Despite feeling like the least like the other Castlevania games, Super Castlevania IV has a lot of really cool ideas. I still think that the multi-directional whip was a neat idea that gave Simon a ton of whipping options. And man, Simon can actually change the direction of his jump in midair.

Aside from that, this is one of the easier games in the series. Not that this isn't a hard game--this sequel has some really cheap one-mistake deaths. Everything just feels different. The awesome music moves from eerie orchestral sounds to new age jazz. And man, there's a ton of excessively flashy mode-7 scaling effects.

At the same time, itg doesn't feel nearly as heavy metal as the other games. It's hard to explain, but Castlevania 3 was the epoch of Famicom games with cheap deaths, rocking gothic tunes and Grant Da' Nasty. There's no way that anyone can reach that level of edginess, unless we're talking about Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, baby. I am the wind. Yeeaaahhhh...