Collection essentials #258: Super Castlevania IV (SNES)

The Konami parade continues, with a series I’ve already talked about a few times before. For one of their first SNES games, they decided to do a sort of reimagining of the first game rather than build on the foundation of Castlevania III. So gone are the branching paths and multiple playable characters from that game. But that doesn’t necessarily mean Super Castlevania IV is a downgrade.

Super Castlevania IV takes advantage of what was then a new console in a few ways. Obviously the improved graphics and audio were very welcome, especially for a series that has an appealing setting and vibe like Castlevania. The new controller layout provided more buttons, so now the sub weapon can be used without holding up on the d-pad while pressing the attack button, so that’s nice. And the “Mode 7” capabilities, which allow the rotation of graphical layers, are utilized effectively in one level in one “rotating room” level. The soundtrack is quite nice, and I’m particularly fond of the “Chandeliers” track.

The biggest gameplay change in this game is the greatly-enhanced capabilities of the whip. In the previous games, the whip could only be used directly in front of the player, and not upward or downward. But in this game, the whip can go in all eight directions that are possible on the d-pad, and it can also grow longer when powered up. This really changes the gameplay quite a bit. Wielding the powerful whip can be really fun, and many fans love it. But others argue that buffing the whip this much is a mistake, an opinion that was famously expressed by a YouTuber named Egoraptor back in 2012. The thing is, the whip not being very strong in the other games made the other weapons more viable, and required the player to be more careful and strategic in their approach to enemies. But this game’s powerful whip makes combat a lot more simple and less challenging. There are still various weapons to use, but they’re not all that useful as they don’t tend to provide much advantage over just using the whip. 

Super Castlevania IV is a really popular game in the series, no doubt because it was a beloved nostalgic childhood game for many fans. Sadly, I never got to play it in my early childhood, even though I had heard of Castlevania while I was still small. The first games in the series I played were ones that came later, and this one I wound up getting in 2005, the very copy shown in the photo with the box and everything. I was still a young teen, but this game didn’t become a big early-life nostalgia title for me. I certainly enjoyed it, though I found some of the late-game level design a little bit unfair which curbed that enjoyment a bit. So I don’t hail it as one of the very best Castlevanias as some do, but I also do think this game’s unique whip controls give it a certain appeal that the other games don’t. It’s still old school Konami essential material in my book.