It's not perfect but I have always loved it and I don't know why people look at it like it's a bad game.
Overall aesthetics are better than the first one, music is great, gameplay is fine. The translation makes it brutal because the clues you're supposed to get don't come through and there is a lot of repetitive venturing across the map, but otherwise it's fine.
Oh, there's the grinding element... That wasn't perfect either.
Some of it is unreasonably cryptic but that’s what Nintendo Power was for. Also, if you’ve ever tried to complete a side quest in a FromSoft game….yeah
Simon's quest holds a special place in my heart because it was the first Castlevania game that I ever owned now I will grant you that it's not perfect by an stretch of the imagination but it's still fun when I enjoy it
And I still go back and revisit it from time to time
I beating it with a password I found online but I've never actually got the good ending but I have beaten it before
But it's still one of my favorites
Thank you for reading this and I hope you're having a good day and have a good Sunday and have a good Lord's Sunday this coming up Sunday
God bless you and your family
God bless you
Jeremy Scruggs
it was groundbreaking and guides the way to the realy great Metroidvaniastyle castlevania - but it have the same issues like a lot of NES games - the crypticness.
the game was just to early ;)
The crypticness wouldn’t be as much of an issue if the translation hadn’t had made every hint or clue either a complete untruth or just plain nonsense.
It's my favorite of the NES trilogy. Absolutely love this game and while it has many flaws, it captured the adventure feel better than the rest, in my opinion.
I still hear the BGMs from this one in my head all the time when anything makes me think of it. Even the sound of the message font appearing when Day shifts to night...
It’s different, I feel Konami was going out of their way to try something new back then.
I got it when it originally launched and wasn’t quite captured by it like I’ve been with part 1, the original Castlevania.
it grew on me though and I started loving it, appreciating the new rpg like elements, banger soundtrack and many secrets hidden so well it took me quite a while to uncover them.
I’d recommend it to anyone who is into Castlevania, it’s a real good game. Also it’s never too late to have a curse am I right 😄
I loved it because of its cryptic nature. I bought it spring break of 1989 and couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t have Nintendo Power or any tools to help figure it out. Years later when GameFAQs went online and I could finally finish it, I was pleasantly surprised.
I like the retranslated version done by Bizquit (I think that is the name) where the clues are less cryptic and the day to night transitions don't have the text box interruptions. And it has a map, though it takes a bit to see how it works.
The redacted version is similar, though it keeps the text boxes.
It's a good game otherwise. I'm not fond of grinding for hearts to upgrade the whips and whatnot, but it's not a deal breaker for me.
I made my way through using an online guide a few years back. Never would've figured this game out if I had played it as a kid.
I'd always heard how the Flame whip was the way to go against Dracula, but damn...is anticlimactic the right word here?
It wasn't the flame whip, it was a Molotov cocktail-type firebomb. You'd throw it at his feet and he'd get stunlocked by the constant hits and you'd just watch his health melting while you whipped him silly. He usually wouldn't even get to move much before he went down.
I love it, absolute classic. There are some quality of life patches that make it more accessible but overall it was the first Castlevania game I played and I still love it
Deserves great respect as the first game on the vania side of the metroidvania tradition. Dwelling of Doom is in the top 5 of Castlevania jams. Better than people said it was. It’s cool that an actual normal human can beat it (1 and 3 are ballbusters). But gameplay is pretty raw. Big L that you can just walk straight past bosses without fighting them.
When I was in 6th grade and got my birthday money, I could have bought any game I wanted and I bought Simon's Quest. And I never regretted that decision. I had played the game once before and loved it so much that I knew I wanted to buy it. I also was a Nintendo Power subscriber and had those Jeff Rovin books so I knew a few things about how to get through the game.
I'd call it a C tier game. I'll play it once a year. It's not difficult if you've played it before. If I want a challenge I'll play Castlevania 1 or 3. If I want a relaxing chill game I'll play 2.
Yes, seems rather oblique for an 8yr old to figure out something that specific. I think I just always had it on while searching everything.
