SUPER CASTLEVANIA IV: Super Castlevania IV - Alter Quest

"Alter Quest" is a hack supposed to be the third quest after Simon has beaten the two from the original game. The focus was in game balance, and the hack includes changes to enemy stats (such as damage, hit points, size and, in some cases, behavior) and to the player's weapon stats (including damage, range, speed and heart cost). Bosses in this hack were buffed and the player will need to use more strategy to beat them.

This hack tried to maintain the feel of the original Super Castlevania IV, so the overall map layout of the game didn't receive many changes, but extra traps and enemies were added nevertheless. There are some changes of graphics also.

The player starts with only three lives, but extra lives can be found hidden in many of the levels. The hack starts somewhat easy but gets harder as the game progresses. Overall, it's harder than the original.

If you like this hack, please feel free to share your experiences with it on the net. Playthroughs/walkthroughs/etc are most welcome! ;)

Have fun!

Version 1.1:

- Increased the damage of the brandished whip so that it is more useful against lesser enemies;
- Decreased the HP of a few monsters;
- Reduced a bit the difficulty of the last level;
- Increased a hints section in the readme file to help the player with some hard parts of the hack.

Version 1.1b:

- Fixed a bug introduced in v1.1;
- Decreased the stability of crumbling blocks (so they will crumble a bit faster now);
- Reduced a bit the difficulty of stage 8-1-2.

Version 1.2:

- Introduced more hearts and extra lives in the game; now all levels have a hidden extra life (to a total of eleven);
- Increased the damage of the knife and cross subweapons from 20 to 24;
- Normalized the damage done by the whip being hold to 1/6 of a direct hit (in the original game it's 1/3);
- Reintroduced the checkpoints at stages 7-1-3 and 8-2-2, that were in the original game;
- Placed another book platform at stage 7-1-3 to ensure that players have where to jump to;
- Reduced the damage done by Koranot's rocks from 3 to 2;
- Made a few discreet layout/enemy placement changes to enhance gameplay.

Version 1.2b:

- Fixed the staircase at stage 9-2-5. Now it correctly leads back to stage 9-2-3;
- Made minor gameplay changes.

{{ Super Castlevania IV - Alter Quest }}

- version 1.2b -

Original Hack Release Date: 11 October 2019.

A demo of this hack can be found at ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN1qM5vnaaQ )

------------------
1. How to use
------------------

- Apply this patch to your original rom using Delta Patcher ( https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/704/ )
- Your original file must contain the following specifications:
Super Castlevania IV (USA) - no-intro
MD5: 094F035993E9724647B61DDCBA1E9A7A
Size: 1,048,576 bytes

------------
2. About
------------

This is a hack supposed to be a third quest of the original game. The focus was in game balancing and includes changes to enemy stats such as damage,
hit points and, in some cases, behavior, and in the player weapon stats (including damage, range, speed and heart cost). Bosses in this hack were buffed and
the player will need to use more strategy to beat them. Although the overall map layout of the game was maintained, there are a few changes to some areas,
usually for the inclusion of extra traps. There are a few discreet changes of graphics also.

The hack starts somewhat easy but gets harder as the game progresses. The player starts with only three lives, but extra lives can be found hidden in all the levels. The casual player should be able to beat the game using savestates, while the experienced may have some fun in the last levels, particularly with
the bosses (Dracula won't be giving meat to the player anymore).

------------------
3. Player Weapons
------------------

All Simon weapons were changed for this hack, and the subweapons are supposed to be all equally useful now. x3 upgrades were removed from the game, but x2
are commonly found now to encourage weapon change. Whip brandishing was nerfed, and although it is still useful to block most projectiles and kill lesser enemies, it will do little damage.

Below are the new stats of the weapons:

*Whip*

Damage: 18/30/30
Heart Cost: (-)

The basic weapon. Brandishing it causes 3/5/5 damage.

*Knife*

Damage: 24
Heart Cost: 1

Useful to kill annoying enemies such as crows from a safe distance. Has the greatest range of all subweapons.

*Cross*

Damage: 24 per hit
Heart Cost: 2

Excellent to destroy big enemies such as bosses. It's much faster now than in the original version.

*Axe*

Damage: 36 per hit
Heart Cost: 2

Useful to destroy enemies that fly. If shot with precision it can hit more than once the same enemy.

*Holy Water*

Damage: 16 per hit
Heart Cost: 1

Causes a lot of damage to ground creatures. Very useful in levels where Simon is going down.

*Stop Watch*

Damage: (-)
Heart Cost: 5

Stops the time for a few seconds, allowing Simon to go past difficult areas or to kill single strong enemies such as Bone Dragons. Does nothing against bosses.

-------------------------
4. Hints
-------------------------


- All levels have an extra new life hidden somewhere (to a total of 11). Look for them;
- Sometimes enemies come from behind in this hack, so be careful when rushing into a new area;
- Whip Skeletons and Skeleton Knights now can hit Simon even if he's crouched. Try to destroy them from a safe distance;
- Bosses are tougher in this hack: all them are at least 50% more resistant to Simon weapons than in the original game;
- Many creatures that take two hits from the whip to be destroyed can be eliminated with a single axe;
- On stage 6-1-1, it can be useful to get holy water to deal with the zombies that come from behind. A single well placed holy water can destroy several
of them;
- Unfortunately, stages 6-1-2 and 9-2-4 had to be removed from the game due to bugs :( ;
- On stage 6-2-1, use the knife or the holy cross to kill the two bats at bottom that rush you on the far left of the room;
- On stage 6-2-2, it's better to not try to destroy the coffin, for it's very tough now. Instead, run to the right, killing the bats that come for you in the process. If you're hit, go left to an upper platform and destroy the coffin;
- On stage 7-1-3, it may be a good idea to brandish your whip to destroy the axes that the axe armor sends at you while you're in the book platforms;
- You'll need an axe to get the hidden extra life of stage A-1-2. It can be acquired at level 9;
- Akmodan is a much more difficult boss now. If he is launching fireballs at you, go to the far left platform, crouch and brandish the whip to destroy them;
- It's possible to go past the bats in stage B-1-2 without being hurt. Try to figure out how;
- The last bosses are much harder to beat on this version, but it's possible to defeat all of them.


-------------------------
5. Final Considerations
-------------------------

Redguy's SC4ed was used a lot for this hack, and I thank him for creating such awesome tool. This hack would not have been possible to make without it. I played bogaabogaa's Other Castle hack and used many of his and DarkSamus findings shared on the net as a base for my hack, and also thank them for this. I also used Tile molester for this hack.

...

This is my first hack, so please take it easy on me guys. ;)

Allerius

Super Castlevania IV (USA) - no-intro
MD5: 094F035993E9724647B61DDCBA1E9A7A
Size: 1,048,576 bytes