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bancho-zx · 1 year ago

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【NES | Famicom】 Castlevania II: Simon's Quest | ドラキュラII 呪いの封印 ~Opening

// Music: Kenichi Matsubara | 松原健一, Satoe Terashima | 寺島里恵

// MiSTer FPGA // NES core // Y/C Composite // Sony KV-13TR20 CRT TV

#MiSTerFPGA #Famicom #NES #Castlevania #悪魔城ドラキュラ #Castlevania II: Simon's Quest #ドラキュラII 呪いの封印 #crt tv

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simonsquest · 2 days ago

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Chapter 54 of The Requiem for Simon Belmont is now published on AO3. CONTENT WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: Discussion around death

CHAPTER 54 SUMMARY: Four days after the night creatures attacked, and four days since Simon last appeared on the estate grounds, Laurent is given no choice but to take matters into his own hands.

#castlevania #akumajou dracula #requiem #simon belmont #selena belmont #haunted castle #selena (haunted castle)

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somesuperhero-forrest · 2 months ago

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It's not finished but here. It is one continuous story just put separately to avoid spoliers. I HAVE A BIG SURPRISE FOR THIS IN THE NEXT STORY.

Number three will be up soon, like on Thursday.

Simon looked around The Noble Canteen, his whip dripping Bokoblin blood onto the floor.

"Which one of you is the Hero of Hyrule?"

Everyone froze but remained silent. The boy with pink hair held a pot above his head and threw it at Simon, but Simon was quicker. He pulled out his whip and with a crack in the air, the pot smashed and dropped tiny crystal diamonds on the floor. The pink-haired boy ran around to pocket them. He ran out of the canteen, and Simon stood there in confusion. The woman behind the counter spoke.

"That was him."

Simon raised an eyebrow and pointed out the door. "Him? Of all, that pink- boy?"

The woman behind the counter nodded. "Absolutely. Everyone knows him. He is quite the legend."

"Is he sane?"

"He is no Zelda. He does not talk if that is what you mean. Too many secrets, too much trauma."

Simon holstered his whip and followed. The pink-haired boy, Link, was standing outside, staring at a piece of stone that glowed blue.

His head jerked up to Simon, as he clipped it to his belt that held up his pants and tightened his green tunic.

Simon tried to speak calmly. "I am Simon Belmont, and I need your help."

Link adjusted his green cap with a golden band on the edge and nodded just once.

"You are going to trust me? Just like that?"

Link nodded a simple jerk once more and pulled out his sword. It was a sleek steal with a blue handle. A yellow triangle shape above the hilt. He raised it skyward, and if asked Simon could have sworn Link glowed yellow. "HIYAHH."

Simon put his hand to his eyes and sighed. It was going to be a long journey back to Wallachia.

#ao3 writer #a03 fanfic #fanfic #simon belmont #link #legend of zelda #castlevania #Simon's Quest

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ao3feed-wondersteve · 5 years ago

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Characters of the Smoothieverse

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

by FalconLord92

Words: 1999, Chapters: 27/27, Language: English

Fandoms: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Mortal Kombat - All Media Types, DC Extended Universe, DC Animated Universe (Timmverse), The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, 悪魔城ドラキュラ Castlevania | Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, 悪魔城ドラキュラ漆黒たる前奏曲 | Castlevania: Legends, 悪魔城伝説 | Castlevania lll: Dracula's Curse, Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, ドラキュラ伝説 | Castlevania: The Adventure, ドラキュラ伝説 II | Castlevania Adventure II: Belmont's Revenge, Castlevania: Order of Shadows, 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania (Video Game 1986), Castlevania Chronicle 悪魔城年代記悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Chronicles, ドラキュラII: 呪いの封印 | Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Castlevania 白夜の協奏曲 | Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, 悪魔城ドラキュラＸ～血の輪廻～ | Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, Frankenstein - Mary Shelley, 悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲 | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, RWBY, 悪魔城ドラキュラ黙示録外伝 | Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (Video Game), Castlevania (Video Game 1999), The Wolfman (2010), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Vampire Killer | Castlevania: Bloodlines, Captain America (Movies), Blade (Movie Series), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Blade - All Media Types, Castle (TV 2009), Hawkeye (Comics), A Nightmare on Elm Street - All Media Types, Frozen (Disney Movies), Carrie (2013), Overwatch (Video Game), X-Men - All Media Types, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra (2009), Batman: Arkham (Video Games), Tomb Raider (Video Games), Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (2012-2013), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Smallville, Spider-Gwen (Comics), Robin: Son of Batman (Comics), Alien Series, Metroid Series, Marvel 2099, Mass Effect Trilogy