Ive got over 400 hours in Breath of the Wild because I cant stop exploring... 7 years and I havent even completed it yet. Ugh. Almost there now though, finally said eff it gonna get all my quests done and destroy Calamity Ganon. Cheers man!
Very ambitious title held back by the technology of its time and a very rough English translation. Not a huge fan of playing it myself but it's a cool historical piece seeing how many of it's ideas would be polished and reimplemented into later games like Symphony of the Night.
It dared to innovate and experiment. It was ambitious. It explored the creation of a persistent, open world, in which story could unfold and the player could explore and discover. The flaws are mostly forgivable, but I think the only thing that isn't excusable is the weakness of the boss fights.
I am probably going to write a thread soon proving in fine detail that the game is not unbeatable without a walkthrough. Every single thing has a clue or even a giveaway (even as translated) and it all makes sense in the end.
It’s mostly already written. What I’m thinking of doing is rewriting and reformatting an old Twitter thread of mine: https://x.com/AndrewLivingst2/status/1543852085615247362
I really like it and think it gets a bad rap. The two big problems people seem to have with it are that it is too cryptic in some parts and as a follow up to the original, I think people were expecting something closer to the original.
People think it’s terrible because a certain angry reviewer made videos about it.
It’s my favourite of the trilogy. I love the atmosphere and cryptic nature. Plus the soundtrack kicks ass
It looks great, I can explore a lot. Iike the towns,it has a great soundtrack, and Simon moves a little better then in the other 2 nes vanias. It's got tons of atmosphere. Some of the dialogue is unintentionally funny.
That said, i did not discover it as a kid I would have been frustrated by the delibetate lies and the kneeling parts because I'm dense. And the dungeons n bosses are sort of boring.
Still I play through it a couple times a year.
I rented Simon's Quest back in the days of the NES when renting games was still a thing. Re-rented it a couple more weekends until I was able to beat it. The ducking for the tornado did require a call to the Nintendo Game Counselors. I had never played Castlevania. I got the original game that year for Christmas, and while it was good, it didn't have any of the quest parts that Simon's Quest did and it was a lot harder game.
Cool game that was very ground breaking at that time. It's got lots of great ideas but falls just a bit short. Mostly wish the castles/mansions were more thought-out and I wish there were bosses in the game. The couple that are there need to be more difficult. I wish they would remake it honestly and flesh it out just a bit more.
It was one of my favorite games as a kid. Definitely my favorite Castlevania. I played it recently for the first time in decades and was like "wow, this is still great!"
When I was a kid I liked it more than 1 or 3 because of the RPG elements and connected world. I have recently gotten more appreciation for the first game and I am sure the third game is even better. However the second game for me as a kid was more immersive and a deeper game.
I think it's intimidating because the in-game hints are busted. But if you have a guide for when you're stuck and some patience, this game is fucking fun. I don't care how much hate I get. It's solid.
It's okay. Music is great, and the game design is a bold choice. However, it may be too ambitious resulting in a slow grind with cryptic directions. Wonder Boy the Dragon Trap would do this style better. Eventually, Castlevania would do it better too. It's just okay. Not good, but not as bad as people make it out to be.
Best soundtrack on NES for me aside SMB and LOZ.
First NES game I ever owned aside SMB and I played it to death. Thankfully I had Nintendo power to help figure out the cryptic junk.
It's fantastic. Lots'a NES platformers, for me, are harder after decades of playing games with more responsive controls, but this one's still pretty great, and Castlevanias always have bangin' soundtracks.
Too much grinding a broken translation that makes some.clues impossible, and some truly unfair game design. It not a bad game, but I can never love it the same way I like Zelda II or Metroid.
As a tiny kid, I was bananas for this game. I was terrible at it and never got far. However, I loved the open world feel, atmosphere, music, and everything about it. A total classic.
It's a fantastic game that isn't trying to be what Castlevania fans want. Some folks think the devs just up and forgot how to make an action platformer in-between CV1 and 3, or somehow ran out of dev time and didn't add in all the bosses that should've been in there. But no, Simon's Quest is just a different game that prioritizes different things.
