| abstract
| - The Nerd: When the 1980s came to an end, the Castlevania trilogy was already edged into my mind as classic. It was the arcitype of both the action and horror genres and a masterpiece in side-scrolling gaming. Roughly at the turn of the decade came the 16-bit era. I had no idea that it could actually get better. In 1991, Castlevania made its transition to the new Super Nintendo. But this wasn't just Castlevania IV. Oh, no. This was Super Castlevania IV, and well worthy of that title. The graphics and sound just blew my fucking balls off. The haunting and chilling atmosphere of the old games was now like a walk through the park with the Care Bears. This time, I was really getting scared. The Nerd: At the time, this must have been the greatest opening to any video game yet, the fog keeps rolling in until it envelopes the shattered gravestone and almost seems creeping into the room itself. The Nerd: And then, of course, we have the game. The Nerd: Oh, yeah. This is where it's at. The graphics give a supreme demonstration of what the Super Nintendo could do. There's not two levels that look alike, and the intention to detail is exquisite. The first time I played I didn't even noticed that skull in the background, if you look close enough you can see bats flying out. The Nerd: There's a stage where the background spins giving you a 3-dimensional effect. Then there's the room that rotates 2-dimensionally and you have to hang onto your whip. It gives you a feeling of disorientation that I hadn't felt yet in the game. But the best advantage, the most important thing that they improved here, was the control. The Nerd: The choppy stiffness of the earlier games, gone. Now it's fluent and perfect. You can whip straight up, down or in any direction, that 8 directions you can whip. If you hold down the button and fuck about with the D-pad you can do all kinds of tricks. It doesn't have much purpose, but it's pretty cool. The Nerd: Being able to whip any way you want makes it easier to attack enemies while you're in mid-air. Not to mention when you jump you have more ability to control where you land. You can even move while crouching. The control is perfect, and that's the keyword here; "control." You feel like you're in control. It's almost like Simon Belmont can do anything, even moonwalk. (16-bit version of "Beat It" by Michael Jackson plays as Simon moonwalks.) It's as if you are Simon Belmont and fully immersed in the game. That means that the difficulty isn't all about stiff controls and cheap deaths, but this time in genuine fair challenge. For the most part. The Nerd: As far as the story goes, it's more less a remake of the first game. Some fans might have been a little disappointed that there's no other playable characters and it goes back to the linear style. But that's how I like it best; straight forward and simple. The replay value is high for me and I'd pop this fucker in any day. The Nerd: In its final stages, it plays the music from all 3 of the NES games. It's like nostalgic memories of an Nintendo game within another Nintendo game. (The Super NES version of "Bloody Tears" plays) The Nerd: That's it, the perfect Castlevania game. But what would come next? We had a sequel, a prequel and a remake. Which direction could the series go after this? At this point, my expectation was soaring in the heavens, and I couldn't wait for Castlevania V. This is where the disappointment began, and forever kept rolling downhill, like a ball of dog dookie down a muddy slope.
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