Tag: Halloween

Replaying Castlevania IV

Halloween is here, and I’ve been replaying (Super) Castlevania IV over the past several days. I’ve beaten the game years ago, and replayed parts of it many times over the years (often around Halloween), but this might be just the 2nd time I’ve fully played through the entire game. Since I got the SNES Classic not long ago, I figured this would be the ideal game to play.

The early levels are quite familiar to me, and easy to breeze through. My favorite level of all is the cavern in Stage 3.

I absolutely love the music in this game. In fact, I’m playing the video above now just to hear the music as I type. 😀

Stage 4 is also home to some very memorable levels. The first level here (4-1) has skulls on the wall that turn to follow your movement. Even though you can’t kill them or interact with them, I always thought that was a cool detail.

Stage 4-1 of Castlevania IV.

Stage 4-2 uses Mode 7 graphics to make the entire level rotate as you hang by your whip. The next level, Stage 4-3, puts you in a large cylindrical room that rotates as you play. It’s a very cool effect, although it can be distracting if you’re playing it for the first time.

The cylindrical, rotating room in Stage 4-3 of Castlevania IV on SNES.

Stage 6-1 features some huge chandeliers that swing from side to side. You have to jump across them, and then onto more chandeliers. Konami took advantage of some SNES hardware features to make some really unique levels in this game.

Simon Belmont jumps on a huge chandelier in Stage 6-1 of Castlevania IV on Super Nintendo (SNES).

As I progressed through Stage 6 and into Stage 7, the levels were less familiar to me. Most of the previous times I’ve played through this game (at least in recent years), I’ve only played through the first several levels. Often I’d stop after Stage 4 or 5. So I had forgotten about the paintings in Stage 7-2; they’ll grab you by the neck!

A painting grabs Simon Belmont by the neck in Castlevania IV.

I also enjoyed the music in this stage, and it likely has been years since I’ve heard it.

Things were going smoothly until I reached Stage 8. The levels here (8-1 and 8-2) have various types of dangerous spikes. Some are on moving platforms, some swing from side to side, and some fall from the ceiling. But they all have one thing in common: They will kill you in one hit. What makes it even worse is that the hit detection seems a bit unfair.

I died many times in this stage, and had to continue quite a few times as well. Even though the SNES Classic has save points, I don’t want to abuse that feature. I wanted to get through the stage legitimately, and eventually, I did. 😛

As a reward for completing that tough stage, you go on to Stage 9…one of my favorite stages in the game. It’s a beautiful, colorful stage, littered with piles of gold and treasure chests everywhere. Ghosts rise to the ceiling endlessly (they can’t hurt you), and gold nuggets spring up like popcorn every time you walk over a treasure chest. It’s a fun, playful level that’s such a stark contrast to Stage 8 before it.

The gold-filled Stage 9-1 of Super Castlevania IV.
Scrooge McDuck would enjoy a nice swim here.

Next up is Stage A, the clock tower, and then Stage B marks the final march into Dracula’s castle. It ends in a series of boss fights, which are challenging but not overwhelmingly difficult. Of course, it helps that each continue lets you resume at the boss you were fighting, rather than putting you back at the beginning of Stage B.

Fittingly, I beat Dracula (and the game) today, on Halloween. I’ve enjoyed my journey, and I may re-play this game again in the future, on some October night years from now.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed your Halloween and had a great time. 🙂

Just a couple of notes. I’ve added a new Halloween tag to this blog, for posts like this one. Posts near Halloween season that cover spooky-themed games like Castlevania, Doom, Haunted House, and more. Also, feel free to check out my page of Halloween game reviews.

Haunted House – Atari 2600

Each October, I try to revisit some Halloween games and/or try out a new one. This time, I went old-school…very old-school…to play Haunted House on the Atari 2600 VCS. It’s a game I’ve played before briefly, but I never really got into it. Until now, that is.

