By 1991 Konami had a bona-fide blockbuster on their hands in the form of Castlevania, but it was clear that hardware limitations were crippling their ambitions for the series. Nintendo came to the rescue with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, a 16-bit console with advanced audiovisual capabilities that would bring games to life like never before. And indeed, Konami put that horsepower to work immediately with their first SNES offering, Super Castlevania IV. (The "super" in the title stems from Nintendo's naming conventions for differentiating games on their systems, a trend that continues to this day.) Super Castlevania IV debuted with beautiful graphics, greatly improved play mechanics and an entirely new level of sound fidelity that all come together in one of the finest games of the 16-bit era.

The fourth title in the series puts players back into the shoes of Simon Belmont for another showdown with Count Dracula. Rather than creating a new story arc in the Belmont lore, Konami chose to create an entirely new vision of the original Castlevania for its first SNES outing. Simon begins his quest at the outskirts of Transylvania and must progress through swamps, caves and graveyards on his way to Dracula's castle. Once there he'll have to fight his way through six additional stages of horror, including dungeons, a clock tower and even the castle's treasury, before confronting the dark lord. As a remake of the original Castlevania, this fourth installment follows the original's game design with long, linear stages guarded by a frightful boss monster. Gone are the multiple pathways of Dracula's Curse and the non-linear exploration of Simon's Quest, which some players might see as a step backward in terms of game design. But even without the pseudo-RPG elements of the previous two games, Super Castlevania IV is still an excellent title that works well as a throwback to the pure-action stylings of the original.

To complement the audiovisual improvements in Super Castlevania IV, Konami completely redesigned the control scheme to allow for an unprecedented amount of responsiveness. No longer were players doomed to failure and frustration due to cumbersome play mechanics, as controlling Simon is one of the smoothest experiences to ever grace a side-scrolling title. For the first time in the series, Simon can change direction in mid-jump, enabling players to make delightfully precise leaps. Super Castlevania IV equipped Simon with an eight-way directional whip that offers increased range and a twirlable slack-whip that provides a very useful method of defense. In what has proven to be a one-of-a-kind element in Castlevania, Simon can also use his whip to latch onto certain hooks in the background and use them to swing across chasms, Indiana Jones style. The standard set of sub-weapons add to Simon's already-formidable attack power; combined with a triple-shot Boomerang, Simon is an unstoppable monster-killing machine.

Very few enemies could escape the range of Simon's ridiculously long whip in this game, and previously cheap enemies (like Medusa Heads) found themselves powerless at the hands of Simon's whip-twirl. Super Castlevania turned the tables completely in the players' favor as enemies great and small crumbled under Simon's unholy onslaught. The end result of this increased playability, however, is that Super Castlevania IV is an unusually easy game that can be completed rather quickly by most players. With precision platform-jumping and flexible attack options at their disposal, players are free to rely on their gaming reflexes to get them through tough spots, rather than memorizing pre-planned attack routes. Perhaps it really is an easier game than its predecessors, but I firmly believe that early action games were difficult simply due to horrendous play mechanics. And even in the absence of game-deepening elements, the tight controls in Super Castlevania IV make it a blast to play over and over again.

While the first three Castlevania games possessed competent visuals for their time, Super Castlevania IV completely blows them out of the water with its gigantic character sprites, multiple levels of parallax, huge bosses, transparency effects and copious amounts of Mode 7. Simon Belmont is at least twice as large as his 8-bit incarnation, sporting detailed clothing and fairly decent animation, especially when using the slack whip. Enemies are similarly detailed, evidenced by skeletons who explode into a flurry of bones when killed. The transparency capabilities of the SNES are also used quite effectively to create translucent fog, clouds, lighting effects and even enemies who fade in and out of view. The visual style in Super Castlevania IV differs significantly from both earlier and later games in the Castlevania series; a more "photo-realistic" approach is used here to create a striking graphical contrast with the more anime-inspired games like Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night.

Stage backgrounds are rife with minute details and sport multiple levels of scrolling parallax, giving them a sense of life and depth that simply wasn't possible before. The much-ballyhooed Mode 7 effects are put to great use throughout the game, from boss monsters who grow and shrink as you strike them, to swinging chandeliers, to entire rooms that rotate around Simon as he dangles from a hook. The most impressive application, at least in my mind, is a hallway in Stage 4 that spins around you to create the illusion that you're walking through a rotating barrel. This blew my mind when I first saw it and, in all honesty, still makes me a little dizzy. This is awesome stuff, and despite being a first-generation SNES title, Super Castlevania IV is a fabulous graphical experience that holds up quite well even against later titles on more advanced hardware.

Much like the visuals, Konami made great use of the then-powerful 8-bit PCM sound chip on the SNES to bring to life one of the most complex and diverse soundtracks of the 16-bit era. Composer Jun Ferando has crafted an excellent score that creates the perfect atmosphere for every stage and situation in the game. The compositions are brimming with a wide variety of musical instruments, including piano, harpsichord, synthesizer, percussion, violin and flute. The soundtrack varies in tempo and intensity with psychedelic synthesizer-driven pieces (Clock Mansion), ominous bass-and-percussion arrangements (Dungeon) and haunting piano melodies (Entrance Hall). Ferando has even scored a few airy jazz fusion pieces that work incredibly well in their respective stages, and lend a great deal of aural depth to the game. The synthesizer psychedelia of the games' prelude also works incredibly well in setting the tone of the game right from the start. The sound fidelity is amazing even today, and the soundtrack can definitely stand on its own as a legitimate work of art.

The SNES hardware also allowed for increased length and less repetition in songs; some of these tracks play for two or three full minutes before they loop, allowing the composer to craft moody pieces that shift their tone multiple times (most evident in the sublime Submerged City). All of the new techniques used throughout the soundtrack are culled together in Treasury Room, a driving pseudo-rock track that shows off some very impressive instrumentation. The trend of remixing old favorites that started in Dracula's Curse is continued here with excellent renditions of Vampire Killer (I), Bloody Tears (II) and Beginning (III) that sound better than ever. A number of heavier, percussion-intensive themes create appropriate moments of tension during boss battles, especially the chaotic Room of Close Associates. I could go on for pages here, but suffice it to say that the soundtrack in Super Castlevania IV is one of the finest in the history of video games and stands as a remarkable achievement in the evolution of game music.

If nothing else, Super Castlevania IV shows us how proficient Konami is at squeezing every ounce of performance out of a console, a hallmark that still applies today. This is one of the most enjoyable games in the Castlevania series, and it's always a lot of fun to break out the SNES every once in a while and play it. While it doesn't possess the same level of depth as Simon's Quest or Dracula's Curse, this is still an excellent action game and a definite high point in the series. With outstanding play mechanics, interesting level design and superb audiovisual elements, Super Castlevania IV offers a fun and engaging play experience that has kept fans coming back for more.