Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (1987)

Simon's Quest is a very flawed but important game for its very early experimentation with what would become the metroidvania genre. I'm not sure it was literally the first game that could be called such (and in some ways, it arguably isn't one), but I imagine it has to be one of the first and at least is the first in this style in the Castlevania series itself. The series pivoted back to its general linear sidescroller style immediately after and didn't revisit this style until almost a decade later. And it's not too surprising given how poorly designed it is.

This was actually the only Castlevania game I owned before Symphony of the Night. I remember trying to play it a few times sometimes even hours at a time and feeling like I really had no idea what I was supposed to be doing to progress. Turns out it wasn't just because I was a dumb kid, this game is just super abstruse and difficult. While its neighboring games in many ways are far more difficult to an extreme, the difficulty of Simon's Quest is quite different. In fact, the combat is much easier and more approachable than other early Castlevania games by a longshot. But there's simply so little indication of where the hell you're supposed to go and that is entirely where the difficulty lies.

This difficulty is actually much worse than you might think because some aspects of the game are intentionally gated in a way that you can't just brute force your way to a solution. For instance at multiple sections, you have to equip the right item and then crouch down in a specific spot for 4 seconds. I heard this game was designed intentionally to try and sell strategy guides and that is either true or might as well be. This time around I played with a guide and found that the game was greatly improved, even if it trivialized the primary source of difficulty in the game. Now that said, the solutions to these issues can be found in the game as there are hint books that you can find that will tell you things like where to crouch down with what item. But these hint books are not much easier to find than what you're supposed to do as most of them are hidden in secret breakable walls in very random spots. I suppose the idea being you just play the game for dozens of hours to find these clues while banging your head against it—something I certainly didn't have the patience for as a kid.

However, when playing this way, I was able to appreciate the many things the game was going for. I feel I have to give the game 2 stars given its flawed design, but I actually did really enjoy playing it from an academic perspective and seeing so many things that would be staples of the genre later implemented in such a simplistic NES game. It was weirdly really fun just seeing what they were going for and how much of the game is in some sense rather ambitious. There are towns and NPCs, a day-night cycle, merchants, upgradeable equipment, relics of Dracula that have some minor uses even in combat, multiple endings, and a surprisingly large map with several brief dungeons. For such an early exploration into the genre, I found myself as impressed with its ambition as I was disappointed in its rough execution.

Overall, I can't say I highly recommend Simon's Quest for a fun adventure game. It's got a banger soundtrack as many games in the series do and many of its features are really impressive and interesting for an NES game, but if you don't have the same academic interest that I did, you may struggle to find much to enjoy here. If you do though, please do yourself favor and shamelessly rely on a guide. Ultimately though, I'm still quite glad I played it myself and I really appreciated experiencing the roots of a series and genre like this.

Preliminary: Welp, time to return to this game. Officially at it in the chronology project! The first release was a Japan-only FDS version. Hopefully it being in Japanese wont cause too many headaches because I didn't find a fan-translated FDS version. For the most part, the only significant difference is the music, so I can switch to the English NES version if needed, but that was released over a year later so it would irk me ha. Super excited! I love this series, plus this one added RPG elements! As I'm reading up, turns out both the Japanese version and English version had misleading and/or illogical dialogue from the townspeople. Ugh, don't get inspired by the worst parts of Zelda! Never like the obsession with being cryptic, but didn't mind that this game basically encouraged you to turn to a Nintendo Power and friends to figure things out. I love following a guide for RPG/platformer hybrids.

Look: 9/10 Off to a good start, love the title screen

I like how the night segments look in terms of color and mood. Bahaha when your first death happens cuz you were just running along as you start a screen and BAM into the water I went (turns out I am of course flawless lol jk, but turns out it really was because I had fast forward during loading set for FDS games for the disk loading screens, which caused the starts of new areas to be sped up. problem solved for the future). But the screen is beautiful!

Oooo especially at night!