The object of the game is to venture into an old abandoned haunted house, find (and assemble) three pieces of a magic urn, and then escape out the front door. The problem is that there are 24 rooms in the haunted house (six each on four floors) and many of the doors are locked. Oh, and there’s no electricity, so you’ll be in the dark (except in the first mission, which is essentially a training stage). In fact, all that you can see of your character is your eyes! To see where you’re going, you’ll need to light a match. You have an unlimited supply of matches, but they only last for a limited time. And they’ll be blown out automatically if an enemy enters the current room. In case you’re wondering, the enemies you’ll encounter are tarantulas, vampire bats, and ghosts. If one of them touches you, you’ll lose one of your nine lives.

Haunted House Atari 2600Somewhere in the mansion, you can find a magic scepter that will protect you from enemy attacks; it’s an extremely useful thing to have on-hand. There is also a master key hidden in the house that will open all locked doors. But there is a catch, of course. You can only carry one item at a time: the scepter, the key, or the urn (or urn pieces–they automatically combine when you find more than one). So juggling those items is crucial to completing your mission. Each floor of the house has multiple stairways, so you may have to take roundabout ways to reach certain areas when you’re not holding the master key.

Haunted House Atari 2600The game has nine different variations, each more difficult than the last. The first one has lights on and all the doors are unlocked, but later levels have no lights, locked doors, more enemies, and so on. In some variations, the scepter won’t protect you from ghosts. Regardless of which variation you play, the urn pieces and other items are placed randomly, so the game will be different each time.

Haunted House Atari 2600Of course the graphics and sound are extremely simple, but the effects are done well given the limitations of the system hardware. You’ll hear the gust of wind blowing out your match when an enemy enters a room and you’ll hear thunder (and see the house light up temporarily from lightning). Haunted House isn’t very difficult once you learn how to play, and the games will generally be quite short. But it is fun to play, especially this time of year. I haven’t completed all nine missions yet, but once I do, I’ll be back with a review. In the meantime, feel free to check out my other Atari 2600 reviews or my reviews of Halloween games. Have a great Halloween, everyone!

Splatterhouse Impressions

I still had some leftover credit in my Wii Shop channel account, so I decided to use it on a game that would be perfect for the Halloween season: Splatterhouse for TurboGrafx-16. This Virtual Console version costs 600 points, which is equivalent to $6.00 U.S.

Splatterhouse DungeonSplatterhouse is a 2D, side-scrolling action game in which you play as a big guy wearing a hockey mask–clearly inspired by Jason of Friday the 13th. You start out with punches and kicks as your only attacks, but you can also acquire other weapons such as a two-by-four or shotgun. You’ll fight all sorts of zombies, demons, and other monsters created in the research lab of the mansion. One detail I like is that your health is measured in hearts at the bottom of the screen. But they’re not the traditional heart symbols you’d see in a Zelda game, they’re actual hearts.

Splatterhouse SewerThe game is rated T for teens, as it is a bit gory and gruesome–at least by 16-bit standards. Chained-up corpses may vomit onto the ground, while other bodies will hang down from ropes around their necks. You’ll have to attack them, which causes their guts to spill out and their bodies to disintegrate. Still, the graphics are very dated and not realistic, so it doesn’t come anywhere near the gore seen in many games of today.

Splatterhouse Forest

Each level takes place in a different setting (dungeon, sewers, forest, etc.). Using all five of the allotted continues, I made it into the 4th level (of seven levels in total). The fourth stage is reminiscent of a funhouse, with a bunch of mirrors. But enemies will break through some of the mirrors to attack you; you just don’t know which ones they’ll pop out of!
Some parts of the game are a bit tricky, but it seems to be just a matter of trial-and-error to learn the patterns or the best place to stand. The in-game music is creepy and fits the mood quite well. While Splatterhouse hasn’t blown me away, I have enjoyed my time with the game. I’m looking forward to giving it another try and seeing how far I can get next time. If you enjoy playing “spooky” games in October, Splatterhouse would be a good choice.

Here’s a gameplay video showing the first two levels of the game: