Super Castlevania IV

About This Game

Gameplay

Super Castlevania IV is a platform game where the player takes control of Simon through eleven levels. Players begin the game with five lives, and it ends in a game over once they have lost them all. The player will lose a life if all of Simon's health gauge is depleted, fall into a hole or if they do not finish the level within the time limit. The health gauge can be restored through food items that can be dropped from candles and breakable blocks, or with the Magic Crystal, which is received after defeating the boss at the end of each level. A password can be entered to continue the game. With Simon's whip, players can attack enemies in eight directions with the use of the control pad. By holding down the attack button, the whip will go limp and can be waved around with the control pad, which can be used to block projectiles and hit enemies (albeit for much less damage). The length and power of the whip can be increased up to two levels by collecting an item called the Morning Star. The whip is used for fighting and for latching onto rings to swing over areas that are too wide or dangerous for the player to jump across.

History

Super Castlevania IV was directed by Masahiro Ueno (credited in the game as Jun Furano since Konami did not allow the use of real names at the time), who was also the main programmer. His first 16-bit game, Ueno's team possibly started development on it during 1989. Ueno liked the original Castlevania for the Nintendo Entertainment System the most and wanted to make a pure action game that was similar to it. Ueno only considers Super Castlevania IV a remake of the original Castlevania to some extent. Early design documents depict the player-character in modern attire, since the setting was not decided at the time. Many features in Super Castlevania IV were introduced to make it a less frustrating game for players, such as giving them more control over Simon when he walked up stairs.