Sound: 8/10 Tho I wasn't loving the title screen tune, I did love the sound effect while naming your file! Sounded like later Final Fantasy menu sounds! Some of the tunes were good, not hitting me as much as the first Castlevania, but bopping nonetheless. (Ok yea maybe the tunes grew on me :-p Definitely could've used some variety tho. I liked the daytime action jingle the most)

Play: 9/10 Interesting addition of the day/night factor. Right off the bat I was grinding. This is a good thing to me lol, tho I doubt others feel that way. And I was of course loving returning to the original Castlevania action gameplay I love so much. I love the more multi-step upgrading of the Whip, love seeing it get longer and stronger! Tho the jump is still quite basic (you can't do mid-jump control really), I am happy you don't fall through the steps (tho they are slow ) and the controls are as tight as ever. The Crystals + kneeling mechanic is silly but the whirlwind/tornado thing reminded me of Tomba :-p

Feel: 9/10 I think the criticism of the English translations and Japanese original being too cryptic and misleading is a bit silly, considering the pervasive love of Zelda and other NES games with horrendous clues/hints (in fact, some of the dialogue I read was ridiculous or meaningless makes perfect sense, like the lone woman left in the last town near Dracula's Castle trying t. Plus, it seems the Clue Books were always valid, at least in the Japanese version, so that has an interesting touch to it like the villagers were afraid to speak the truth or unsure but the Clue Books were safe to trust. Kinda reminded me of the later parts of Metal Gear where you couldn't trust Big Boss anymore but Jennifer and Diane and others were trustworthy. Before I knew it, I was back in that Castlevania fervor! I just couldn't put it down like with the first one. I love the feeling of hitting an enemy with the very tip of the Whip, getting to know the quirks, the precise moments to jump etc. All I needed for the Mansions was a map and a StrategyWiki to reference occasionally as needed, but figuring out the false floors and traps on my own was genuinely fun.

I love Carmilla in the show, but her first appearance here was quite weak heh (Pro-tip: just use the rib shield thing for her projectiles. The bosses overall were quite lame compared to the first Castlevania. And ok I had to admit the grind for level 5 and 6 was a bit much (tho I've read it's unnecessary, I wanted to full embrace the grind potential :-p) I wound up only leveling to 5 and then realized once at Dracula that I only needed 6 more exp for level 6 lol. I'm a completionist so I went back out to train... but then realized I wasn't gaining any exp... you would think the very end area of the game would gain exp for the last level... but you can only at and by Laruba Mansion. I didn't mind how you cap out on level in certain areas till that happened heh.

Attachment: 9/10 I love how instead of just an arbitrary 2nd quest with harder enemies, this game encouraged replayability by having better endings for how fast you finish the game. Encouraging early speedrunning heh. Welp, on my first play session, I played for 1h 40m lol which is very long for me to do in one sitting, but I couldn't put it down. I'm at Braham Mansion already! I'll probly end up finishing it tonight lol tho the healthy thing would be to change things up a bit :-p Castlevania series really is beloved for me.

Underwhelming final castle and the bosses in this were quite lame and didn't like that the final area had no way to train to the final level. I mean Dracula I basically just cheesed with Sacred Flames. But I still loved the overall journey. And I love this series. I got the good ending, barely scraping by right before it changed to 7 days (take advantage of time stopping in mansions btw).

Completion: Main Story Playtime: 3h 30m

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest on jatko-osa NES-klassikko Castlevanialle. Peli lienee jokseenkin polarisoiva teos, ja se on esimerkiksi ensimmäinen peli, jonka AVGN muinoin arvosteli – vähemmän mairittelevin sanoin.

Vaikka Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on vaikutusvaltaisempi genren muodostumiselle, on Simon's Quest kuitenkin periaatteessa se peli, joka antaa -vanian metroidvanialle. Toisin kuin tiivis, toimintapainotteinen edeltäjänsä, Simon's Quest on roolipeli. Pelistä löytyy kokemuspisteet ja levelit, kylät ja kauppiaat, käyttöesineet ja aseet.

Pelattavuus on paljolti hyvin samankaltaista kuin aiemminkin ruoskien ja subweaponeiden nakkeluineen ja jäykkine hyppyineen. Lineaaristen kentties sijaan pelaaminen tapahtuu laajahkossa 2D-kartassa, jossa osaan paikoista pääsee vasta tietyt esineet kerättyään. Paikoin tutkiminen on tehty tarpeettoman ankeaksi näkymättömillä rotkoilla (eli lattioissa on aukkoja, joista putoaa läpi), mutta näiden kanssakin oppii elämään. Ja pelissä kuoleminen ei ole oikein rankaisu eikä mikään. Lisäelämien loppuessa menettää vain (oikeasti) helposti takaisin farmattavat valuutat ja expat, ja continuet ovat loputtomat. Ylipäätään peli on helpohko, ja pelin harvaan sijoitellut lopparitkin ovat naurettavan helppoja. Sinänsä vika pelissä, mutta itse saan jotain outoa tyydytystä, kun nään miten pelin pimeyden pahimmat voimat ovat niin säälittäviä.

