Castlevania at its absolute best.
The graphics in Super Castlevania are absolutely phenomenal. The characters are beautifully detailed with even the smallest detail visible. The backgrounds provide a beautiful world that immerses you into the game. Super Castlevania also was one of the first SNES games to showcase the famous Mode 7 graphics capabilities of the SNES. A couple of levels that have the background rotating were where the Mode 7 abilities were put to use. It may not be such a cool effect by today’s standards, but back then it was huge technical leap in gaming technology. Another great strength is the music. It starts off with a bang with the first level’s theme. It is one of my all time favorites in any video game then or now. The music definitely increases the atmosphere exponentially by setting the appropriate mood on each level. I am still impressed with the quality of the music despite the limitations of the cartridge format. The game play is typical Castlevania with simple play controls and above average difficulty. There was some added functionality to your whip which allows you to swing at certain points. It took some getting used to, but wasn’t really much of a problem. Anyone who has played a Castlevania game up to this point knows they are not easy games to breeze through. It may be a difficult game, but I felt it was more balanced and didn’t feel the difficultly came from cheap shots.
Even after I completed this game, I would play through it over and over again. I used to only do this when I only had a handful of games in my collection. To actually have me go and play a game again and again because I enjoyed it is rare. The SNES isn’t one of my top systems, but Super Castlevania IV is one of my all time favorite games.