A remarkably fun action platformer that deserves a look, whether you're a fan of the franchise or not.
Despite the roman numeral "4" tacked on its title, the game shouldn't be considered so much a sequel--rather, an expansion to the original Nintendo game. Simon Belmont's battle against Count Dracula has reached a fever pitch, spilling out across the Transylvanian countryside with more levels to explore, more enemies to fight and more surprises to unravel. Taking full advantage of the Super NES' graphical capabilities, Super Castlevania IV pulls out all the stops in presenting a lush and gorgeous platforming environment in spite of obvious 16-bit limitations. You'll explore evil forests, creepy caverns that drip with slime and all sorts of slush, haunted mansions and, of course, Dracula's Castle--which is bigger and more expansive than ever. Mode 7 is used in various places throughout the game, and it is utilized to great effect--like the spinning tunnel, the huge swinging chandeliers in Dracula's Castle and, my personal favorite, the rotating room of Stage 4. If you were around during the Nintendo/Sega console wars and owned a Super NES, you truly had something to brag about. The game itself is surprisingly vast in length, expanding well over 10 or so stages--half of them taking place in Dracula's Castle. The password option was available for those who wanted to save their progress for a later date, but it's no longer relevant seeing how the Virtual Console can save your game at any point.
Compared to the original NES game, Super Castlevania IV's difficulty curve is lighter, but don't think for a moment that it isn't any less a challenge as its counterpart. For as big as this game is, expect to run into your fair share of harrowing challenges and traps, but don't expect to throw your controller in fits of rage either. The music is pretty good--with remixes of familiar themes heard in the past three Castlevania titles. It also popularized a certain song that would later be used in later Castlevania games.
Overall, Super Castlevania IV is a worthy successor to the franchise and a great game in its own right for both fans of the series and gamers in general. No matter who you are, you should definitely add this game to your VC catalog and give it a shot--it is simply one of the finest games ever to be made.