RGB Plays: Super Castlevania IV

For the month of February we voted to play Super Castlevania IV.

Copied from Wikipedia:
Super Castlevania IV is a platform game developed and published by Konami and the first Castlevania game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was originally released in 1991 and later re-released on the Virtual Console in 2006 for the Wii, in 2013 for the Wii U, and in 2016 for the New Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo re-released Super Castlevania IV in the United States in September 2017 as part of the companyā€™s Super NES Classic Edition.

Super Castlevania IV features expanded play control, 16-bit graphics featuring SNES Mode 7, and a soundtrack featuring brand 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 with some calling it one of the greatest video games of all time

With so many ways to play this should be an easy one for everyone to play and share their experience/frustration!

This thread will also server as the hub to vote for Marchā€™s game of the month. Iā€™ll add them to a poll as we go .Any game for any platform is acceptable but please keep it within reason ie. dont vote for Gladiator for the Video Brain console.

I had to list 2 to start the poll so here we go!

  • Final Fight
  • MegaMan 3 (NES)
  • Gauntlet Legends

0 voters

Somehow Iā€™ve never played a Castlevania game (donā€™t judge meeeee) so this should be interesting.

Normally Iā€™d nominate Turtles in Time, but to give other systems time to shine Iā€™ll nominate Gauntlet Legends on 64.

CV4 is a remake of CV1 without all the bullshit so itā€™s a good place to start!

Me tooā€¦ This should be fun

Love the music on the first level, maybe some of the best and most catchy music there isā€¦

I like the cross-platform idea. A good way to discuss the differences while we are playing. That being said. How about Aladdin? Snes/Genesis/Master System/PC

Ooo thatā€™s a tricky one because they arenā€™t even the same game between Snes and Genesis. Iā€™m assuming the Master System version is based on the MD version but what is the PC version based on? The platforms I listed were because they were just ports of the same game with some minor differences.

I mean, Iā€™m fine if we just go the port route. I just figured it would be interesting discussion with a game like that. And I believe the Game Gear version is a direct port from the Master System. Either way, itā€™s cool.

Well I played a fair amount of CV4 today. I made it mid way through stage 6 before having to put it down.

The game is quite easy coming off of 1-3 a few weeks ago. The only boss I didnā€™t kill on my first try was the rock golem. Things have really ramped up now that Iā€™m in the castle.

The mode 7 gimmicks in stage 4 were a trip. I knew the game had them but I wasnā€™t expecting it when it happened and I really enjoyed it.

The soundtrack rocks but so far itā€™s no where near the NES trilogy.

I have never played more than a couple minutes of CV4ā€¦so I gave it a whopping 15 minutes today! lol In reality I was playing some while my wife and daughter were out, they got back faster than I thought so I was done and let my daughter (4) play some. Sheā€™s better at Super Mario World (my go to for her small amount of gaming time) but she picked it up faster than I thought.

The game is fun so far. I admittedly died several times on the whip swinging sections early on, smh. Iā€™m way more used to CV1 on NES (which I love) so it will take some more time for this to grow on me.

I played through it a few weeks ago, will whip through again sometime this month.

Itā€™s up there with the great games of history, soundtrack wise. The only other Castlevania contender is Chi no Rondo but while incredible itā€™s over 50% remixes. No other game does quite what it does, ambience and low-key-wise, itā€™s similar to Super Metroid like that.

It also has probably the most naturalistic 2D environments ever, if some weird colours at times.

Aww nobody else here has a Super Cassette Vision? :wink:

Iā€™m in! Not sure where Iā€™ll play it yet. I finished the game on Wii Virtual Console when it was released there. Havenā€™t really pulled it out since but I do haveit on Wii U and SNES Classic edition too. Maybe Iā€™ll play it in the Classic this time!

For next month, I think we should keep it easy to acquire and classicā€¦ how about Sonic the Hedgehog on SEGA Genesis?

I like the idea of Sonic play through. I never beat it as Sonic 2 was out by the time Sonic was available to me. I only played bits of it at my friends house from time to time (even though I own the cart).

I was thinking about something else. I know we can do the monthly game but what about a JRPG or something. RGB plays FF6 or something like that. Instead of taking a month to do it we allow 3 or something like that. We can call it RGB JRPG Quarterly Or if you like it to be more Square Enix like Retro G Boards JRPlay X G 3/12.

Yeah I thought about nominating an RPG but they are just SUCH a time sink, and given the age-ratio thread, many of us probably wouldnā€™t even get it done in a 3 month period lol.

But no harm in trying one as part of a separate thread. I say just make a thread for it and see how it goes!

I played some more CV4 this morning. Made it up to stage 8. Iā€™m loving this game so far and I think itā€™s so much better then the first 3.

@Kawika Iā€™m down for an ā€œrpg clubā€ but I do think we should keep it separate from the game club.

Do we want to nominate Sonic? If so, which game?

The original. If that is the case Iā€™m going to play the 3ds version because of save states. I agree with the separated letā€™s play boards. I was kind of just joking about it but if there is interest why not. I might just say with jrpgs that if a person wants to book club it or discuss aspects of the game just make a late to the party thread and invite ppl to join them.

RGB LP JRplay G * 3/12 + 9 āˆš~2018

^ more nonsensical script for playing a Square game in 2018. Does that work better. No time frame

I havenā€™t had a chance to play any CV4 yet, but I have my cart ready and was able listen to the soundtrack while playing with my daughter.

Hmmm, looks like Gauntlet Legends is peeking out there, I wonder what game I chose in the poll for next monthā€¦

3 Likes

I think we shouldnt start voting before nominees have been decided, as early nominations will always get a head start.

Also, i would like to nominate Toe Jam and Earl.

1 Like

I miss my 1200s. Sold them and my 3,000+ LP collection to a fellow old DJ colleague of mine.

I donā€™t miss them at all because they took up too much damn space and it was never the same after i sold my 18" 3 way Speakers and my 2 500w amps

So, Castlevania IV. I had a chance to play a little bit. This is probably the CV Iā€™m most familiar with, as I got it for Christmas one year back when it was new. I played it a lot back in the day, so I have a lot of nostalgia for the graphics, music, the cool sprite rotation effects, etcā€¦ Itā€™s a very attractive package and still holds up really well today.

My biggest gripe is the inverse of @Socksfelloff 's criticism: the game is just TOO easy. Up until the last few levels, itā€™s a cakewalk. The only time I die is being knocked into a pit, or some other form of instant death. I think the addition of 8-way whip attacks really dialed down the difficulty quite a lot. As long as you take the game slow, thereā€™s very few enemies you canā€™t attack from one direction or another without risking Simon, either through multi-direction whipping, or using your whip as a flail.

I still love the game, but itā€™s maybe the most ā€œrelaxing, pick up and playā€ Castlevania there is, for better of for worse.