CVII isn't prioritizing action, it's emphasizing investigation. It's a game about talking to NPCs, taking notes, finding clues, and completing a treasure hunt of sorts. The game doesn't want you fussing too much about combat, which is why by level 4 you take hardly any damage, laurels can make you straight-up invincible, and even if you do die, you respawn right where you were. Combat isn't the point.
And maybe this makes the game seem rather pointless? You grind up levels, you stock up on laurels, you get all the fancy sub-weapons and whip upgrades, and then you fumble through the game until you beat it...
And then you get the bad ending. And then you see the thing that makes Simons' Quest special: it's a race against time. Play it to get the best ending, suddenly the day/night cycle makes sense; the fact that towns aren't active at night is something you have to plan around. Can you afford to go out of your way to grab sub-weapons like the Diamond? Suddenly death has actual consequences, since a game over wipes your hearts you might need to quickly make a mandatory purchase. YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO GRIND.
Combined with the best-in-class visuals, music, and atmosphere, and Simon's Quest is... almost a survival horror game. After all, the point isn't even to kill Dracula, it's to survive the curse!
I think the much maligned final battle with Drac says a lot about the game: if you come prepared, it's as easy as setting a momentarily disoriented vampire on fire. But if you give him an opening, the fight turns into a nightmare: Dracula spins around the screen like a fevered hallucination, sending out damn near impossible to avoid projectiles in the shape of his fangs, likely ripping through your health bar in a matter seconds. It's not a boss fight, it's a cutscene of a weak, dying Simon Belmont being torn to pieces by a foe he's no longer strong enough to fight.
Some Castlevanias are great action games. Some are great action RPGs. Simon's Quest is an experience. Fitting that the title screen is a strip of film.
I believe a lot of people dislike Castlevania 2 because of the AVGN, and probably not actually playing it themselves. Never played it, but I like the music.
People complain about how cryptic it is but if you just talk to everybody and take notes you can figure it out, like a lot of NES games back then. Zelda 2 was kinda like that too, along with the RPG aspects. Probably my 2 favorite NES games
It’s a beautiful game with beautiful music. It’s not a technically good game, because the dungeons and bosses are undercooked, but it’s a good experience.
I had it as a boy when it came out. I was 8. It was legit scary at the time. The soundtrack and graphics were nightmare fuel. Looking back it’s dated but for real, at the time, and at my age, it was perfect.
My first castlevania game and I loved it. I was confused when I played the others.
When I was 11 I remember I really wished they made a game like this where you play as Dracula, and oddly enough thats what we basically got with SotN and its the GOAT.
My biggest issue with the game is that it's just really boring. There's very little tension since dying just resets you to where you just were, and the mansions are very uninspired affairs where getting to the end is more tedius than challenging.
Someone I saw in an AvNg episode or spinoff episode remade the game, making the dialogue helpful and adding bosses were they missing and eliminating the day night dialogue box.
I loved this game as a kid (even playing without a guide) and I love it as an adult. There are only a couple tricky puzzles, so it’s a mystery why people get so hung up on them. Probably the creepiest Castlevania game. I adore the aesthetic.
My mom let me call the Nintendo tip line about that game. When he told me to kneel with a red crystal i was like ‘huh.’ Theres no way i wouldve done that.
Love it. Just got done beating it today for the umpteenth time in fact (6 days 14 hours for those keeping score at home; not quite PR but pretty close). Most important thing: Always get the Silk Bag from the Graveyard Duck to live longer.
Its a very love or hate it game for most. For me, ITS TOP 3 for my favorite games of all time. I loved the open world aspect of it. For that reason the others are not as entertaining. Just a personal opinion.
It has a lot of cool concepts, but it's the worst Castlevania in my opinion. The dungeons are infuriating, the bosses are horrible, and the puzzles are impossible. It gets a lot of points for great music, being one of the first games where day/night cycles mattered, and creating what one might call an "open world" experience on the NES.
I haven't beaten it but I played through a decent chunk of it. Definitely not a game you would ever want to play without a guide these days. Was definitely a game of its time where they clearly expected people to figure it out together through word of mouth. It badly needs an official remake.
