Super Castlevania IV - One Credit Challenge, Level 9-2

This week's one credit challenge over at gamespite.net's talking time forums is Super Castlevania IV. So far, it seems there is a good chance I can beat the game without continuing, just like Kid Icarus.

Yeah, I had never played this game before, but man it is so much easier than the NES Castlevanias (with the possible exception of II). One big thing that contributes to this is omni-directional whipping. In every other Castlevania (including future ones from all I've read), you can only whip horizontally in front of you. In this one, you can whip in any of 8 directions around you. This makes things like bats and the flying medusa heads so much easier to deal with. You also start with more lives and, well, it just takes awhile before there is too much challenge.

Still, it is a very good game. The play control is tight and the jumping is a bit easier to handle than previous Castlevanias. It also has taken a completely different musical direction than the previous games in the series. While previous Castlevanias had a kind of gothic hard rock vibe to them, this one moves to a much more classical feel in its music with more light instruments. Many of the levels sound like they are from a 16-bit era role-playing game, rather than Castlevania. I still like the music, indeed it is quite good. Just different from the Castlevania music I expect.

Apart from taking me forever to figure out what to do when the room spins around you, I had no real trouble with the game until level 8. That level is full of pits, spikes, deadly liquid, and tough enemies. If you aren't killed immediately, it is pretty easy to be taken down. There is also a part with a bunch of platforms that appear and disappear that you must cross. I couldn't figure out any real pattern to their appearing and disappearing and so feel pretty lucky that I passed that.

At some point, I'll just continue after where I left off so I can see more of the game, but it was already past midnight when I got up to level 9-2.