5/5 ★ – RawMetal's review of Super Castlevania IV.

System: Super Nintendo Started: October 1, 2015 Ended: October 31, 2015 Flashback Review October 2015 was the time I started the Castlevania franchise and have been playing every entry for October every year. The very first time I heard about the series was mainly through YouTube, notably The Angry Video Game Nerd, who is openly a fan of the classic franchise. I also knew a friend of mine from high school who is a huge fan of the series that we had a group session with friends on a Friday night at his place and played a few Castlevania games like Harmony of Despair, M.U.G.E.N.’s Sereo’s Castlevania Fighters, and even Castlevania: The Adventures ReBirth with friends and that alone made me want to try out the games. I managed to find a Super Nintendo copy of Super Castlevania IV at a retro gaming convention and eventually started playing it at midnight on October 1st with the lights off in my room and was completely hooked by one of the best openings I had ever witnessed. Super Castlevania IV was so awesome that I proudly say it's the first Super Nintendo game I’ve ever beaten, and that memory of beating the game on a Halloween morning after playing the finale all night. Super Castlevania IV is actually a remake to the original game. Since it's now on the Super Nintendo, Konami literally ups the ante by showcasing its latest 16-bit graphics, sound system (including its awesome and highly memorable soundtrack), and using Mode 7 to show its 3D tricks, like the rotating room. Each level in this game is great. Especially in the first level, when Simon’s Theme plays, you already know you are going to have one great spooky adventure to infiltrate Dracula’s Castle. Simon Belmont plays a lot better than in the classic NES trilogy. You can now duck-walk to avoid incoming objects while moving forward. You can use the whip in eight directions and even hold the attack button while moving the D-Pad to swing the whip around. This could easily be the best traditional 2D Castlevania gameplay you can experience with these significant improvements. The difficulty of this game is fair but somewhat in most areas. I distinctly remember getting stuck on Stage 3, mostly at the waterfall segment, and had a difficult time getting past that. Again, this was my first time playing the game, so controlling Simon Belmont took some getting used to. He does feel stiff when jumping between gaps, and he falls like a stone if you fail the jump. It took me a while to beat it, mostly due to its difficulty, and I was playing other games during October. But once you beat this game, you immediately improve at that Castlevania platforming, and you can easily complete it again in a single day. If a newcomer asked me which Castlevania game to start with, it would easily be Super Castlevania IV. Just because of its traditional Castlevania gameplay from the original 8-bit era and the graphical power of the Super Nintendo, people might be turned away by its stiff-as-a-board gameplay, but once you get the feel of the game, you will soon learn to love it and want to check out the other good Castlevania games soon after. This game easily ranks in my top 5 Castlevania games; it is one of my absolute favorite games in the Super Nintendo library and one of my favorite games of all time. No excuses. Play this game.