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen

Characters: Thanatos, Shao Kahn, Diana (Wonder Woman), Black Adam, Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda), J'onn J'onzz, Nick Fury, Thanos (Marvel), Gabriel Belmont | Dracula, Leon Belmont, Sonia Belmont, Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya, Sypha Belnades, Trevor Belmont, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Christopher Belmont, Soleiyu Belmont, Desmond Belmont, Simon Belmont, Juste Belmont, Richter Belmont, Maria Renard, Frankenstein's Creature, Sienna Khan, Cornell (Castlevania), Reinhardt Schneider, Carrie Fernandez, Francis Aberline, Quincy Morris, Erron Black, Cad Bane, Jesse McCree, Floyd Lawton, Steve Rogers, Abraham Whistler, Bruce Lee, Adrian Toomes, Blade | Eric Brooks, Jackson "Jax" Briggs, Nightwolf (Mortal Kombat), Richard Castle, Clint Barton, Freddy Krueger, Scarecrow, Winter Schnee, Elsa (Disney), Carrie White, Blake Belladonna, Angela "Mercy" Ziegler, Yang Xiao Long, Kate Beckett, Weiss Schnee, Rogue (X-Men), Harry Potter, Ruby Rose (RWBY), Abigail Whistler, Anastasia Cisarovna, Bruce Wayne, Lara Croft, Lena "Tracer" Oxton, Harleen Quinzel, Carrie Kelley, Tommy Oliver, Clark Kent, Barbara Gordon, Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker, Raiden (Mortal Kombat), Penny Polendina, Damian Wayne, Ellen Ripley, Samus Aran, Miguel O'Hara, Jack | Subject Zero

Relationships: Shao Kahn/Sindel, Diana (Wonder Woman)/Steve Trevor, Count Dracula/Elisabeta, Dracula/Lisa (Castlevania), Vladislaus Dracula/Verona (Van Helsing), Vladislaus Dracula/Marishka (Van Helsing), Aleera (Van Helsing)/Vladislaus Dracula, Leon Belmont/Sara Trantoul, Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades, Christopher Belmont/Illyana Riktor, Juste Belmont/Lydie Erlanger, Annette/Richter Belmont, Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Bruce Lee/Linda Emery, Doris Allan/Adrian Toomes, Kate Beckett/Richard Castle, Clint Barton/Laura Barton, Harry Potter/Rogue, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Diana (Wonder Woman)/Bruce Wayne, Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Harleen Quinzel/Wade Wilson, Kimberly Hart/Tommy Oliver, Alicia Baker/Clark Kent, Clark Kent/Lana Lang, Clark Kent/Lois Lane

Additional Tags: Crossover Pairings, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Crossovers

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #wondertrev #wonder woman #wondersteve #diana prince #steve trevor #diana of

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puyopuyo · 6 years ago

Audio

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (ドラキュラII 呪いの封印) Platform: Famicom, Famicom Disk System, Virtual Console Developer: Konami

#cmi jam #castlevania #simon's quest #akumajou dracula #konami #nintendo

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ao3feed-assassinscreed · 5 years ago

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Characters of the Smoothieverse

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

by FalconLord92

Words: 1999, Chapters: 27/27, Language: English

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen

Additional Tags: Crossover Pairings, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Crossovers

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

#ao3feed #fanfic #assassin's creed #assassins creed

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randomisedgaming · 7 years ago

Video

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Video version of our written review for Randomised Gaming Volume 20, Castlevania II Simon's Quest on NES / Famicom you can find the original written version here: http://randomisedgaming.tumblr.com/post/157109689487/randomised-gaming-vol-20-review-castlevania-ii

Review author Random Gamer Riven, provides the commentary and as always it is done in a friendly professional manner with no swearing.

If you enjoy this video review please let us know, while we plan to do a few more in the future we are still deciding if to do video reviews for all our existing written reviews. Currently we have plans to also do a video version of our Armada review to go alongside our Rolo to the Rescue review already available. Please do like post and share this video review if you want to see more.

Follow Randomised Gaming on Tumblr, for video game, art, reviews, features, videos and more. You can also follow us on twitter and subscribe to us on YouTube for even more Randomised Gaming content.

