Castlevania IV delivers everything anyone could ask from the 2D Castlevania series
+Controls aren't stiff like previous Castlevania games
+Music is some of the best on the SNES
+Game is long and challenging
+Graphics are impressing
---Bad Points---
-Jumping still feels stiff at times
-When you get hit you go back a lot resulting in numerous deaths
Castlevania IV was one of the many series on the NES to be upgraded to the SNES and be even better. Series like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Contra, Mega Man, and Castlevania are all series that are popular on the NES and became even better on the SNES. Castlevania IV is the best in the Castlevania series (FYI I haven't played any Castlevanias after this and don't plan to except for Symphony of the Night).
The Controls in this game is perfected. It's predecesors had good controls but they were stiff. Now Simon Belmot (the character you control) can whip in 8 directions and if you hold the whip you can just whip it around. The jumping improved too, but at times it feels hard to control. Another thing I always hated in the Castlevania series and in many other old video games, is when you get hit you go back and you know what I'm talking about it's in all 2D side scrollers and it always kills you. It's a pain in the ass.
The graphics and audio is perfect. Let me just say this music in this game is some of the best and I would buy a CD of it if they had one. Also the sound affects such as when you die or kill something via your whip all sounds great too. The graphics is another plus about the system. All the Castlevania series had good graphics as well as good music but like the music in Castlevania IV compared to the NES Castlevanias, the graphics improved greatly. Everything extra about the game is just perfect.
Castlevania has always been known for its difficulty and this game is no exception. This is probably the hardest next to Castlevania III maybe the first might be harder just cause the controls are stiff, but this game is probably the hardest out of them all because it was genuinely hard and not because the controls made it hard. Another thing I liked about this game was when you could whip those loop things and swing back and forth it brought a nice platforming element to the game.
The thing about Castlevania is, the games are so simple. Not simple as difficulty, but the game is simple as in it justs is an easy idea. I mean the game is just a side scroller where you whip enemies to kill them with great bosses and great music. When most games made the jump from the NES to SNES they got complex and more features (for example Super Metroid involved more power-ups, crouching, wall jumping, jumping in morph ball etc.) whereas Castlevania IV kept the same formula as the first and third and added a few new features to keep it from getting stale. Don't get me wrong games with added features and stuff like Super Metroid aren't bad but sometimes games change too much and we forget why we liked the old games and Castlevania IV is a perfect example on how games shouldn't change too much.
Overall Castlevania IV is the best in the series for me and it's a great game. I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone who has a SNES because it's a classic and must have for the system. It may be pricey for SNES, I think it goes for like $20 easy (luckily i got mine for $10) but it's really worth your money because it's a fun game that never gets old.