The Anatomy of Super Castlevania IV

Just a quick item of note before I get to my final entry in the Halloween Spooky Game Countdown. Back at #5, I talked about Super Castlevania IV and its bizarre labeling as a sequel when, in fact, it was a remake of the original Castlevania.

Today, Jeremy Parish of The Anatomy of Games has begun to embark on his latest analytical series… Super Castlevania IV (he’s covered the other three previously). Between this and Same Name, Different Game, my timing is just all off this week, isn’t it?

In any case, he’ll be analyzing in excruciating detail (read: far more than I went into) what works and what doesn’t throughout the game. Plus, for the first installment, he takes a look at that odd name discrepancy. In my look, I stated:

Turns out that Super Castlevania IV is actually a remake of the original Castlevania. So why not just call it “Super Castlevania“? You got me.

Turns out that in Japan, that’s sort of what they did… minus the “Super” part. There it was just plain old Akumajou Dracula — the same name given to the original game. So what happened? Maybe Konami USA figured we couldn’t handle a remake or retelling of so recent a game at that point?

We may never know.

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David Oxford is a freelance writer of many varied interests. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

David Oxford

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

For a full list of places to find him online, click here.