#Castlevania II Simon's Quest #NES #ドラキュラII 呪いの封印 #Nintendo Entertainment System #fds #Konami #family computer disk system #Castlevania #Simon #Belmont

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ao3feed-hawkguy · 5 years ago

Text

Characters of the Smoothieverse

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

by FalconLord92

Words: 1999, Chapters: 27/27, Language: English

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen

Additional Tags: Crossover Pairings, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Crossovers

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

#fanfic #hawkeye #hawkguy

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ao3feed-mcufemslash · 5 years ago

Text

Characters of the Smoothieverse

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

by FalconLord92

Words: 1999, Chapters: 27/27, Language: English

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen

Additional Tags: Crossover Pairings, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Crossovers

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #mcu

0 notes

ao3feed-brucewayne · 5 years ago

Text

Characters of the Smoothieverse

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

by FalconLord92

Words: 1999, Chapters: 27/27, Language: English

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen

Additional Tags: Crossover Pairings, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Crossovers

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

#IFTTT #ao3feed #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #gotham

0 notes

ao3feed-batcat · 5 years ago

Text

Characters of the Smoothieverse

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

by FalconLord92

Words: 1515, Chapters: 17/17, Language: English

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen

Additional Tags: Crossover Pairings, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Crossovers

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #Batman #Catwoman #batcat

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ao3feed-mythology · 5 years ago

Text

Characters of the Smoothieverse

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

by FalconLord92

Words: 1265, Chapters: 12/12, Language: English

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen

Additional Tags: Crossover Pairings, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Crossovers

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

0 notes

ao3feed-dianasteve · 5 years ago

Text

Characters of the Smoothieverse

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

by FalconLord92

Words: 347, Chapters: 4/4, Language: English

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen

Additional Tags: Crossover Pairings, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Crossovers

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2SJU557

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #Wonder Woman #diana/steve

0 notes

randomisedgaming · 8 years ago

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Castlevania II: Simon's Quest - Review - Vol 20

Format: Nintendo Entertainment System Publisher: Konami Developer: Konami Release year: 1987 Genre: Platformer / RPG

Randomised Gaming reviewed the European Nintendo Entertainment System version of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest on both the original NES at 50hz & the Wii U Virtual Console at 60hz. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest was originally released on the Famicom Disc System in Japan. However, for the western release it was changed to a cartridge game.

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If you ask any uninformed fan of the Castlevania series, known as Akumajo Dracula in Japan “what do you think of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest?”. You will likely get a response along the lines of “that the rubbish one on the NES”. Sadly that's the all to common line you hear on this game, even from some fellow reviewers, many of whom sound like they've played Castlevania II for five minutes and decided that it must be a bad game as it plays differently to the original Castlevania. Giving up on the game after about twenty minutes of play or just throwing the joypad at the wall at the slightest hint of frustration. Although it has to be said in many ways Castlevania II is far less annoying than its predecessor on NES.

In fact this is a good example of how a hardcore fan base can actually damage the design and evolution of a franchise. As they will often cry fowl at the mere hint of change even if that change is for the better. While lapping up identical sequels that take the series backwards in game design and ultimately costing franchise sales in the long run, as everyone gets sick of playing the same game time after time. During the NES era companies were far more willing to make braver design choices (in part due to the much lower cost of games development back then) between games, even if it meant making a game very different from the previous title in the series. Konami did just that with Castlevania II when they released it. As a result Castlevania II, sits alongside games like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Fire Emblem Gaiden, Resident Evil 4 & Final Fantasy XII all of which break the series mould and do something a bit different from the previous games.

Simon's Quest is far from your average Castlevania game

Now these new ideas don't always work and all the above-mentioned games have plenty of flaws, but they also do a lot of things very right and it's fair to say the previous games in all the aforementioned series also have their own sets of problems.

Historically Konami's games tended to have a very arcade feel in design, owing to their arcade heritage. The first Castlevania stayed true to this heritage and is a fast-paced action platformer that sees you fighting across six stages to defeat Dracula. Each stage has its own boss and enemies, the game only uses two buttons one for whip attack and the other for jump. Like any arcade game it can be finished in around an hour and is very easy to pickup and play.