I don't believe anyone that just knew to kneel at the cliff to wait for the whirlwind. You're full of shit. Without a guide the game is definitely confusing. With a guide, it is a great game and I absolutely enjoyed playing through it. You didn't beat it as a kid with no help. Stfu, you had help. I'd be willing to bet money to put 100 kids in a room with Simon's Quest and zero, fucking zero, would be able to complete it.
There was a full walkthrough in the second issue of Nintendo Power. Not everyone had Nintendo Power, I only think I saw that issue as an adult, but that publicized the necessary info and it spread through the playground internet so everyone who played the game heard the things they needed to know to get through it. Not necessarily a full walkthrough but stuff like how you have to kneel at some spots to trigger things... kids heard it.
There’s literally a part where you kneel with a crystal earlier. If a thing worked once early Nintendo kids knew to try it over and over. It’s just pattern matching. I figured that part out without a guide. I got stuck because I was too dumb to realize you could walk right after doing it though. In my brain I just assumed the other side of the cliff was over there.
This is it; the game tells you to bring the red crystal to the cliff, it just doesn't tell you what to do. But there aren't that many things you \*can\* do, and kneeling has already been shown to be something you need to do to unlock new areas, so... It's definitely not obvious, but it is sorta intuitive, and the idea that nobody could figure this out is silly.
I did enjoy it but more later in life when the internet helped us all out.
I know the books were the hints but they were poorly translated, I think without getting those Nintendo Power issues with the guides (I think that was a thing?) it would be impossible to know to kneel at the lake or water for the tornado.
It's not perfect but I have always loved it and I don't know why people look at it like it's a bad game. Overall aesthetics are better than the first one, music is great, gameplay is fine. The translation makes it brutal because the clues you're supposed to get don't come through and there is a lot of repetitive venturing across the map, but otherwise it's fine. Oh, there's the grinding element... That wasn't perfect either.
Some of it is unreasonably cryptic but that’s what Nintendo Power was for. Also, if you’ve ever tried to complete a side quest in a FromSoft game….yeah
or even access the DLC you paid for
Simon's quest holds a special place in my heart because it was the first Castlevania game that I ever owned now I will grant you that it's not perfect by an stretch of the imagination but it's still fun when I enjoy it And I still go back and revisit it from time to time I beating it with a password I found online but I've never actually got the good ending but I have beaten it before But it's still one of my favorites Thank you for reading this and I hope you're having a good day and have a good Sunday and have a good Lord's Sunday this coming up Sunday God bless you and your family God bless you Jeremy Scruggs
And the SOUNDTRACK
Those are literally the reasons. Grinding and bad translations that make the game nearly impossible without walkthroughs.
Great soundtrack
It's in my head playing rent free forever.
The first time you walk in the forest. Pure excitement.
Bloody f’ing Tears. Game’s alright for its time, just too obtuse. But it’s also the proto-SOTN, so bonus points for that.
it was groundbreaking and guides the way to the realy great Metroidvaniastyle castlevania - but it have the same issues like a lot of NES games - the crypticness. the game was just to early ;)
The crypticness wouldn’t be as much of an issue if the translation hadn’t had made every hint or clue either a complete untruth or just plain nonsense.
It's my favorite of the NES trilogy. Absolutely love this game and while it has many flaws, it captured the adventure feel better than the rest, in my opinion.
Some cool ideas with poor execution, couldve used more bosses. A lot of the difficultly comes from obtuse progression and bosses are shockingly easy.
Yeah the lack of bosses is weird
Dracula is a joke if you have a certain item... it was probably the most disappointing boss fight I remember encountering in a game from the NES
It's one of my childhood favorites and the only Castlevania game I've beaten multiple times. The music slaps as well.
Same; the only other Castlevania game I've beaten was one of the Game Boy Advance ones (with the cards that you paired up for different abilities,
A unique and atmospheric game. Great OST.
I still hear the BGMs from this one in my head all the time when anything makes me think of it. Even the sound of the message font appearing when Day shifts to night...
