an impeccable classic Castlevania game. I know there are many who prefer the Mega Drive game, and I know that there are many who also find this game a bit too different to feel comfortable with it compared to the other Castlevanias, but those elements of difference are part of what makes this such a brilliant entry in the series. Despite the fact that I'd easily call Rondo of Blood the better overall game, this game is just so good for pick up and play action that I'd frankly recommend this first over that one.

This is the first Classicvania game I’ve played, and it has won me over. Super Castlevania IV is frenetic fun, and I found myself greatly appreciating its simplicity. The gameplay is very straightforward, you must progress through linear stages, using your whip and a sub weapon to defeat enemies that obstruct you, whilst managing your health and lives so that you have enough to vanquish each concluding boss. The draw of it is learning from each mistake or death, then adjusting and optimising your approach accordingly, so that you can get a clean clear of each stage.

Initially I felt a great rush completing a stage, as the limited lives system urges you to lock in and play precisely, however later stages become bloated endurance tests, with an increase in awkward enemy positioning, and atrocious platforming, where making a mistake often results in an instant death and reset. Thankfully though this can be mitigated by the use of save states. These stages also exacerbate the issues with the boss battles, as you frequently reach these with less resources to expend. Unfortunately, the majority of boss battles in Super Castlevania IV are frustrating because the arenas are too small, bosses recurrently bump into you and many attacks feel unavoidable, as a result they are more so a test of if you can initiate the fight with full health and lots of hearts so that you are able to out DPS them, rather than that of positioning, reflexes and recognising patterns. Regardless there are some exceptions, such as Dracula which is a tremendous but difficult fight.

Overall, I really enjoyed my first foray into classic Castlevania, however I feel like because of my use of save states in the latter half of the game, I circumvented a lot of frustration and tedium. I also derived additional enjoyment from playing this handheld on my RG35XX, a vertical Anbernic emulation device modelled after the original Gameboy, which I can’t shill for enough.

So you are telling that not only has the Count tried to destroy an entire country multiple times employing the foulest, most monstrous forces ever conceived… but he’s also hoarding riches and making entire pools out of them Scrooge McDuck style? He really is a monster!

No but really, the fact that money can literally kill you is some next level commentary through gaming, Konami really was onto something back in the day…

Castlevania IV is… weird, and not because it differs a ton from its peers, but because of the complete opposite reason: the original NES/Famicon trilogy, as unabashedly hard and obtuse as it could get, was probably some of the most unique and impressive collection of games hat the 8-bit machine had to offer, but not only compared to other games, amongst themselves. For better and sometimes for the worse, each of the games are so distinct from each other at their core that if the team really wanted to, they could have created another two IPs, but they still feel deeply tied with one another and the connections, evolution and experimentation are what make them such an impressive trilogy. Even when Dracula’s Curse went back to a closer style of gameplay to that of the first one, it still felt different, but no matter what, it always felt like Castlevania. And hey, IV does feel like Castlevania too!

… and that’s about it…

Well, actually, even if it seems like I’m presenting that as a complete negative, that would imply this series isn’t the amazing bastion that is, and if even the first game in the series was already bringing the console it was on to its limits, Super Castlevania IV wasn’t going to break tradition: this game. Is. GORGEOUS. Some backgrounds aren’t the prettiest and some color selection stuck out to me as, to put it bluntly, pretty jarring, but I think that’s because the rest of the game establishes a standard that of the Mona Lisa. Simon and the foes he must face look flawlessly, perfectly horrifying, beautifully haunting, every single returning face is the most perfect translation into the 16 bit realm you could think of, and every new enemy fits with the crew like they’ve always been there. There’s a clear and palpable desire to make what wasn’t possible before, a wish to make the macabre feel alive coming being realized, make levels shift and spin in impossible ways, hearing the howls and growls of beasts as you make them fall, it’s uncanny in the best way imaginable. Even as someone who doesn’t really enjoy this OST compared to what previous outings had to offer, it offers that characteristic SNES ambience sounds that I enjoy and many people love, and for good reason.

Castlevania IV feels like the team behind it decided to make what they wished they could have done on their first go, and I mean, it’s meant to be a re-telling of that original adventure, but even beyond that, its otherworldly detail, its focus on ambience, its desire to be even bigger and greater, none of the stuff that IV does could have been done before… at least partially.

I wouldn’t call the game ‘’derivative’’ as much as I’d call I ‘’inconsistent’’, one moment you are presented with a super cool new idea, like the reworked whip and its seemingly endless possible uses, and right after you realize that, aside from the fact you can hook and balance through certain levels which is amazing, this is just more of what was seen in Dracula’s Curse, except it’s not even close to being as fun or inspired. Many of the hazards and level ideas are entirely lifted from that of the last NES entry, and when they aren’t that, either it’s because they are either a minor spin on a preexisting idea, an actually super cool challenge or layout that only gets used once and then forgotten, or a very simplistic and/or dreadful thing to have to repeat over than over, and let me restate, the original trilogy wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of completely fair design, but one thing is to be a meanie with the player, and then there’s the boss rush before Dracula that’s in her which… that’s just evil, man…

The game takes a ton of ideas from the works that preceeded it without really having the same tact or mindful design as something like the Clockwork Tower in Dracula’s Curse had, and even if it has snippets of excellent, creative concepts that make up for pretty fun parts of levels, it doesn’t last long before we are back to ideas already seen or that don’t really work. Even the aforementioned new whip control, which I fucking love, aren’t really that compelling to use simply because, aside of some instances when being on ladders, hitting an enemy that’s on an upper platform or when being swarmed by birds, there aren’t really a ton of instances where using it feels fun or well-thought out. Enemies still behave like they did the last three times, the only exception being the bosses, who are easy to kill at best or obnoxious at worst, so it’s not like they are the best example, to be honest.

It tries to tell a story that was already told by expanding it, but its idea of expansion is grafting more levels onto it that tell a part of the story that wasn’t necessary on the original and that, without the path feature from III, feels tacked on and is only saved because of how some scattered levels like Stage IV are pretty memorable, and that’s the thing, it can be fun, it can be creative, and in some places and moments, it clearly is, but it seems afraid to stay out of the shadow of its older brothers.

Effects may be pretty and the sounds stunning, but IV doesn’t aspire to be anything more than yet another vampire vanquishing adventure, and so its destined to be stuck at the halfway point, one that needs to be compensated with instant deaths and immediate fail-states, ‘cause no matter what, the game has to be difficult, this is Castlevania after all, no matter the cost…

It still isn’t quite what I feared Dracula’s Curse was gonna be, but it isn’t far from it either… moon-walking on stairs in the best thing in any of these games tho!

Lembra de quando remakes tinham qualidade, e ofereciam produtos realmente novos, e experiências elevadas ao título original? Eu também não, eu nem era vivo quando Super Castlevania IV saiu, mas ele é exatamente isso, uma reimaginação da primeira aventura da saga, que excede Castlevania 1 em todos os aspectos, seja história (beirei o orgasmo na fase que recria o primeiro estágio do primeiro jogo), gameplay, level design, qualidade dos sprites, ou trilha sonora.
Sem duvidas um dos melhores classicvanias por aí, rivalizando com Rondo of Blood. O porquê da mecânica nova do chicote não ter prevalecido nos títulos posteriores é um mistério que nem Koji Igarachi saberia me responder, absolutamente perfeita.