Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

The Good
Back in 1986, Konami released Castlevania on the NES. It was a hugely successful game that was ported to other home systems such as the Amiga, Commodore 64, and PC. The game came in two forms. Most NES users back in the day would be familiar with the cartridge version; but those who lived in Japan could also obtain the Famicom Disk System (FDS) version. Each version has its advantages and disadvantages.

Simon Belmont was on a quest to put an end to Dracula’s reign; but unfortunately for him, the Prince of Darkness placed a curse on Simon in his final minutes, although the player was not made aware of this fact at the end of the first game. This curse will send him to an early grave unless he resurrects Dracula, but it can be lifted if he manages to recover eight of Dracula’s limbs scattered around in Transylvania and burn them. To make matters worse, monsters are out rampaging the land and terrorizing its inhabitants.

Konami wanted to do something different with the franchise, by mixing platforming and role-playing elements, similar to the likes of Metroid and Zelda II. This comes apparent when you explore seven towns, where you interact with the townspeople and buy items that help you throughout the adventure. The townspeople will give you hints on what to do. I suggest writing down these hints in case you forget. Each town consists of two floors (some with a platform in between) and have their own color schemes. There are also mansions which you need to get through in order to retrieve one of Dracula’s limbs, which are essential in completing your quest. For example, you have to present the Ferryman with a limb to make him get you across a large body of lava in his boat.

In between the towns and mansions, you have to negotiate rivers, forests, and graveyards, defeating monsters. The backgrounds contain a mixture of dark blue, dark gray, and sepia tones that blends in with the game’s horror setting. Defeating a monster causes it to drop a heart that awards Simon with cash. The monsters boast good animations and they behave the same way they do in the first game. Your health is decreased every time you are attacked by a monster, but it can be replenished by entering churches that are in town. As with any other NES game out there, losing all your energy results in a loss of life, and it is game over if you run out of lives. You can still continue the game if you enter a password given to you on the game over screen. (Lucky FDS users can save their progress instead.)

I like how Konami got creative with this game. It starts off with the title being presented in a huge negative that scrolls to the right to reveal the prologue, and pressing Start allows you to go to the options screen, all the while listening to some spooky music. The password input screen is beautifully presented. It depicts a brick wall with two huge windows showing mountains. At the front are three panes showing the relevant information.

Castlevania II is one of the first NES games to offer a day/night cycle. The flow of the game is unaffected, but how long you take to complete the game determines which of the three endings you will view at the end of the game. At night, shops and churches are shut, the townspeople are transformed into hideous monsters, and the monsters themselves are difficult to beat. At any time during the game, you can press the Start button to pause the game and view useful information such as time (measured in Days:Hours:Minutes), level, experience rating, number of hearts, and the type of whip, although Konami could have provided this information on the main screen. It is also here that your inventory can be accessed. Although it can be annoying that you can’t purchase items at night, it gives you a good reason to keep slaying enemies to make loads of money.

The music in the game is brilliantly composed by Kenichi Matsubara, and most of the soundtracks are memorable. The spooky night soundtrack blends in with the horror setting. I like the tune that plays when you are in the final mansion. The sound effects are quite similar to the ones from the first game. The soundtracks are slightly different between the two versions, with an extra sound channel provided for the FDS version; this was removed for the cartridge version.

Castlevania II can be played again; not just to experience the multiple endings, but to seek out the alternate routes the game provides. The endings share the same picture but each one contains different text. The fifteen-page manual for the game is well illustrated and goes into great detail about everything.

The Bad
I share the same concerns as The Angry Video Game Nerd, and one of them is the kickback that you receive when you are hit by an enemy; this is quite bad when it happens near water or lava. Imagine how angry you would feel if you are trying to jump on a narrow platform, only to have an enemy come out of nowhere and knock you in a body of water.

Also, the transition between day and night is annoying. A dialog box appears above you, and you can’t do anything.

The Bottom Line
I enjoyed playing through Castlevania II myself. I like to think of it as Zelda II, minus the overhead map. There are enemies to kill, items to buy, and people to interact with. Although I complained about the game not providing enough information on the main screen, the numerous remakes of the game address this. The graphics and sound are relevant to the horror setting, and the multiple endings are an incentive for fans to play the game again.

Konami wanted to do something different with the gameplay this time, but its poor sales made them go back to the original formula.