If you are expecting a straight sequel to the original Castlevania you would be solely disappointed. As Castlevania II is clearly heavily inspired by two earlier released Famicom Disk System games in the form of Zelda II & Metroid both of which had been released within the previous year. It's not hard to see why some fans hate Castlevania II as the start is very different than the previous game seeing Simon Belmont arriving in a town and able to talk with the various NPCs who live there. You are also given the choice to freely explore the village and the surrounding areas at your own pace, giving the game a much more RPG feel than its predecessor. The original game on the other hand throws you straight into the first stage of Dracula's castle, knee deep in zombies and other monsters. It's classic arcade game stage design, with an added timer to keep the player moving and the usual boss at the end of every level.

While it may not have as much jumping as previous games there’s still some tricky platform sections in there.

Just because a game is different in a series to previous instalments doesn't mean it should be treated like some possessed monster that's threatening to blow up the world and shunned at parties. If you liked the original Castlevania, then you're more likely to enjoy Castlevania III Dracula's Curse on NES. That said Dracula's Curse is a little bit of a hybrid of both previous NES games and Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania Chronicles & Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth are the closest titles in gameplay and mechanics to the original. Now that I've covered that point, if you're still complaining about the fact it's a bit different from the first game, get lost.

Approaching and playing Castlevania II: Simon's Quest as a game is somewhat different to other titles in the series. This is not a pickup and play game, this is a game that will absorb hours of your life as you wander Transylvania in search of Dracula's body parts. This is an open world, platformer and role playing game hybrid that forces you to interact and explore the world like no other game in the series. To start with you would do well to grab yourself a pen and paper as you're going to need to keep a map of your adventure. Secondly, see that NES box you took the cartridge out of, well inside it is something called a manual and before you do anything open it up and read every page. It's going to teach you a thing or two about the game and the items you will need on your adventure. The 3DS and Wii U version both come with a digital manual so press the Home button then press the button on the right of the screen that you've never touched before, with the word manual on it! If for any reason you don't have a manual then it's going to be a bumpy start.

Amazing the things we had to do in the 80s and 90s video games didn't hold your hand back then. Unlike some of the later towns in the game Jova provides you with some good information to get started. However, the game does have two core problems from the out set that do hinder your progress in the game. First, is the poor quality of the English dialogue from the villages with much of it being random gibberish at best “Don't look into the death star or you will die.” is one catchy piece of dialogue, but a nod to Star Wars isn't going to help anyone. Neither are the lines “Hit Deborah Cliff with your head to make a hole” or “To restore your life, shout in front of the church“ which don't really help anyone. Part of the reason for this is the fact that the Japanese text in the FDS release is also little better than gibberish. The reason for this is the other big bugbear I have with the game and that is that many of the core mechanics are either poorly explained or unexplained in the game entirely.

No true game in the series would be complete without a battle with old fanged tooth himself at the end

One of which the manual hints at, but doesn't fully explain is that each different type of non player character in town has different odds of telling the truth or not. The manual just mentions about the odd town prankster, when in fact the sprite used for the NPC is the key to knowing if what they say is useful or not. Old men NPCs largely give you good advise around 75% of the time, Young men are around 50% and female NPCs both young and old are around 25%. Finally, Gypsies will always offer to sell or give you items that will help you in your journey.

As the previously mentioned three quotes all come from NPCs it's fair to say they are all lies. For example, another NPC from a different village tell you this “You look pale, my son you must rest in the church” so we can tell from this line the other quote is a lie.

Most of the real clues in fact come from the thirteen clue books / tomes that are hidden inside destroyable holy water walls, all over the world. These clues are vital if you plan to finish the game and includes hints such as “Clear a path at Berkeley mansion with a white crystal”, “To replenish earth, kneel by the lake with the blue crystal” & “Wait for a soul with a red crystal on Deborah Cliff”. They're still a little bit cryptic, but they give you a very good idea as to what to do, at certain locations. Some other reviewers mistakenly seem to think that the previously mentioned Deborah Cliff dialogue is a mistranslated hint, it isn't. Rather it is intended as an insult to Simon as it comes from a female NPC who thinks Simon is trying to chat her up, the Japanese text for that NPC is also largely the same. So finding the clue book is vital to working out what the red crystal does. It is fair to say that one or two of the clue books are badly translated, but nothing that's going to hugely spoil your game.

