An overall great and underrated game. Combines great effects, fun bosses, and an ending boss that will keep you playing.
Gameplay: 9/10
The overall smoothness of the actual playing of this game was great. I saw not nearly as many cheap hits as I did in, say, CastleVania. Also, the difficulty is at a very high level, without cheap hits.
For example, let's take the Necromancer. It's a boss, and a hard one at that. With gravestones and fires being slung at your desperate sprite, you may be, at first, overwhelmed. After a few times, though, you'll get the hang of it and beat the boss!
What lowered it to a "9?" Well, like all CastleVania games, it has some cheap, hard to dodge hits that you can't possibly see coming unless you've played the stage before. Of course, that does give replay value.
Graphics: 10/10
Amazing graphics for the SNES. I won't get into the technical mumbo-jumbo, but with a great framerate, effects that are fairly difficult on a cartridge, and smooth textures, "Graphics" gets a "10."
Sound: 9/10
CastleVania music is good, but nothing you'd want to buy the Original SoundTrack for, right? So, it gets a "9," instead of a 10.
Overall: 9.6/10, rounded to 10/10