Super Castlevania IV - Passwords (Image I created)

[Note]

This is awesome, Ziggy! Thanks for sharing.

I still mostly play SNES titles on original hardware, however sometimes life comes up, and I have to step away, so this is really useful. Especially because I'm more of a visual thinker, so the images of each level are great. I wouldn't know the exact names of each stage either.

[o.pwuaioc]

This is awesome, Ziggy! Thanks for sharing.

I still mostly play SNES titles on original hardware, however sometimes life comes up, and I have to step away, so this is really useful. Especially because I'm more of a visual thinker, so the images of each level are great. I wouldn't know the exact names of each stage either.

I've been playing this game for almost 30 years and I still don't know the names of the stages.

[Ziggy]

I've been playing this game for almost 30 years and I still don't know the names of the stages.

LOL, same here. I think what doesn't help is that a lot of the levels in the first half of the game seem like multiple smaller levels.

Stage 2 starts in forest area, then goes into a swamp, then you go across some bridges and fight Medusa, then you go down a river and the stage finally ends. So, no boss at end of the level but in the middle.

Stage 3 starts in a cave, then you ascend a waterfall type area, then go into an area that feels like a level all of it's own (with the Mermans and the 2-headed dragon boss at the end).

Stage 4 starts with the area that has all skeleton enemies and skulls in the wall, ending with the giant skull boss. This feels like the end of that level, bu you go on to the mode 7 rotating room, then the mode 7 spinning room, then onto the area with the blocks that scroll up vertically ending with that mode 7 shrinking boss. By the time you get to this it feels like you've played around 8 levels already.

Stage 5 is the shortest of all the "stages" in the game. You start in the outdoor area with the tall grass, then go to the area with the staircase that ascends to the castle's entrance. Two relatively short areas, and that's it.

Stage 6 is the castle entrance, and although there are several different set pieces and that giant chandelier section they at least feel more related than all of the sections that make up the previous levels.

Then from stage 7 on, the levels finally keep a single set piece from start to finish. The library, the dungeon, the treasury, the clock tower. It's definitely the strangest Classic-Vania when you think about it. I think I just accept it because it was the first Castlevania that I played. But if I played all the other Castlevanias first, then played this one in 2020, I think I would be posting about how weird it is.

[marurun]

Well, the Castlevania model leading up to 4 was:

1 = Traditional level-based platformer
2 = RPG-ish adventure game with distinct areas but no real levels, per se
3 = Level-based platformer with branching paths, and thus levels aren't really numbered

So in that sense, it was kind of up in the air what they could do with 4.

[NotLuke]

Each time I shift my gaze to a different image the music in my head switches to the corresponding music for that level.

[pook99]

Each time I shift my gaze to a different image the music in my head switches to the corresponding music for that level.

Lol me too, they don't make soundtracks as good as this anymore