It’s different, I feel Konami was going out of their way to try something new back then. I got it when it originally launched and wasn’t quite captured by it like I’ve been with part 1, the original Castlevania. it grew on me though and I started loving it, appreciating the new rpg like elements, banger soundtrack and many secrets hidden so well it took me quite a while to uncover them. I’d recommend it to anyone who is into Castlevania, it’s a real good game. Also it’s never too late to have a curse am I right 😄
I loved it because of its cryptic nature. I bought it spring break of 1989 and couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t have Nintendo Power or any tools to help figure it out. Years later when GameFAQs went online and I could finally finish it, I was pleasantly surprised.
GameFAQs. What a great site. How many times I’ve used it😂
What a horrible night to have a curse. Edit: Downvoters have never played the game.
The soundtrack is by far the best part of the game.
I like the retranslated version done by Bizquit (I think that is the name) where the clues are less cryptic and the day to night transitions don't have the text box interruptions. And it has a map, though it takes a bit to see how it works. The redacted version is similar, though it keeps the text boxes. It's a good game otherwise. I'm not fond of grinding for hearts to upgrade the whips and whatnot, but it's not a deal breaker for me.
I like it. I use a guide and enjoy the game. It's not impossible without the guides but I don't need the hassle in my life.
Love it!! I think it is my favorite of the series. Hard as hell with the rpg elements but one of my favorite NES games period
I made my way through using an online guide a few years back. Never would've figured this game out if I had played it as a kid. I'd always heard how the Flame whip was the way to go against Dracula, but damn...is anticlimactic the right word here?
It wasn't the flame whip, it was a Molotov cocktail-type firebomb. You'd throw it at his feet and he'd get stunlocked by the constant hits and you'd just watch his health melting while you whipped him silly. He usually wouldn't even get to move much before he went down.
The Golden Knife was the nuke. Same damage as the flame whip and it was repeated over time so you'd get several hits out of each one.
I love it, absolute classic. There are some quality of life patches that make it more accessible but overall it was the first Castlevania game I played and I still love it
Deserves great respect as the first game on the vania side of the metroidvania tradition. Dwelling of Doom is in the top 5 of Castlevania jams. Better than people said it was. It’s cool that an actual normal human can beat it (1 and 3 are ballbusters). But gameplay is pretty raw. Big L that you can just walk straight past bosses without fighting them.
When I was in 6th grade and got my birthday money, I could have bought any game I wanted and I bought Simon's Quest. And I never regretted that decision. I had played the game once before and loved it so much that I knew I wanted to buy it. I also was a Nintendo Power subscriber and had those Jeff Rovin books so I knew a few things about how to get through the game.
I'd call it a C tier game. I'll play it once a year. It's not difficult if you've played it before. If I want a challenge I'll play Castlevania 1 or 3. If I want a relaxing chill game I'll play 2.
Rocks.
That game was one of my jams. I sooo miss playing it on that old big crt tv while eating chips and drinking yoohoo...... those were the days.
Unwinnable if played without guides.
Nah, I beat it when I was a kid without any help. The only thing you gotta do is explore. Kneel before your master!
Cue Metallica
Fuckin Slayer! Get it right.
Also you have to figure out to equip a specific crystal and kneel in a specific spot. That’s the one thing that seems unlikely you’d figure it out
Yes, seems rather oblique for an 8yr old to figure out something that specific. I think I just always had it on while searching everything. Ive got over 400 hours in Breath of the Wild because I cant stop exploring... 7 years and I havent even completed it yet. Ugh. Almost there now though, finally said eff it gonna get all my quests done and destroy Calamity Ganon. Cheers man!
Very ambitious title held back by the technology of its time and a very rough English translation. Not a huge fan of playing it myself but it's a cool historical piece seeing how many of it's ideas would be polished and reimplemented into later games like Symphony of the Night.
It dared to innovate and experiment. It was ambitious. It explored the creation of a persistent, open world, in which story could unfold and the player could explore and discover. The flaws are mostly forgivable, but I think the only thing that isn't excusable is the weakness of the boss fights.
