Super Castlevania IV

Super Castlevania IV was a game originally released on the Super Nintendo, it has since been re-released on the Nintendo Virtual Console. Super Castlevania IV is a re-make of the original Castlevania, featuring an updated story, update graphics, and smoother gameplay. You play as Simon Belmont who is a member of the Belmont clan. The Belmont clan is destined to counter-act the evil vampire Dracula, using a magic whip aptly the named the "Vampire Killer". As Simon Belmont you must traverse your way through various areas surrounding Dracula's castle, as well as breaching the castle itself. This game plays like a basic platformer, but has combat mixed in.

Super Castlevania IV is essentially a platformer at heart, forcing you to jump over pits of fire, swamps, and other various hazards. You must also use Simon's whip and defeat various enemies scattered throughout the levels. Castlevania IV does force you to fight a boss at the end of some of the levels, just like most platformers of the time. This becomes pretty standard throughout the entire game. Thankfully, the bosses, and most common enemies found in the game are diverse enough not to become tedious. Castlevania IV is also fustratingly difficult, making it a huge challenge to play through without using cheat codes.

The graphics in Super Castlevania IV are significantly dated, but are good for the era. The musical score is superb, as it is for the rest of the series. This is about what you'd expect out of a Castlevania game.

Castlevania IV is very similar to the rest of the series, making it not worth buying if your looknig for something original.  The bottom line is that if your're a serious Castlevania fan and haven't played this game already, it's worth getting. For the rest of us, I wouldn't reccomend it unless you just feel like playing the first level over and over again and entering the cheat codes.