Isompi haaste pelissä on sen pulmien ja vinkkien käsittämätön kryptisyys. Pelissä on paljon kyläläisiä, jotka kertovat vihjeitä etenemiseen. Ongelma on se, että hahmot puhuvat osittain mitä sattuu. Pelissä on tarkoituksella täysin tyhjänpäiväisiä tai harhaanjohtavia vinkkejä ihan vain "haasteen" lisäämiseksi. Oikeatkin vihjeet ovat melko takkuisella englannilla kirjailtu. Lisäksi muutamassa kohtaa pelaajan tulee kyykistellä oikeassa paikkaa viitisen sekuntia oikea esine equipattuna, jotta alkaa tapahtua. Koomisen kryptistä paskaa. Peliä kokeilevien kannattanee ainakin googlata, mitä pelin orb-pallerot tekevät, jotta tiet ei nouse pystyyn. Kaiketi pelin japaninkielisessä versiossa vihjeet ovat järkevämpiä, ja enkkukäännös on tarkoituksella hölmömpi. Harmillinen päätös, mutta pakko myös nauttia enkkulokalisaation päättömyydestä. On pelistä fanien tekemä järkevämpikin käännös saatavilla.

Ikäisekseen peliksi Simon's Questissa on paljon kiinnostavaa mekaniikkaa, vaikkei ne välttämättä aina sulavasti toimikaan. Pelistä löytyy muun muassa paljon parjattu vuorokausirytmi. Öisin vihut ovat kaksi kertaa kestävämpiä ja kylät menevät kiinni. Vastavuoroisesti valuuttaa ja expaa saa myöskin enemmän. Kuitenkin, jos kylässä teki mieli asioida, ei pelaaja voi muuta kuin odotella, että aamu koittaa. Kieltämättä tämä venailu on jokseenkin puuduttavaa, mutta itse jossain määrin jopa tykkäsin yön ja päivän kierrosta. Synkemmät miljööt ja pahemmat viholliset yön sydämessä sopivat Castlevaniaan kuin kossu vissyyn.

Vuorokausirytmiin on sidoksissa myös pelin vaihtoehtoiset loput. Mikäli pelin läpäisee alle viikossa tai alle kahdessa viikossa pelin aikaa, on pelaajan mahdosta nähdä erilaiset loppuratkaisut. Taas kerran, hyvä ja mielenkiintoinen idea, joka on Draculan tavoin herätetty eloon kerta toisensa jälkeen sarjan myöhemmissä osissa.

Audion ja grafiikkojen puolesta peli huokuu samaa makoisaa Castlevania-henkeä kuin ensimmäinenkin osa. Miljööt ovat samalla sekä sopivan kauhuteemaisia ja tunnelmaisia että konamimaisen palikkamaisia. Viholliset jäykkiä mutta klassisen näköisiä. Jokin pelin yksinkertaisissa grafiikoissa vain miellyttää silmää. Etenkin taustalla häämöttävät pikseli-vuoristot tai metsien armottomasti luuppaavat puut jäivät mieleeni. Ja pelin musiikit ovat myös ehtaa mieleenpainuvaa Castlevania-laatua. Huonoja musiikeja ei pelistä oikein löydykään, mutta oma suosikki on eittämättä sarjan ensimmäinen(?) Bloody Tears -versiointi. Ääniefektitkin toimivaat niin hyvin kuin 8-bittiseltä peliltä saattaa toivoa.

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest vaatii pelaajalta anteeksiantavuutta sekä iän tuoman jäykkyyden että kieltämättömän kryptisyyden osalta. Kenties se vaatii myös tietynlaista mielenlaatua tai -tilaa, jotta sen outoudesta voi nauttia täysin siemauksin. Täyttyy nämä parametrit pelaajalla tai ei, on Simon's Quest joka tapauksessa mielenkiintoinen pala pelihistoriaa.

I understand why there is so much hate around this game. It's very different from the first game because it's basically in a different genre. In some ways this is kind of a proto-metroidvania game. It gives the illusion of an open world, while still being very linear. Another significant change is the difficulty. I will exclude the "puzzles" from this for obvious reasons. Enemy placement, damage and health are laughably nerfed compared to the first game. You rarely encounter bullet hellholes like in the first game. It is also extremely forgiving when you die; plopping you in the spot you were in right before you died. You even fight the Grim Reaper again but this time he is a complete joke. On a similar note, there are only a handfull of bosses and all are laughably easy. I stun locked Dracula to death using a gold dagger.