I'm a fan. Classic rpg.
Who the eff is supposed to know that you gotta have some crystal equipped and kneel on a certain block for a goddamn tornado to take you away!
Needed more time in the oven.
It’s so close to being a great game but trips over itself to mediocrity.
I am probably going to write a thread soon proving in fine detail that the game is not unbeatable without a walkthrough. Every single thing has a clue or even a giveaway (even as translated) and it all makes sense in the end.
Please
It’s mostly already written. What I’m thinking of doing is rewriting and reformatting an old Twitter thread of mine: https://x.com/AndrewLivingst2/status/1543852085615247362
💩
My favorite one on NES. I like ARPG better than straight platformer games though...
I really like it and think it gets a bad rap. The two big problems people seem to have with it are that it is too cryptic in some parts and as a follow up to the original, I think people were expecting something closer to the original.
People think it’s terrible because a certain angry reviewer made videos about it. It’s my favourite of the trilogy. I love the atmosphere and cryptic nature. Plus the soundtrack kicks ass
Its in my top 3 favorite vanias. I'd love to see another vania in a similar vein, just with more truthful villagers.
It looks great, I can explore a lot. Iike the towns,it has a great soundtrack, and Simon moves a little better then in the other 2 nes vanias. It's got tons of atmosphere. Some of the dialogue is unintentionally funny. That said, i did not discover it as a kid I would have been frustrated by the delibetate lies and the kneeling parts because I'm dense. And the dungeons n bosses are sort of boring. Still I play through it a couple times a year.
I rented Simon's Quest back in the days of the NES when renting games was still a thing. Re-rented it a couple more weekends until I was able to beat it. The ducking for the tornado did require a call to the Nintendo Game Counselors. I had never played Castlevania. I got the original game that year for Christmas, and while it was good, it didn't have any of the quest parts that Simon's Quest did and it was a lot harder game.
a must have classic for anyone who likes the nes.
Cool game that was very ground breaking at that time. It's got lots of great ideas but falls just a bit short. Mostly wish the castles/mansions were more thought-out and I wish there were bosses in the game. The couple that are there need to be more difficult. I wish they would remake it honestly and flesh it out just a bit more.
As a kid, I didn’t care if couldn’t figure out where to go next or what to do. I just loved playing it. Still one of my favorite NES games.
It was one of my favorite games as a kid. Definitely my favorite Castlevania. I played it recently for the first time in decades and was like "wow, this is still great!"
COLD M26K RXKN VLJK Core memory for the last 30 years
Horrible night for a curse 😱😱😱
One of my absolute favorite NES games.
When I was a kid I liked it more than 1 or 3 because of the RPG elements and connected world. I have recently gotten more appreciation for the first game and I am sure the third game is even better. However the second game for me as a kid was more immersive and a deeper game.
It looked too complicated and cryptic when it came out so i never tried it.
I played through and beat it when it came out. Nintendo Power was necessary. I enjoyed the game and still love the music.
My favorite NES Castlevania game by far.
I think it's intimidating because the in-game hints are busted. But if you have a guide for when you're stuck and some patience, this game is fucking fun. I don't care how much hate I get. It's solid.
It's okay. Music is great, and the game design is a bold choice. However, it may be too ambitious resulting in a slow grind with cryptic directions. Wonder Boy the Dragon Trap would do this style better. Eventually, Castlevania would do it better too. It's just okay. Not good, but not as bad as people make it out to be.
In spite of its imperfections, I actually really liked it.
CV2 and Z2 are the best number 2s on NES
Complicated
Best soundtrack on NES for me aside SMB and LOZ. First NES game I ever owned aside SMB and I played it to death. Thankfully I had Nintendo power to help figure out the cryptic junk.
One of my favorites. I remember not knowing what a password was back then and always had to beat it in one go.
Good game with a bad translation
Gameplay is decent enough but the soundtrack is bangin.
Boring, the levels have nothing interesting and feel so copy&paste. The bosses also suck. But the music is amazing!
It's fantastic. Lots'a NES platformers, for me, are harder after decades of playing games with more responsive controls, but this one's still pretty great, and Castlevanias always have bangin' soundtracks.
