“Python version 2.7 required, which was not found in the registry” error when attempting to install netCDF4 on Windows 8

This error can occur if you are installing a package with a different bitness than your Python version. To see whether your Python installation is 32- or 64-bit, see here.

Some superpacks (e.g. for Scipy) available on SourceForge or python.org are for 32-bit systems and some are for 64-bit systems. See this answer. In Windows, uninstalling the 32-bit and installing the 64-bit version (or vice versa if your installation is 32-bit) can solve the problem.