Super Castlevania 4 preview ad
A preview commercial for Super Castlevania IV, then titled simply Castlevania IV, shows many notable differences.
- The title screen/main menu is much simpler and has a strange watermark in the center.
- The HUD is completely different and reminiscent of the original Castlevania's.
- Almost none of the level layouts shown are the same as the final.
- The outdoor sections seem to have much browner, autumnal palettes, though this could be due to low-quality recordings.
- The skeletons seem to have different AI. They seem to follow Simon endlessly, but this leads to them walking endlessly into a wall at around 0:10. In the final game, the AI is modified to make them weave back and forth, which both makes them harder to hit and avoids the AI bug.
- The snakelike boss shown early on is entirely absent from the final game.
- A level select is shown. There is a level select in the final, but it cannot be accessed without cheating and it looks completely different from the one shown.
- The barn segment has bizarre enemies that appear to be possessed suits of armor.
- The skeleton horse boss's neck moves all around instead of only moving in front of the body, creating a somewhat comical appearance.
- The subweapons seem partially implemented, though the graphics appear on the HUD they are not seen to be used.