There's no point ignoring the elephant in the room... the "puzzles." Part of how this game garnered an infamous reputation is less from it's level design departure and more from the obtuse nature of progression. The game gives hints, but I never found important ones, like kneeling with a blue orb in front of a lake or kneeling in some random dead end corner to summon a tornado... In addition to not being given clear hints (to be fair it's possible there's a NPC somewhere in the world that tells you to do those things... but most NPCs just spouted bullshit so I didn't really bother), you also are never really told where to go. So you have to explore. This can be a problem with the limited art assets. Things get repetitive and with the absence of a map navigation can be a chore. The worst part is having to backtrack through each Mansion after acquiring a Dracula piece. It's not too bad in early Mansions, but the larger later ones get pretty annoying. A fast travel using the tornado you summon would have been a most welcomed addition. The game designers also hide everything behind destructible walls. It gets very aggravating because you come to expect this bullshit and end up tossing holy water over every fucking surface in the game... In other games, like Zelda, you can see cracks in a wall or some other visual cue to hint at a destructible wall which feels fair. Not in this game... all surfaces look identical... I do like the new item and weapon upgrade system though. It's nice feeling progression as you unlock better gear.

Overall, while I think the first game is better I don't think this game is as bad as the reputation makes it out to be. It has plenty of jank and annoying design sensibilities but so did many 8-bit games. It was an awkward time in video game development when the tenets of game design weren't fully developed. IMO if this game wasn't labeled as a Castlevania game people would have liked it more.

If there is one game that I can point to and say "great ambitions, but bad execution", it would be Simon's Quest. This game, the sequel to the all-time classic Castlevania, decided to take a new direction for the then new series. Instead of the straight ahead arcade-style action of the first game, the second one sets you in more of an open world setting. Similar to the first Zelda, you can go wherever you want to go, to a degree. Certain items are needed to proceed in the game, like Zelda, and certain areas are extremely challenging if you try to take them on too early in the game. However, unlike Zelda, this game didn't know how to properly execute this concept, and what you get is a somewhat cryptic mess.

The story, if unfamiliar, is that after killing Dracula in the first game, a curse was set over Transylvania, and now Simon Belmont needs to find the pieces of Dracula's body scattered over the land, put them back together, and kill Dracula once again. Yeah, this story is pretty ridiculous, but in 1988 you went with it.

The game is divided into three different sections. You have the villages, where Simon can use hearts to purchase items like upgrades for his whips, other weapons or items needed in the game. Also in villages you can gather clues from talking with people and rest in the church to reset your health bar. And here's where the problems of the game first take shape. Due to poor Japanese to English translation prevalent in early NES titles, some of these clues are either completely false or so confusing that they are basically of no use. Also, the items often are so expensive, so you will be required to fight A LOT of enemies, grinding to gain hearts. The game cycles through a day-to-night timeline, and at night, the towns close and are invaded by zombies and bats (a part of the "curse.") This concept at first seems interesting and adds variety to the game, but it gets irritating eventually when you are low on health and want to stop at the church, or buy items and move on, and instead have to wait until daylight returns.

The second part of the game is the overworld. Here, you will fight many of the same monsters you fought in Castlevania I, like skeletons, werewolves and the fish monsters. Daytime, they are weaker, and nighttime they are stronger (but drop more hearts). There are parts in the overworld where you can take branching paths to different locations. This gets confusing, as there is no map when you pause the game, so you will have to do some manual tracking on your own to figure out where you went, where you are going, and how to backtrack to older areas.

The third part are the mansions, where you will obtain pieces of Dracula's body. These are very disappointing in that the "challenge" in these areas are mostly finding the man selling an oak stake (which is needed to get the body part) and throwing holy water like a maniac to find trap doors so you don't fall through the floor. Only two of the five mansions have a boss (and technically you don't even have to fight the boss if you don't want to).

All this accumulates into the fight with Dracula, one of the easiest boss fights of any video game I've ever played. Depending on how long it took you to beat the game, you will get one of three endings.

Again, there are some fantastic ideas here, and with some more TLC, this game could have been amazing. I think it came out ahead of it's time. The day-to-night cycle slows the game down to a halt, and the high level of grinding needed to buy things makes the game get repetitive and dull. The biggest flaw, however, is just how certain parts of the game are completely unreachable if you don't have a guide. The game offers you zero hints on getting the tornado to take you to the second half of the game, or needing to kneel with a specific crystal at a body of water to make it reveal a secret passage. Thank goodness for an issue of Nintendo Power that reveals all of this, but that shouldn't be a requirement to enjoy the game.

