It’s about time I got to beating Super Castlevania IV (SC4). I never saw this game anywhere as a kid, and played Symphony of the Night and the original NES game before even touching it. And then I just routinely put it off for no reason. Well okay, there was a reason. I’m not the biggest Castlevania fan, even if I enjoy most of the games. Usually, I get my fill after a few stages. Still, after beating several RPGs in a row I felt in the mood for an action game and knew I could handle beating an all-new one. So why not finally finish the most acclaimed game of the non-RPG Castlevanias?

In a slightly regressive move after creating only a direct sequel and a prequel to the original, Konami decided to make Super Castlevania IV a retelling of the original story. It seems odd to me to stick to an old storyline when they all require so little effort to begin with, and this is in all other senses a completely new game. Nobody could care less about the premise of the old Castlevania games, especially when everything else is new, but Konami’s idea is worth mentioning because of its weirdness.

The basic gameplay and weighty physics that define the Castlevania platformers are at the core here, but among the few changes here is a significantly major one that’s one of the most controversial additions to the often similar Castlevania series. Of course, I’m talking about the eight-directional whip aiming. I don’t think I need to explain the standard system in most CV games where you can only whip straight-ahead and twirl the whip, forcing a player commit very heavily to the movement they made while making an attack. This seemingly simple and natural change has a huge impact on everything about the game. You could even go as far as to say whip control IS Super Castlevania IV. It’s its signature feature and why many either find the game to be one of the best in the series or… not quite as high up there.

Starting where I began, the new whip aiming allows for many greater options and much more leniency when it comes to how the player approaches the enemies. Despite the fact that Simon Belmont moves at a similar speed and has the same heavy physics as most other Castlevania heroes, this is rarely felt as the whip aiming makes the player much more capable of moving when they want and how they want.

The stiff jump arc isn’t as punishable as it was before as a whip attack can cover a fall by killing an inconvenient enemy or projectile, and enemies aren’t as intimidating due to the variety of ways to approach. This greatly lowers the “planning and plotting” aspect of most other Castlevania games, where you make your way through a level slowly because it’s very difficult to reorient yourself if danger comes suddenly. It was a subtle area of strategy that’s almost never seen in platformers and one of the coolest things about the series.

Though Simon Belmont walks slowly the game feels far faster than other games in the series because there isn’t as much of a need to stop and be wary. Being able to move forward and attack competently at the same time isn’t a bad thing at all. In fact, Super Castlevania IV brings out the platforming elements of Castlevania more than any other game in the franchise. I’ve never seen a Castlevania game so much about short sudden movements rather than mechanically engaging a series of enemy attack patterns over and over. It crops up from time to time in any Castlevania game, sure, but there’s no doubt to me that many of SC4’s finest moments are the platforming segments.

Mode 7 graphics are used to some very cool effects here, such as the room rotating and disorienting tunnel rotating both seen in Stage 4. I was also taken aback by the large swinging chandeliers in Stage 5, which is easily my favorite effect and segment in the game. It’s a shame, then, that these unique platforming moments aren’t more common or spread out more evenly. For the most part, Super Castlevania IV has conventional Castlevania obstacles and not enough new things.

Another addition are the hooks that allow you to swing from your whip. I’m a big fan of this idea, but I don’t think its implementation adds a lot to this game. The swinging doesn’t feel as free and nimble as you might immediately expect which takes some of the possible exhilaration and fun out of it, and usually these hooks just substitute jumps for no significant difference in challenge. They certainly don’t detract from the game whatsoever, though I am put off by how the swing arc is usually misleading when it comes to implying how far you’ll jump when you let go.

The most common complaint about the whip aiming is that it all but destroys the purpose of sub-weapons. Sub-weapons in the other games are what gave you those increased methods of attacking and approaching, but with whip aiming they’re almost completely unnecessary and a total afterthought to both the developers and the players.

The challenge of SC4 isn’t high enough to warrant the need of extra attacks a second against, say, a boss, and due to only being able to hold one sub-weapon at a time the rare case where one might be useful in SC4 is so incredibly situational that it’s unlikely it’s going to be there. Though this does lower the value of Hearts to almost nothing, I don’t really have a problem with this. It’s very aesthetically awkward to have the sub-weapons in for the sake of convention, but it’s only an aesthetic thing as long as there’s something else fulfilling their function.