If trying to solve clues and puzzles isn't your thing then this is not a game for you, but as someone who grew up on the Dizzy adventure games it is very much my cup of tea. There's something quite exciting and indeed euphoric the moment you solve a puzzle for the first time, specially if you've been at a loss for the past thirty minutes as to what to do. Ultimately many gamers may decide to use a guide and there's no real shame in that. It really depends on how much time you have to explore the game fully. As finishing the game without a guide will probably take around 10-15 hours and involve throwing a lot of holy water around. In many ways the game has an 80/90s home computer feel in some aspects of its game's design, certainly in the way you have to explore the world to figure out problems.

The thirteen hidden clue books are the key to finishing the game without a guide. Typos and misspelling add to the difficulty of solving them

Combat works just the same as any other Castlevania, outside of the towns various monsters block your paths from Skeletons, Werewolves, Mummies and the series favourite Medusa Heads. Most can be dealt with a few well timed whip strikes, but as this is an open world game, the strength of the enemies grows the closer you get to Dracula's castle. So running off to Deborah Cliffs without an upgraded whip and a few level ups to your name, is just asking for trouble. As with any good Castlevania there's even a few boss fights, but with only three bosses in the game, Death, Carmilla and Dracula. Most of the dungeons in-game are rather anticlimactic with little more than an empty room with an orb in it at the end.

Weapon upgrades and secondary weapons are permanent this time around and you can freely change between them. Only consumable items need to be repurchased, so you only need to keep an eye on how many Laurels & Garlic you are currently carrying. Although you can also only hold one oak stake at any time and this has to be used to obtain a body part of Dracula from each dungeon. Hence, why they are also only ever sold in castles and dungeons.

Collectable hearts once again act as ammunition for sub-weapons, this time round they also act as the local currency and as experience points. Making them a key tool for both trading with Gypsies and for increasing Simon's power. Likely due to a quirk of binary you can only hold 256 hearts at any one time, so if you plan on buying a morning star whip best not to go crazy with the sub-weapons while you're saving up for it. The level up system that goes along with heart collecting is also fairly restrictive, you gain your first level at 100 exp and after that at every fifty to hundred intervals. What's not made clear to the player is that all monsters have their own hidden level stats and once Simon's level is above a monster's level. Hearts dropped by that monster will no longer award experience just currency. It's also fairly easy to reach the maximum level in-game even if it does require a bit of heart farming in the last castle. While levelling up Simon isn't required it does make the game slightly easier due to the increased health, attack & defence you gain.

Neither Death or Carmilla will offer much challenge for series veterans

Death in Castlevania II is nothing to be feared as you can continue from the spot where you died. Removing any gameplay frustration and giving the game a very smooth and balanced difficulty, very much in the same manner as the series golden child Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Which is in direct contrast to Castlevania I & III on the NES, which both make plenty of use of trial and error gameplay, along with trying to knock you into an instance death trap at almost every moment. Both games are not for the quick to angrier as they deliberately used these frustrating gameplay tricks to slow your progress in game, something Castlevania II never does. Instead Simon's Quest encourages you to explore the world. Yes there are the odd cheeky moments like invisible holes in the floor and walls in the odd dungeon, but these tricks aren't overly used and you won't find yourself unceremoniously dumped back at the start of the stage when you lose a continue. Finally, it's best we don't discuss the golden dagger Death drops, as it's the best secondary weapon in the game and can be used to stun lock and quickly finish any enemy in the game including Dracula. So if you want to kill off any remaining challenge just equip it.

While the original Japanese FDS release included a save system this has been replaced with a password system for the NES version. That allows you to continue from the town of Jova with all your collected items and gear intact, this is a much needed feature as you certainly won't be finishing Castlevania II in a single sitting, first time around.

Towns cease being a place of refuge once night falls

Another huge part of the game is the day and night system, at first glance it appears just to act to create a real time world feeling. However, secretly it also affects which of the endings the player will see upon finishing the game. The in-game clock can be checked in the inventory menu and during the hours of 6am to 18pm the world is in daylight. During these hours monsters have reduced health and you can converse with the town folk. When night falls however, the town folk, border up their doors as the towns become overrun with monsters and all world map enemies also get increased health. The night can be a lonely time in this world, as even the church won't allow you to enter preventing you from restoring your health. This clever system make for interesting gameplay as timing when and where to travel is vital if you plan to finish the game within eight days to see the best ending. As the last thing you want is to arrive at a village in the dead of night and have to wait until morning, before you can heal up and trade for essential items. The in-game timer takes around ten minutes to cover a full day. However, the clock remains static inside buildings and dungeons.

