Sunday 8 July 2012

Castlevania Series Run: Super Castlevania 4

With the 3 NES games done and dusted it was time to start whipping Dracula's face in 16 bits!  The first game on this list was Super Castlevania 4 for the Super Nintendo

Although we have a problem right here, I gushed pretty hard about castlevania 1 and 3 and this is pretty much the same stuff again, but now in 16 bits.  The level design is clever and makes good use of that Super Nintendo hardware, the bosses are cool and the game is challenging as usual so there isn't really much to say that you havn't already heard before, generally speaking.

However, when talking about the challenge in this game, I'm not talking about the bullshit NES Castlevania challenge, where the game will kill you for some bullshit monster placement or flying back into insta-death pits.  Super Castlevania 4 is all fair challenge, and if your die it's your fuckin' fault.  It's an incredibly simple innovation that gives the game this sense of fair play, and that's the ability to whip in 8 different directions.  No longer those Medusa heads get a cheap hit in because they were underneath you.  No longer do those annoying as shit crows get to peck chunks of your life bar off because they were too high to hit.  Being able to whip 8 ways is a simple yet effective way to make the game feel fair, but without making it easy.

Don't think that just because Konami didn't want to fuck you over on mechanics that the series has lost it's challenge.  Chances are you're going to get your ass kicked a few times, but I don't think fans of castlevania would want it any other way.

So yeah, this post is a little short but it's hard to say a lot about a game this good when I've already said all the good stuff in previous posts.  Anyway just check it out, it's a fantastic game and if you haven't played it already, SHAME ON YOU! go do it right now.

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