is a 1991 platform game developed and published by Konami for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It has been re-released multiple times, including for the Super NES Classic Edition.
Super Castlevania IV features expanded play control, 16-bit graphics featuring Super NES's Mode 7, and a soundtrack featuring new pieces and arrangements based on previous Castlevania music. Following the same setting as Castlevania on the NES, the game takes place in 1691 Transylvania, where the vampire hunter Simon Belmont must defeat the vampire Dracula. The game received critical acclaim and is considered one of the greatest video games ever made.
Gameplay
thumb|left|The player-character Simon Belmont can use the whip to latch onto rings and swing over areas.
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.
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).
Like its predecessors, players can use secondary weapons that consume Simon's hearts, which are dropped from candles and enemies. The secondary weapons include an axe which can be thrown in an arc, a watch which stops all enemy motion and a dagger that can be thrown across the screen. 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. 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. He was asked to alter the color palette in the English version in order to remove some depictions of blood in stage eight.
The game was released in Japan on October 31, 1991 for the Super Famicom. It was released in North America in late December 1991. Factor 5 created a short demo of the game running on the Mega Drive and presented it to Konami. Konami was impressed but ultimately chose to keep all Mega Drive development in-house, and did not pursue porting the game to the system.
The game has been re-released on several platforms over the years. It was re-released on the Virtual Console in 2006 for the Wii, In September 2017, it was included on Nintendo's Super NES Classic Edition, a miniature replica of the Super NES featuring many built-in games. The game is included in Castlevania Anniversary Collection, a compilation of past Castlevania installments released on May 17, 2019 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One.
Audio
The music for Super Castlevania IV was composed by Masanori Adachi and Taro Kudo (credited as Masanori Oodachi and Taro respectively). Ueno wanted to make the environment of Super Castlevania IV more interactive and was proud of how the game's sound effects and music contributed to the atmosphere.