One complain that should be mentioned is the lack of a world map both in-game or in the manual. While drawing your own map might be fun it's not what a gamer wants to do and this is in fact an oversight by Konami's North American and European branches. As a map was included in the Japanese manual and it should also have been included in the western one. Without it exploring the world is a bit of a daunting task at first and you also misses a few major location clues as a result, to where certain castles are in-game.

The lost map from the Japanese Famicom Disk System manual, this is the colour version

Despite the complains of some fans Castlevania II mechanics both new and old work together really well. The day and night system encourages players to keep moving and thinking about where they are going. Hidden secrets and a huge open world forces you to explore every nook and cranny. Controls are as tight and rigid as the first game and the jumping is the same pixel perfect weighted feel as well. Weapon collision is also pretty much spot on and every hit you take feels like it's down to your own mistakes. The puzzles and clues also test you too the max, sometimes a little too much.

The game in many ways is perhaps a little too ambitious, there is no question it is a big game and far bigger than the original. That comes at a cost and the graphic and music do suffer as a result as it appears that Konami were getting a bit low on space for some aspects.

The graphics themselves look good for a NES title with some nice bold and well drawn 2D sprites. With all the various monsters looking very different too one another, there's not a huge amount of animation in many of the sprites, but that's part of the course for early NES games, but it's fair to say games like Kirby's Adventure are far more animated in comparison. One thing to note is that some sprites do seem slightly smaller than a few of their counter parts from the original game. The bigger enemies from the first game like the skeleton dragons have been scaled back somewhat. Even Death looks like he's been on a bit of a gaming diet too.

Skeleton dragons are just one of the many undead foes that return from the first game

What does become apparent, is the heavy reuse of some monster sprites, castles & dungeons primarily only use the same four sprites which include Skeletons, knights, gargoyles and slime leeches, the odd bat and spider can be found in a few of the later castles for good measure. What's strange about this is the fact that there are a huge number of different types of monsters on the world map. Wolves, flame men and man eating plants only appear in only one or two scenes each, where as mummies, dragon heads, medusa heads, ravens and zombies are just some of the many monsters that only appear in the open world. It makes for some needlessly bland castles and just leaves you guessing as to why this is?

The level design and background art also suffer from much the same issue. As nice as they look the backgrounds are reused far too much. All the castles use the same title set just in a different colour, the original Castlevania used a different theme for each stage, making you feel as if you were exploring ruined hallways, walking atop the battlements, crawling through dimly lit caves and climbing the rusty cogs of the old clock tower. That's all gone replaced at large with the same forest or dead forest background in the open world. The towns do the same trick as the castles and just largely change colour and the inside of houses all use the same layout format regardless of which town you're in. Castles also use the same type of level design and most follow a square box layout, so don't expect any interesting tower designs like the rather awesome clock tower seen in Castlevania III.

Castle to castle they really don't change that much between them

Another quirk of the level design is the boss rooms as you can walk straight past Death or Carmilla if you want just leaving them floating in the air. Both also re-spawn if you defeat them and re-enter their room straight after. Quite why the game doesn't just lock you in the boss room, until you've defeated them and taken the equipment they drop is a mystery.

Looking at the world layout Castlevania II feels like the developers spent a lot of time on how the open world should play and only at the last minute remembered they needed to add in some castles and bosses. Either that or they knew they were running out of disk space at this point for the game and had to make some cuts to content. Whatever Konami's reasons behind these decisions they do impact and drag down the quality of the game.

The sound effects and music are both top class stuff. The sound design shows that even on a 8bit console you can still achieve great things. Simon's whip has a satisfactory lash sound and there's a clear thud after every jump and there's the standard stuff for killing enemies and picking up power ups and levelling up. A few grunts and shouts from the enemies would have been nice, other than that the sound effects achieve their task for the late 80s.

Much of the early part of Simon's journey will be spent in the forest

On the music front it's worth remembering that Konami altered the music for the NES release, so the music is slightly different in the FDS version. The highlight in this game is the daytime theme of Bloody Tears a series classic and a song directly written for this game. Most gamers will end up rocking their head to its beats, as you venture around Transylvania. There some other great music tracks in there as well and it's a NES game that really tries to deal with the restraints of the console sound hardware. There is one problem, however, and that's the lack of music, as most tunes are heavily repeated. Bloody Tears plays everywhere on the world in daytime and Curse Monster Dance is the same for the night. After about three hours or so of listing to both, you get a bit sick of hearing them and zone out to the music. Towns also use the same themes and only dungeons have a couple of different ones, but again they are repeated at least once. The final battle with Dracula and the ending do at least have their own music, but they aren't until right at the end of the game. Even Death and Carmilla lack their own music when you confront them, killing the atmosphere boss battles in the series traditionally have.

