Reviews

Super Castlevania 4

By Corey

Super Castlevania 4 was the first attempt at a Castlevania game on the SNES. In all reality, it was really more of a remake of the orginal Castlevania for the NES.

Graphics: 8

Pretty sweet graphics for the early days of the SNES. There are a lot of bright colors, most of the backrounds are highly detailed and nothing has a boring look to it. On the other hand, when there are a lot of enemies on screen or projectiles all over the place, slowdown is present and it is present a lot. This gets a little annoying, but doesn't hamper Game Play much at all.

Game Play: 10

Everything you want for 2D platformers is in this game. You got the timed jumps, the well placed enemies, extremely tough bosses, and a vampire killer whip. This game is simple to play (move right, kill an enemy, jump, move right), but is very tough to master. As the levels pass, making the jumps is harder (stupid bats!), enemies do more damage, and the hasterdous areas (spikes, acid, etc) increase. The occasional puzzle may take you by surprise, but they are very easy to get by and are rare.

You get special weapons to use too. Whip a candle and you'll get money (points), hearts (your ammo), or a special weapon (knife, axe, clock, holy water, bommerang). You can only carry one special weapn at once so be sure not to accitently pick up something you don't want. Having the right special weapon may be key to deafeating the boss at the end of the level too.

Sound: 7

To be honest, you don't notice the sound much. You can hear the enemies die and the cracks of the whip, but you are consentrating on the Game Play to notice anything major. The music is decent, but some tracks are recycled. Overall it sets the mood for the level pretty well.

Lasting Value: 7

The game isn't that large. However, the difficulty of the game may keep you playing a lot.

Bottom Line

Super Castlevania 4 for the SNES is one of the better games for the platform. The difficulty of the game may be too much for a select few of gamers, but for the most part you'll be willing to put up a tough fight.

Final Score: 9 out of 10 (this is not an average)