Ultimate Guide: Super Castlevania IV
Remasters are all the rage these days, but back in 1991 Konami released a sequel that had more than a whiff of familiarity to it. So join us as we embark on Simon’s Belmont’s greatest quest of all time
Darran reveals why Konami’s first 16-bit Castlevania remains a highlight of the franchise
Konami’s Castlevania franchise has a reputation for strong atmosphere, but few games in the series come close to capturing the sheer dark majesty of Super Castlevania IV – confusingly, the eighth main game in the series on its release. Fittingly released in time for Halloween in Japan in 1991 and overseen by Masahiro Ueno (who was credited as Jun Furano), the eighth Castlevania game is a spectacular addition to the series, even if some fans felt it was something of a step back after experiencing Dracula’s Curse on the NES.
It’s a fair assessment to make, in retrospect, as mechanically Ueno’s game would have certainly felt a little lacking to anyone that had experienced the branching stages, multiple endings and extra characters that all featured in Konami’s third Castlevania NES adventure. This is partly because Ueno saw his game as something of a remake of the original NES classic he used to enjoy playing (albeit with a few additional quality-of-life additions), and also because Ueno and his small team began work on Castlevania IV while Dracula’s Curse was still in development (you can read more in Retro Gamer 119). As a result, Super Castlevania IV is perhaps best described as a remix of the NES original, retelling the story of Simon Belmont’s fight against Dracula, but adding new stages, bosses and greatly enhanced audio. Think of Ueno as a storyteller spinning a yarn to a group of entranced listeners around a campfire, embellishing the well-known tale with additional flourishes that no one in the crowd would have heard before.
This reimagining of the earlier Castlevania games – and Ueno played all of them while working on his 16-bit adventure – meant the series returned to its arcade-like origins and dropped the RPG elements that Konami had first introduced in Castlevania II. It also meant a more linear structure through each level, which again, was more in line with the exploration that featured in the first NES Castlevania game. It’s worth remembering, though, that the Super Nintendo was a very capable console compared to the NES, and the added razzmatazz found in
the machine’s 16-bit innards meant Ueno and his team were able to deliver an adventure that felt suitably different to those games that had come before it, even if there was a distinct whiff of familiarity to some of the locations.
Indeed, one of the most fulfilling aspects of Super Castlevania IV is just how epic Simon’s quest still feels. While it retains the 2D level structure of every Castlevania before it, there’s a staggering amount of variety to the game’s environments, a diversity that’s further enhanced by the game’s incredible score.
Before you’ve even reached the drawbridge that leads into Dracula’s castle, you’ll have traversed a haunted stable, cautiously made your way through an overgrown graveyard, climbed up the slippery stone remnants of an abandoned waterfall, fought through a gigantic cavern and, in one of the game’s most stunning setpieces, battled skeletons in a revolving underground tunnel. Like Super Metroid, which would arrive several years later, the levels of Super Castlevania IV somehow feel alive and real, thanks to neat environmental details like leaves blowing in the wind, droplets of water spilling down from stalactites, or the ominous clouds that rush through the darkened skies as your press forward on your important quest. If we had one complaint about Konami’s action hit, it’s that some of the colour choices feel garish as your quest begins, but this soon fades the deeper you descend into Dracula’s sanctum.
If certain elements of this macabre classic do sometimes falter in the graphics department, the same can’t be said for Super Castlevania IV’S exceptional score. It’s a wonderful, eclectic collection of tunes with a tremendous amount of range that truly pushes what you’d expect to hear from the console’s S-SMP sound chip. Sampled music in videogames certainly wasn’t new when Super Castlevania IV debuted, but the sheer ambition of composers