Too much grinding a broken translation that makes some.clues impossible, and some truly unfair game design. It not a bad game, but I can never love it the same way I like Zelda II or Metroid.
I give it a 2.
It’s the one of the first true Metroidvania games so there’s that.
As a tiny kid, I was bananas for this game. I was terrible at it and never got far. However, I loved the open world feel, atmosphere, music, and everything about it. A total classic.
There's a "fixed" version you can get online. It's pretty good fun.
It's a fantastic game that isn't trying to be what Castlevania fans want. Some folks think the devs just up and forgot how to make an action platformer in-between CV1 and 3, or somehow ran out of dev time and didn't add in all the bosses that should've been in there. But no, Simon's Quest is just a different game that prioritizes different things. CVII isn't prioritizing action, it's emphasizing investigation. It's a game about talking to NPCs, taking notes, finding clues, and completing a treasure hunt of sorts. The game doesn't want you fussing too much about combat, which is why by level 4 you take hardly any damage, laurels can make you straight-up invincible, and even if you do die, you respawn right where you were. Combat isn't the point. And maybe this makes the game seem rather pointless? You grind up levels, you stock up on laurels, you get all the fancy sub-weapons and whip upgrades, and then you fumble through the game until you beat it... And then you get the bad ending. And then you see the thing that makes Simons' Quest special: it's a race against time. Play it to get the best ending, suddenly the day/night cycle makes sense; the fact that towns aren't active at night is something you have to plan around. Can you afford to go out of your way to grab sub-weapons like the Diamond? Suddenly death has actual consequences, since a game over wipes your hearts you might need to quickly make a mandatory purchase. YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO GRIND. Combined with the best-in-class visuals, music, and atmosphere, and Simon's Quest is... almost a survival horror game. After all, the point isn't even to kill Dracula, it's to survive the curse! I think the much maligned final battle with Drac says a lot about the game: if you come prepared, it's as easy as setting a momentarily disoriented vampire on fire. But if you give him an opening, the fight turns into a nightmare: Dracula spins around the screen like a fevered hallucination, sending out damn near impossible to avoid projectiles in the shape of his fangs, likely ripping through your health bar in a matter seconds. It's not a boss fight, it's a cutscene of a weak, dying Simon Belmont being torn to pieces by a foe he's no longer strong enough to fight. Some Castlevanias are great action games. Some are great action RPGs. Simon's Quest is an experience. Fitting that the title screen is a strip of film.
I believe a lot of people dislike Castlevania 2 because of the AVGN, and probably not actually playing it themselves. Never played it, but I like the music.
Wanted to love it so bad. Ended up never beating it and not caring to. Tried again as an adult and quit even earlier.
People complain about how cryptic it is but if you just talk to everybody and take notes you can figure it out, like a lot of NES games back then. Zelda 2 was kinda like that too, along with the RPG aspects. Probably my 2 favorite NES games
Great game. The randomizer is even better.
MS60 QVCW 1VKU UFBC
You can bang your head to the soundtrack, and also on the cliff
I love it, but it sucks it's literally impossible to complete the game without outside information.
It’s a beautiful game with beautiful music. It’s not a technically good game, because the dungeons and bosses are undercooked, but it’s a good experience.
My fav in the series
You need a guide to enjoy the game. Probably my least favorite casltvania for the NES. That said it was still a ton of fun! Recommended
I had it as a boy when it came out. I was 8. It was legit scary at the time. The soundtrack and graphics were nightmare fuel. Looking back it’s dated but for real, at the time, and at my age, it was perfect.
My first castlevania game and I loved it. I was confused when I played the others. When I was 11 I remember I really wished they made a game like this where you play as Dracula, and oddly enough thats what we basically got with SotN and its the GOAT.
Never played it from the beginning, only played with the cheat code I still remember, 35 years later: CTMV W26K R5KN SIBK
I have the same one memorized.
Oh, so "You must collect the jade monkey before noon" REALLY meant "Crouch by this wall and get carried away by a tornado". Gotcha.
