Line #1 YMMV/SuperCastlevaniaIV


1	* AntiClimaxBoss: Dracula. He comes after Slogra, Gaibon, and Death, all of whom have erratic attack patterns and no subweapons placed before their arenas. In contrast, Dracula's three main attack patterns (splitting fireballs, flame pillars/ghosts, and lightning strikes) are fast but predictable, and you get a cross subweapon and some ammo for it before the fight. The strength behind his attacks is negated by his between-phases move, where he creates orbs that drop drumsticks when whipped; you can exploit this to heal to full health by not attacking him while he fires them. This is also one of the few games where Dracula has no monstrous second form, so once his long health bar is depleted, the game is over. [[spoiler:The invisible staircase secret makes Dracula even easier, since it lets you spam crosses in his face with no chance of running out.]]
2	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
3	** Many consider Dracula's piano-based theme to be one of the best in the series.
4	** The haunting and triumphant theme that plays over the credits after you beat Dracula. Listen to it [[https://youtu.be/7laVyX5sz0I here]]
5	** This game also introduces Simon Belmont's Theme, the iconic, gothic yet triumphant leitmotif of the main character which plays in the first stage [[spoiler:and again during the final boss battle serving as a ThemeMusicPowerUp for the player rather than for Dracula like the games usually pull. It's every bit as satisfying as it sounds.]]
6	* BreatherLevel:
7	** Stage 5, the entrance grounds to Dracula's Castle, is the shortest and easiest level in the entire game, with only two blocks and some minor enemies to face down, and no boss.
8	** Stage 7, The Library, is also one of the easier levels in the game, especially in contrast to how grueling Stage 6 was.
9	** Stage 9 is a walk in the park compared to Stage 8, which was basically a torture chamber filled with instant-kill traps.
10	* BreatherBoss:
11	** The ghost dancers boss in Stage 6 isn't that easy by itself, but you can max out your health and whip in a room before the boss fight, and even if you lose, one of the walls contains a 1-up that will reappear after your death. Once you can reach the boss, you're unlikely to get a game over.
12	** Gaibon. While he’s no pushover, he’s an easier opponent than Slogra and Death, whom he’s sandwiched between.
13	* BrokenBase: The omni-directional whip is simultaneously a major reason why this game's fans either love or dislike this game: it averts DenialOfDiagonalAttack and gives the player ultimate control over their weapon, and is overall much more powerful than in previous ''Castlevania'' games. For obvious reasons, while numerous fans enjoy this, the game's detractors argue that the whip's greater use comes to the detriment of the subweapons, which are seen as a crucial part of the ''Castlevania'' gameplay, and is a large part of why this game is [[ItsEasySoItSucks easier]] than other ''Castlevania'' games, especially when the enemies and bosses are a lot weaker.
14	* DifficultySpike:
15	** Stages 3-2 and 3-3 are arguably when the game decides to stop pulling its punches. Given that the average player likely breezed through the first two stages with few problems, it suddenly comes as ''quite'' a wake up call.
16	** Even those two blocks are nothing compared to Stage 6. If you know how to handle yourself, the first five levels are fairly easy, but once you actually get to Dracula's front door, the game decides to stop screwing around.
17	* GameBreaker:
18	** The omni-directional, flailable whip. Makes a joke out of most enemies, and it's your main weapon.
19	** The Cross plus a Triple Shot makes all bosses a joke. [[spoiler:Quite tellingly, the secret invisible staircase right before the final battle gives you these exact powerups if you reach it.]]
20	* GoddamnedBats: The bats in this game have a tendency to fly into you at the worst time and take your health (fittingly since ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaI'' is one of the TropeNamers).
21	%%** The Medusa Heads are also an example. Why?
22	* HypeBacklash: The game was very highly-received when it first came out, thanks to its first-rate graphics and sound and some additions to its gameplay, most notably introducing a multi-directional whip and fully controlled jump physics. While these were welcome additions, the game itself isn't completely well-balanced around them, resulting in its difficulty being a little too easy for its own good, namely due to its somewhat simplistic level design and boss battles. While Super Castlevania IV is still held in high regard as one of the best Castlevania games by a long shot, a good number of fans find ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines Bloodlines]]'' and especially ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Rondo of Blood]]'' to be just as good if not moreso.