Unless it does it far too well. Whip aiming isn’t a bad idea whatsoever, and in fact it feels natural and fantastic to use effectively. The problem with it actually stems from Super Castlevania IV‘s challenge not being designed with the whip in mind, instead having level layouts, enemy placement, and enemy patterns identical to ones in previous games. As said before, the sub-weapons don’t matter as they’ve been replaced, but that replacement hasn’t been rebalanced. Before, players would have to plan out which sub-weapons to grab and use ahead of time because of their rarity, adding yet another small layer of strategy to the Castlevania series that gives it its gameplay style.

In addition, although the sub-weapons allowed players a way to circumvent many obstacles, they came at the cost of valuable Hearts. There’s no cost for aiming your whip to destroy an enemy above you before said enemy even has a chance to engage you. Players would still have to be frugal with their sub-weapons to save Hearts for the bosses, which are typically much more challenging than SC4‘s and the increased damage output could prevent the player from dying before the boss did.

This ties into Super Castlevania IV‘s level of difficulty. It’s certainly not an easy game, but it’s not even close to the levels of 1 and 3. There’s more to a game than its level of challenge though, and Super Castlevania IV could be argued to be more satisfying than harder games in the series for the generally reasonable level of challenge it provides. I know I can say I much prefer the majority of my deaths being from running out of health rather than being knocked into a hole.

Overall, the game isn’t too hard or too easy, but the difficulty is definitely sporadic at individual points. It’s all down to the randomness of the level design because the developers don’t take whip aiming in mind and often place enemies in positions where they can be killed before they can even attack. This is always obvious and isn’t a skill that’ll separate any players. It can turn fighting some enemies from a challenge into a routine, which is no good.

The bosses are also surprisingly pathetic, and I was able to beat nearly all of them on my first or second try. The real shocker was Dracula himself, who has an attack where he’ll give you health restoring Meat. The final boss gives you a seemingly infinite supply of health! I couldn’t believe I was seeing it in a Castlevania game, even if the series’ reputation for difficulty is hyperbolic.

While on a negative note, I also have to mention how much I dislike the look of Super Castlevania IV. This was a very early SNES game, and Konami’s lack of experience shows. The graphics are shaded far too heavily, giving them a semi-blurred, “muddy” appearance, and a large number of screens in the game have a very small color palette, usually full of unappealing neutral colors that don’t stand out due to the dark shading and being too close to each other on the color spectrum. The objects in the foreground are barely shaded more brightly than the background, so they don’t pop out or have much life to them.

There’s gloominess, and then there’s ugliness. Super Castlevania IV is both, when it should’ve simply been the former. This also seems to be a good place to mention how there’s a very noticeable lack of new, interesting enemies, most just recycled from previous games with the same simple attack patterns. Also, probably 40% of the enemies in SC4 have to be grey or white.

The music is… good, par Castlevania standard, but I very much dislike the sound. In other words, the compositions are very well done but the instrumentation sounds too inorganic. They don’t really disguise the bleating electronics well at all, which feels very cheap. This aside, Super Castlevania IV places a much stronger emphasis on ambient tracks than most Castlevania games, and it’s surprisingly effective if not as catchy as the series’s other soundtracks. But I’d rather hear any other remix of “Simon’s Theme,” let’s put it like that.

Despite its clunky flaws that came as a side effect of being some never before used ideas on a new console, I get a lot of enjoyment out of Super Castlevania IV. It’s on the easy side of the series and not as tightly designed as some, but as a person who values quickness in games I’m much more satisfied by whip aiming and a greater amount of quick reflexes than anything lost due to its lack of balance. Bring whip aiming back and do it better. Give me SC4 over Castlevania 1 any day. On some days, give me its platforming over Rondo of Blood‘s action. On another day, ask me if I prefer its lesser frustration and mechanics over Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse‘s greater ambition with its multiple characters and split paths. Whatever the day, Super Castlevania IV isn’t the best Castlevania game, but it’s acceptably close enough.