Overall, Simon's Quest gets an A for ambitious ideas and a D for execution.

Another great Castlevania game that I completed while at work ha. So this review isn't as detailed as my usual ones.

Look: 9/10 Again, if there were slightly better character/enemy graphics, this would surely be a 10. Because I love the colors, the backgrounds, the set designs. I wrote that I loved the inventory screen, but gotta admit it really isn't that spectacular. I liked how the heading looked (what do they call that, user interface or something, where it says your current status at the top of the screen).

Sound: -/10 Again, had it muted while at work -- excited to listen through the soundtracks.

Play: 10/10 Still felt as fun and straightforward as the first one, but y'all know me -- I loved the addition of RPG elements. The towns, the dialogue, the leveling, the item retrieval -- all great. I feel this game solves the balance of wanting to grind cuz I enjoy it vs leaving room for challenge, by making the best ending available only by moving fast through the game (not to mention, hurrying to avoid nighttime haha). You don't see that much in RPGs (and tbh, I typically would be mad about not being able to casually ineptly enjoy my grind only half paying attention, but this game sells it.) I usually don't like night/day features, but they did this well: it felt like I had to move on or else the more brutal enemies would get me. Some complaints: it was annoying figuring out how to use the White Crystal at first, some of the controls are still clunky (like they clearly didn't fix the jump or stair mechanics, especially that darn jump mechanic; even though I got used to it, and still had a blast, it's so clunky), almost too easy (especially the bosses). I wish you could grab items with the Whip. Also, the menu/inventory screen got a little tiring. Still, undeniably fun, and fresh enough with the addition of leveling. I guess I would've preferred that they separated experience and hearts, but once I got a hang of the leveling system, etc., I loved it.

Feel: 10/10 Again, this added enough fresh stuff while still being the just plain fun that the first one was. I loved the item retrieval gameplay and secrets, especially the ones in towns that reminded me of Adventure of Link. The graphics, set design, and colors are just so awesome; they made such a vibe (especially that unique purple throughout it). Usually I don't like night/day changes in graphics, but again, they pulled it off well. I suppose I wish there were a boss at the end of each mansion, and that the bosses weren't so easy with exploits (exploits were a big part of the first Castlevania, so I know they were planning around potential exploits). Only other complaint I can think of was, I wasn't a big fan of some of the platforming challenges like longer jumps or narrow heights that you bump off of. Just seems cheap. Still, I liked the challenge of getting a hang of it. I loved that the day/night feature stops in mansions so I could get a break and so I could fulfill my love for grinding haha while still feeling the pressure of the game clock. Of course, the grinding was basically unnecessary especially with the bosses' difficulty. I would've loved to be rewarded for grinding with, like, an optional boss in some of those useless screens that they only had to distract/get you lost on your way to Dracula's Castle.

Attachment: 9/10 I definitely will be replaying this, definitely experimenting with different endings and challenges (e.g., avoiding leveling, using password to reset levels, etc.). Stoked to see this rise to a 10. Turns out I love the Castlevania series -- quite the opposite of what I've claimed for years!

Long ago I played a little of this and grew frustrated and quit. Same with Zelda II. Both these games are from the same fold of cloth as they are Japanese Action Role Playing games and it seems there really aren't that many from this era which made it out of the country.

Castlevania is unique in having a rather open world with 5 or so dungeons but very few bosses.

This is a very nice and clean looking Konami game with a crisp palette, no slow down and minimal scroll/wrap-tearing. The soundtrack is limited but sounds quite good with a lot of defined instruments. It's a fun game to play, albeit a bit grindy, it's greatest flaw is the poor localization, lack of hand-holding or intuitive progress-making to the point of being nil impossible to complete save a guide.

The day night cycle is the most memorable aspect of this game and it really does highlight the palette colors. It was an excellent idea to show off the talent of the artists, which constructed a lot of very nice looking scenic backgrounds for this game.

What is nice however, is that upon death you actually respawn exactly where you die. You don't really lose progress in this game. After three lives you lose your gold but gold is just something that unlock progressive gates and after the first 10 or so minutes getting your first load out from the first town isn't really much of a hurdle when gold is lost.

Hands down, this game is superior to Zelda II. it looks better, sounds better, plays smoother and doesn't drag you down to hell upon death. It is a shame that it has a poor translation, and pretty much requires a guide (or at the very least rather specific hints on how to get through some spots).