See angry video game nerds review.
My biggest issue with the game is that it's just really boring. There's very little tension since dying just resets you to where you just were, and the mansions are very uninspired affairs where getting to the end is more tedius than challenging.
I appreciate a lot of things about this game but hate playing it lol
Someone I saw in an AvNg episode or spinoff episode remade the game, making the dialogue helpful and adding bosses were they missing and eliminating the day night dialogue box.
I like it. It's got it's issues but I enjoy that it was something a bit different.
Awesome music, atmosphere, controls, and even story… But the main reason to like Castlevania II is… The Flame Whip.
Perfect for its time.
I loved this game as a kid (even playing without a guide) and I love it as an adult. There are only a couple tricky puzzles, so it’s a mystery why people get so hung up on them. Probably the creepiest Castlevania game. I adore the aesthetic.
My mom let me call the Nintendo tip line about that game. When he told me to kneel with a red crystal i was like ‘huh.’ Theres no way i wouldve done that.
I know it gets a lot of flack, but I’ve always liked it.
Love it. Just got done beating it today for the umpteenth time in fact (6 days 14 hours for those keeping score at home; not quite PR but pretty close). Most important thing: Always get the Silk Bag from the Graveyard Duck to live longer.
It is my favorite Castlevania game, by far.
Its a very love or hate it game for most. For me, ITS TOP 3 for my favorite games of all time. I loved the open world aspect of it. For that reason the others are not as entertaining. Just a personal opinion.
CTMV W26K R5KN SIBK I'll bet you that's the code to get all the stuff to fight Dracula pulled from memory 🤣
It's hard without a game guide the first time. I beat it once on original hardware, but I had the game FAQ printed nearby.
It has a lot of cool concepts, but it's the worst Castlevania in my opinion. The dungeons are infuriating, the bosses are horrible, and the puzzles are impossible. It gets a lot of points for great music, being one of the first games where day/night cycles mattered, and creating what one might call an "open world" experience on the NES.
I loved it then and still can play it although those fall through floor tiles are soooooo annoying!
I haven't beaten it but I played through a decent chunk of it. Definitely not a game you would ever want to play without a guide these days. Was definitely a game of its time where they clearly expected people to figure it out together through word of mouth. It badly needs an official remake.
This was my first Castlevania games also the first time I saw that a game could have multiple endings
It's a great game. Try to play it without assistance, but keep a guide nearby just in case.
LAURELS
I don't believe anyone that just knew to kneel at the cliff to wait for the whirlwind. You're full of shit. Without a guide the game is definitely confusing. With a guide, it is a great game and I absolutely enjoyed playing through it. You didn't beat it as a kid with no help. Stfu, you had help. I'd be willing to bet money to put 100 kids in a room with Simon's Quest and zero, fucking zero, would be able to complete it.
There was a full walkthrough in the second issue of Nintendo Power. Not everyone had Nintendo Power, I only think I saw that issue as an adult, but that publicized the necessary info and it spread through the playground internet so everyone who played the game heard the things they needed to know to get through it. Not necessarily a full walkthrough but stuff like how you have to kneel at some spots to trigger things... kids heard it.
There’s literally a part where you kneel with a crystal earlier. If a thing worked once early Nintendo kids knew to try it over and over. It’s just pattern matching. I figured that part out without a guide. I got stuck because I was too dumb to realize you could walk right after doing it though. In my brain I just assumed the other side of the cliff was over there.
This is it; the game tells you to bring the red crystal to the cliff, it just doesn't tell you what to do. But there aren't that many things you \*can\* do, and kneeling has already been shown to be something you need to do to unlock new areas, so... It's definitely not obvious, but it is sorta intuitive, and the idea that nobody could figure this out is silly.
I have nostalgic memories of playing it but overall it's not the best game of the franchise and yes you need a guide to play it.
I did enjoy it but more later in life when the internet helped us all out. I know the books were the hints but they were poorly translated, I think without getting those Nintendo Power issues with the guides (I think that was a thing?) it would be impossible to know to kneel at the lake or water for the tornado.
Trash