Super Castlevania IV



The first Super Nintendo Entertainment System entry in the ever popular Castlevania series.

A retelling of Simon Belmont's first go at Dracula's castle (Just so you know, in Japan, the game is simply called Akumajo Dracula, which is the same title the original game had).

It was one of the first games to appear on the Super NES, and was an exceptional display of the console's layering and Mode 7 graphical capabilities.

Super Castlevania IV provides examples of:

 * Bottomless Pits: In an interesting variation, when you're in an area that scrolls up, any platform that is scrolled off even one pixel below the bottom of the screen effectively ceases to exist--if you try to jump onto such a platform, you're instead greeted with Simon grunting and your Life Meter emptying out.
 * Level 2-1 had a handwave showing spikes in the upcoming pit before Simon traversed enough stairs to make them offscreen.
 * Bowdlerise: The US port imposed bouts of censorship on the game, including removing the nipples off the bare-chested Medusa, covering up some topless statues, chaning the buckets of blood in stage 8 into green slime, and making Simon's whip sound mushier and less like a real chain-whip would.
 * Building Swing: Some objects you could hook onto would let you swing Simon across gaps and hard-to-reach items.
 * Capcom Sequel Stagnation: This is one of 8 games that detail Simon Belmont's assault on Dracula's castle in 1691.
 * Dance Battler: The waltzing ghost bosses.
 * Darker and Edgier than the original Castlevania in its music.
 * Degraded Boss: Slogra and Gaibon first debuted in this game. They were the fourth and third-to-last bosses in the game (followed by Death) with only 2 pot roasts between them. Oh, and the next continue point is after you fight all three bosses. This is when they were at the height of their power, and were degraded in later Castlevania games.
 * Symphony of the Night: Not only are they the Warmup Boss, but they are also a Dual Boss.
 * Dawn of Sorrow: Now they are just normal enemies. Sometimes you will face pairs of them in the same room. At least the boss of the section they are in is still Death. (The game's bestiary, and Portrait of Ruin after it, establish once and for all that they serve him directly.)
 * Harmony of Despair: Again, just normal enemies, sometimes showing up as multiples in the same room.
 * Difficulty Spike: Blocks 3-2 and 3-3 are arguably when the game decides to stop pulling its punches. Given that the average player likely breezed through the first two stages with few problems, it suddenly comes as quite a wake up call.
 * Everything Is Trying to Kill You A sentient demonic table?! (Block 6-3)
 * Inconsistent Translation: The exact placement of Super Castlevania IV in the Castlevania canon (whether it's a retelling of the original or a sequel to Simon's Quest) has been under much speculation for years among English-speaking fans due to the inconsistent translation that was given to the opening intro. On one hand, the intro clearly states that the last time the Belmonts fought Dracula was over a century ago. On the other hand, it also says that Simon must "once again" fight Dracula, implying that Simon fought him before. This dilemma has since been clarified by official websites and sources, clearly establishing Castlevania IV as a remake.
 * Jump Physics: Finally, a Belmont that can control his jump in mid-air!
 * Near-Victory Fanfare: Once you get Dracula below half his health, Simon Belmont's theme replaces Dracula's on the soundtrack.
 * Nintendo Hard: the whipping may get rid of the Goddamned Bats, but the platforms are a BILLION TIMES HARDER!
 * One to Million to One: Akmodan II, who teleports as a stream of loose bandages.
 * Punny Name: The names of the dancing ghosts boss in stage 6 are Paula Abghoul and Fred Ascare.
 * Sdrawkcab Name: A few of the bosses, including Koranot (Ton 'o' Rock) and Puwexil (Licks You Up).
 * Shout-Out: In the American version's manual, the dancing ghosts are given the names of Paula Abghoul and Fred Askare, after, who else but professional dancers Paula Abdul and Fred Astaire.
 * Tech Demo Game/Visual Effects of Awesome: Konami made excellent use of the barely-utilized Mode 7 graphics system. The rotating rooms, swinging chandeliers, and Technicolor Death of many bosses looked great. Of course, that was back in 1991.
 * Theme Music Power-Up: After you've finally drained Dracula's health bar enough for him to turn into his second form this piece of epicness begins to play it also happens to be the main character's theme song and first level's theme.
 * Unique Enemy: A few, most notably the giant centipede in the library, which can be killed before it leaves the screen by whipping it in the head fast enough.
 * Whip It Good: Brought to the pinnacle of video game perfection. Simon can whip in any of the eight directions and can control his whip when brandishing it about as realistically as you could in real life.