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I just wanted to thank RedGuy and bogaabogaa for this hack. It surpassed my expectations because I expected just some redesigned levels/more difficult levels. But, this is a new experience altogether and it feels more sinister and mysterious than the original! The creators really had an eye for what looked cool in Super Castlevania and leaned and sort of put the game on steroids visually- It just had a ton more personality and atmosphere to me. I'm only an average player of sorts, I'm not speed runner or expert, so the game was a bit brutally hard at times, but I was in love with this experience of getting to replay an old favorite, so I finished it!

But, there are just a lot interesting touches, such as alternate routes within levels and areas that seemed to either have been just there for aesthetics or harbored some undiscovered secrets that maybe I'll uncover next play thru. There were some original sprites/enemies, one little pair of sorts comes to mind, that I was surprised they didn't add more because they pulled it off so well. I also was impressed by some level music that didn't I didn't recognize and could have been an unused track of the original score- it was that good!

All in all, a special hack apropos of a special game! Next time, I'm patching the easy version though so I can just bask in that velvety 16 bit darkness and take my time... maybe stop and smell the musty, tattered curtains of CASTLEVANIA a bit more instead of just getting my butt handed to me haha !

While I must give props to the creator for daring to make their own version of Super Castlevania 4, as this game is rarely hacked, I cant say at this point in time that it even comes close to the original's polish. The level design isn't horrible by any means, but many places don't feel like they are properly optimized for Simon's moveset and capabilities in this game.

There are many places where alternate paths within levels just ended and you were stuck with no choice but to die to reset. I am also reminded of one section in the very first level, a experience in most games meant to introduce the players to new designs and character capabilities gradually, where a new powerup gives you invincibility for a criminally short amount of time, but also makes you extremely faster and requires you to almost speedrun a section of the area with perfect platforming accuracy to get to the rest of the level.

If this was all the flaws with this hack, I'd chalk it up to beginners level design mistakes and getting used to the creation process, but this hack steps up the "difficulty" with an overwhelming amount of enemies. Expect there to be anywhere from 2-5 enemies onscreen at all times and they will be placed in the most inconspicuous of spots to ambush you when you least expect it. Add that to the abundance of holes and short ceilings in the game, and you'll be having fun in damage loops and pitfalls the whole ride.

This hack has so much potential to be fun and challenging (in a good way), but it's obvious that it's still rough around the edges (and may always be since there have been no updates in several years). More enemies and broken platforming do not make a great game, and this is more than just "a little more challenging" than its source material. This hack isn't doing the Super Castlevania 4 hacking scene any favors by being one of the only examples of SCIV modifications, though it definitely could be if it tried "a little" harder.

It's like DLC for a 2000 year old game.

I love me some Super Castlevania 4 and this ... remake? is pretty dang fun.

It is harder but it's unfair so good job!

I played Super Castlevania IV when I was eleven, it was when that great game was released, it's the best Castlevania of all times and one of the best videogames ever made, I play the game since then but like other reviewers said, it became a little bit too easy.

This hack offers the same game with longer and modified levels, it keeps the spirit while adding the challenge we all missed because of playing the game so often.

Bosses are harder too. Only complaint I have is that Sir Grakul and Dracula are still easy to beat up like in the original game.

I will never thank you enough for this hack. Just finished it and ready to start the game again in order to find more secrets and paths.

10/10

I always loved Super Castlevania IV, it's one of my favourite games ever. With much better control than other castlevania games, it's the best pre-SOTN game of the series.

However it had a main flaw and it is that the game is too easy. At the 1st playthrough it's not really the case, but once we figured out all the tricks and how to bypass them, playing this game becomes a little boring because of the lack of a challenge.

This hack, by making the game extremely difficult but still alike the original, is a bowl of fresh air and makes Super Castlevania IV enjoyable again. The levels are larger, and often has secrets and multiple paths, making them more interesting than ever. The enemies are more numerous and much more aggressive. Even the bosses are harder.

The first 2 levels are already very hard, but the third is... F****ing hard! Fortunately the passwords are still the same so you can access any level easily - and the latter ones look just impossible.

It's only a shame there is some glitches hopefully they'll be fixed in a later version !

I was looking for something like this for a long time. Played it a little bit and it looks good. I also found a glitch. In first stage third door doesn't have opening animation like first 2 doors. Other than that it looks promising. Hope this version restores censored things from Super Famicom version and I also like how whip sounds on SFC version too but both sound effects are awesome.

Super Castlevania is by far one of my favorite SNES games of all time. I invested a lot of my childhood time playing through the original over and over but I've played a few hours of bogaabogaa's hack 0.6.1 and I have to say I am very pleased. The exploration part is fantastic and it's really cool how you can choose where you want to go for the most part. The enemies aren't too bad and candles/powerups are placed well as if Konami made this game. You might get frustrated in a few places but you won't be breaking any controllers here.

The feel and essence of the original game is captured once again but with a twist of new levels and nifty challenges. Would I have played this as a kid in 1991 or 1992? Heck yeah. A definite weekend rental for sure. This could have been a decent part two or addon to the the original back in the day.

Highly recommended...