Included on the SNES Mini, this CV title is one of the more traditional platformery type of Castlevania games rather than the metroidvania style (blimey, what an awful sentence). It’s one of the more archaic “get as far as you can with X lives” kind of games, which are fine in concept but in a world of savepoints and level selects, need to be a lot of fun to play in order to hold my attention any more. CV4 is at least generous enough to allow you to restart at the beginning of the level when you get a game over, and has passwords for each stage too.
I made it to Stage 4 during the hour I gave it, and I was sort of divided on my verdict. It’s a little slow and janky, and there’s lots of “fooled you!” instant death traps which have never, in the entire history of gaming, been fun to deal with. However, the graphics and music were both great, and there was a certain Konami charm to the whole thing. Most impressive to me were the whip physics which actually obey gravity and momentum, something pretty cool to see in a 1991 SNES game.
Fin or Bin:
Ultimately I decided that, if the game was 5 stages long, I’d at least see it through to the end and retire it forever after that. Even if that were the case, I can’t imagine I’d ever come back to it. However, I looked it up and there’s 11 stages in total… and I don’t really have the patience for that. I would have more fun spending my time on other games rather than learning this one. It’s a neat game, but into the Bin it goes.
(Available on the SNES Mini and Wii, Wii U and 3DS Virtual Consoles)