Super Castlevania IV

It’s kind of hard to tell where Castlevania IV falls into the timeline of the Castlevania universe, but I’m pretty sure it’s just a reimagining of the first game meant to show off the power of the then new-fangled Super NES.

The story is typical for a Castlevania game, Dracula is back and Simon Belmont must use his whip and his wits to kill him again. Only this time the characters are bigger, the locations spookier, and Simon is marginally more maneuverable.

Out of all of the original batch of side-scrolling Castlevania games, this one is my favorite. It takes the basic idea of the original and ramps it up into an (almost) epic side scrolling game. It also doesn’t hurt that it lays on the Super Nintendo Mode 7 effects pretty heavily (rotating rooms, trippy backgrounds, and enemies that change size as you hit them? Yes, please!). And to top it all off, the music is pretty catchy. Ok, I know that doesn’t really sound like a ringing endorsement, but the game really is good. You’ll just have to trust me on that.

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