12-1-1991		10-31-1991
	11-23-1992

There is a stirring in the soul of every person in the village. A sense of uneasiness has blanketed everything like a thick fog. Evil begins to stir, and there is a whisper of a dark force rising in the distance.
Then from nowhere the dead begin to walk, and foulest of creatures begin to attack. The villagers fight desperately, to no avail. But their attempts seem to be null. It is then they seek the aid of the one known to face and destroy evil...Simon Belmont.
Simon then takes up the call, fighting all the evil that has ransacked the village. But he knew this was not just a random coincidence. In his mind he knew that the Dark Lord has awakened again. He then goes to face his bitter enemy Count dracula, and return him and his minions to the grave.

Super Castlevania IV was released in 1991, to critical approval fro most. It was the first released on the SNES, and the game looked awesome for the time. The entire game was given a complete overhaul, in terms of graphics and sound. You are once again in control of Simon Belmont. He has all of the normal moves and weapons as in the previous titles he appeared, but this time there is a full 8 point attack direction witht he whip. Also he can hold his whip out in front of him, allowing the ability to block projectiles and enemies coming at him. This made for a little bit of a looser challenge than other titles...then they added the wow difficult enemy and bosses, and it became more challeging than before.
Graphically, this title was brilliant. It was certainly a great leap ahead of Castlevania III, released only a year before. The bacgrounds made full use of the then state-of-the-art system, allowing for more realistic, almost 3-D backgrounds. It also gave more detailed enemy and character sprites. There was also a mergence of the enviroment with Simon's whip. There were areas with little rings, that you had to use the whip to swing across chasms and such. The Mode 7 system was used greatly, and could be best seen in Stage 4, where the level seemed to turn in both 2-D and 3-D. Att the time, this was something of a gaming masterpiece in terms of graphics, and is still awesome to see even now.
The music was beautifully done on the SNES, but it seemed a bit more quieted than in other titles. This was kind of a let down, since the majority of the fear ride of the game was derived from the music. (Though I will say on a surround sound system, the music is far better to listen to)
The enemy and boss designs were also drastically changed with Castlevania IV. Rather than the old looking sprites of the first three titles, we are given enemies with more of a American horror classic. The Bosses, notably Frankenstein, the Mummy, and Dracula seemed more derived from the Uneversal Pictures classic films. This is also the first title, in which Death is more of the known depiction of the character of lore. This change seemed to give the game a higher quality in terms of visual presentation, and made for more envolved play.
The story is not of the linear story found in most titles. It actually takes place at the same time as the original Castlevania game does. So this is more of a Spin-oof title, rather than a main series, Despite being given the IV in the title. When first released in America the manuals story line was changed a bit to make it a seperate story. But since Konami has stated it is not part of the Castlevania timeline.
The difficulty of this game is very high. It is one of the most difficult in the cannon. It is not sure if the enemies and bosses were made more difficult because of the amount of attacks that could now be done, or if they were just looking to up the level a bit. Either way it has proven to be one of the toughest in their cannon.
Overall, this is a good game. It is not one of the most favorites in the series, but it is not bad either. If you have not had a chance to play it give it a shot, especially if you are looking for difficulty. But there are a lot of other titles that are far more enjoyable in the series.