23	* ItsEasySoItSucks: Due to the omni-directional Vampire Killer and the JumpPhysics, some Classicvania fans deride this game for being too easy (which isn't to say that there aren't any difficult parts). Additionally, health-restoring powerups are a lot more plentiful and easier to find, you can sustain a lot more hits before dying, and enemies are generally weaker in this game, dealing less damage and taking a lot less hits to kill, including even the Axe Armors that are DemonicSpiders in other games, exacerbated by how powerful your Whip is in this game. Then there's the bosses, which tend to be a highlight of the other Classicvania games and can be murderously difficult, are not too difficult in this game when you can defeat most of them by just mashing your Whip at them with no regards to dodging their attacks if you're really skilled, which doesn't help with being able to kill them before they're able to kill you as long as you made it to them with enough health (which with the aforementioned sustaining less damage from hits and plentiful health powerups, should be the case most of the time). Even the harder bosses like Death and Dracula pale in comparison to their versions in other games.
24	* NauseaFuel: Stage 4-3's spinning background can make many gamers dizzy.
25	* SelfImposedChallenge: Beating the game with all actions set to one button, which makes Simon jump, whip, and use the subweapon upon pressing it. It can make several parts much more awkward and lead to a lot of wasted hearts. As shown in WebVideo/WhoIsThisGit's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK0RRRhlAaU Boss Analysis #9]]", it also turns most of the bosses harder, especially Medusa, but Dracula becomes easier since you'd normally jump to attack him anyway.
26	* SequelDifficultyDrop: Noticeably easier than the NES games, but still challenging, especially in the late game. The more flexible jump and the multi-directional whipping are the main factors in this difficulty drop.
27	* ThatOneBoss:
28	** Slogra. Every time you hit him, he leaps offscreen, lands around you and [[LuckBasedMission may or may not]] do a lunging attack that takes up way too much room. Simon is a MightyGlacier and you spend the entire fight trying to keep your distance. When you break Slogra's lance you learn [[IAmNotLeftHanded his beak is much worse]] and he is more likely to lunge. Additionally whenever Slogra lands back on the ground after being hit, he has about a second of MercyInvincibility, which he can still attack you during. In short, Slogra really punishes players hard for relying on roshambo to beat bosses, which was otherwise a very viable strategy for beating most bosses up to this point, as you can't just repeatedly mash your whip on Slogra and win the damage output war.
29	** As usual, Death. His mini-scythes are ''really'' hard to avoid and deal a ton of damage, as does every other attack in his arsenal. While you ''could'' stand your ground and flail your whip around to deflect them, they come out so frequently that you wouldn't have time to do anything else until he eventually comes down to try some other attack. He does have one attack where he stands still while drawing you toward him and throws his scythe like a boomerang twice in a row (and on the second throw it doesn't get all that close to you, since it's a fake-out) that leaves him vulnerable for a relatively long time. It's telling that even with such a weakness it's still a tough boss fight, even harder than the final boss.
30	* ThatOneLevel:
31	** Stage 8, in its entirety. [[SpikesOfDoom Spikes]] with [[HitboxDissonance overly large hitboxes]] [[OneHitKill everywhere]].
32	** Stage B-2, a RiseToTheChallenge level where you first outrun a giant sawblade via crumbling staircases and then scale the rest of the tower with moving platforms that can fly directly into spikes. The end of the section is the worst part, since you need to walk off the edges of those platforms and fall down onto others to avoid jumping into the spears coating the underside of the exit ledge.
33	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The game in general has all sorts of graphical tricks and nuances that make it look stunning for its time, but the spinning room from 4-3 (though only a brief background setpiece) displays an unforgettable use of the SNES mode 7 effect that gives a disturbingly convincing illusion of 3D--[[NauseaFuel maybe]] ''[[NauseaFuel too]]'' [[NauseaFuel convincing]] to some. The rest of the stage is no slouch either, with a transparent mini-boss, a rotating room, and a size-scaling boss.

Context YMMV / SuperCastlevaniaIV