Uneasy mix of new ideas or the mad rants of crazed fans averse to change.

OK, so Castlevania II is not without flaws, but when you reflect and weigh up the pros versus the cons. Castlevania II has plenty more going for it than against, in fact in many areas it blows the first NES game out of the water. Until now this review has kept the mention of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to a minimum and the reason for that is to let readers understand how Simon's Quest works. As a large part of this review text could be dumped straight into a review of Symphony of the Night, as it wholesale borrows almost all of the gameplay mechanics from Castlevania II. Even the ferryman cameo's in both games, Symphony just has the advantage of being a bigger game with more polish and a ton of extra junk to collect. Seriously Alucard would be a walking tombstone by the end of Symphony with all the gear he's carrying by the end, Simon just packed his bags with only the required equipment he needed.

Castlevania II was perhaps a tad ambitious for 1987 game and the lack of cartridge / disk space for the time shows up in some of the design a little, if it had been made in say 1991, when bigger cartridges were available no doubt all the flaws would have been removed. Yet, when you compare it to the original NES Metroid, Simon's Quest hugely improves on the rather messy and almost unplayable Metroid these days. The development team clearly set out to make a better game than Metroid and they did in some style, even Metroid II is a far weaker game than Simon's Quest as both early Metroid games suffer from major copy and paste map design issues. It's fair to say the now coined phrase of Metroidvania, often is mistakenly used for Symphony of the Night being the first Metroid style game in the series. In fact that honour falls to Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.

The curse of the ferryman is just one puzzle that must be overcome, what part of Dracula is he seeking?

While finishing the game without resorting to looking at a guide even once is rather tricky, it's not impossible. Yes the translation isn't great, but most of the problems come from the poorly or unexplained mechanics like the clue books and Konami's oversight in not including and translating the Japanese map.

The rest of the game blends perfectly together to give you an open and enjoyable game. Yes, it isn't a game for everyone, if you like RPGs, puzzle and adventure games or are just a fan of Symphony of the Night then you will no doubt enjoy Simon's Quest. If you want a short arcade game that you can pickup and play straight away, then skip over this instalment of the series.

Of the three Castlevania games on the NES, Simon's Quest is the most well balanced, as the original Castlevania is too short, Castlevania III on the other hand make the difficulty as obtuse and obnoxious as possible to try and increase the game's length to the point where it becomes rather tedious to play on later stages. Spoiling the good design of the early levels, in many ways Simon's Quest is the best of the bunch on NES and certainly the one I had the most fun in playing through. It's also the most forward looking of the series in games design as even the later 16bit games such as Super Castlevania IV and Rondo of Blood for the large part stick with the original Castlevania's gameplay.

The church is the only place Simon can rest and restore health

I'm left feeling that Castlevania II largely gets a bad rap for no good reason, yes it has some problems, but so does just about every good NES game, nothings perfect. I suspect if this had just even been called “Simon's Quest: A Castlevania RPG” the game would have been more fairly treated by many. As it stands, if like me you enjoy a game that takes time to discover its secrets and gets your brain cells working as to where you need to go next, then you will have a lot of fun with this classic. As for that monster that fans ignore at the party, well if you sat down and actually chat with him you might discover he's rather friendly and not as menacing as everyone else makes out. It also turns out he's the father of the super popular kid, as without Simon's Quest there would have been no Symphony of the Night.

Review by Random Gamer Riven.

Twitter: RDGamerRiven

Email: [email protected]

Sources and sites of interest:

Castlevania Crypt fan site which included a great screenshot map of the game and the scans of the Japanese manual: http://www.castlevaniacrypt.com/

Japanese guide site that detailed many of the hidden game mechanics: http://castlevania.jp/a_main/03/index.html#m3

Simon's Quest dissected, a finnish site that details the original game script and the various mistakes and errors in the official translation. Also includes a fan patch for the NES game that addresses many of the problems with the game: http://bisqwit.iki.fi/cv2fin/diff

The video version of this review can be found here:

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