Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

aka: Akumajou Dracula II: Noroi no Fuuin
Moby ID: 10125
NES Specs
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Description official descriptions

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is the second game in the Castlevania series. After the vampire killer Simon Belmont destroyed Count Dracula in the previous game, an evil curse possessed him. The only way Simon can break the count's curse is to find five of Dracula's body parts (which are mysteriously strewn throughout Transylvania) and burn them.

Gameplay-wise, Simon's Quest is quite different from its predecessor, combining side-scrolling action and platforming with strong role-playing elements. The game does not feature the traditional stages but allows the player to freely roam the land of Transylvania in the style of Nintendo's Metroid. The game world is divided into outdoor areas, dungeon-like mansions containing crucial quest items, and towns, where Simon can talk to non-player characters, rest, and buy items in shops. Some areas can only be accessed by equipping and using specific items that must be bought or found.

The RPG elements are present in character growth, monetary system, and weapon upgrades. Simon's initial whip can be replaced by more powerful variants that can be purchased in various towns. Hearts are used as currency in the game and are obtained from defeated enemies in different quantities. The same hearts also function as experience points: after Simon has accumulated a set amount, he levels up and his attributes are increased.

The game features a day and night cycle that occurs at accelerated pace in real time. At night, enemies inflict more damage, but also drop more hearts upon defeat. Shops are closed during nighttime, and townspeople are replaced by wandering zombies.

Spellings

  • ドラキュラII呪いの封印 - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (NES version)

12 People

Invincibility
Permanence
  • Iwasa
Philosophy
Masterpiece
  • Kawanishi
Sensitivity
Excellence
Ambivalence
  • Kuwahara
Flourish
  • Higasa
Admiration
  • Ohyama
Superiority
Synchronism
Circumstance
  • Konami

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 68% (based on 27 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 115 ratings with 8 reviews)

This title doesn't deserve its good reputation at all

The Good
Simon Quest is the second game in the Castlevania series, and it is noticeable especially by the fact that is isn't similar to other Castlevania games. It plays like an unlinear adventure game rather than a single linear action game. You have to collect parts of Dracula's body in mansions, then get back to an altar to defeat him "forever", to leave Simon's curse.

Now, the good. The game has very good music and pretty good sound effects too. Also, the fact to have an unlinear Castlevania game is really exiting.

The Bad
About everything else.

Even if it slightly differs from other Castlevania games, the gameplay isn't that original. You basically travel from town to town and talk to people, and fight monsters outside of towns. Quite like any Zelda game, and this one was especially copied from Zelda II. The graphics are quite odd, very dark, everything seem black and you cannot distinct objects and backgrounds. Each piece of town, overworld area or dungeon looks just reused from another similar place with palette swapped background and palette swapped monsters. This is extremely annoying.

Additionally, you'll need to use special items during your adventure, but without using a FAQ you won't be able to make through the game, because the information that people give to you in towns is in most case useless crap (stuff like "I'd like to have a boyfriend like you") or unusable quest info that tries to get a poetic style (like "With your crystal make through the ruins") to say that you need to use some crystal in ruins, but without mentioning about which crystal, and which ruins (this is just an example).

Overall, they just re-used maps and make all dialogs with other people fit in one small window, making the game design pretty much ruined. Wait, it isn't everything.

When playing through the game, the screen will scroll too slowly making you pass through walls, but then you get screwed inside the wall. Maybe you'll dead just by pushing the down arrow button, which is supposed to make you sit and not to kill you. Maybe you'll fall when climbing stairs, but you'll still be climbing stairs making you climbing an nonexistent stair. Sometimes, while walking, your hero suddenly falls into an invisible hole and dies. When the screen scrolls and when a monster is supposed to appear in its borders, very often two or three copies of it will appear at the same place, they'll flicker and make the game slows down. When monsters walk along one border of the screen, they blink and come back inside a wall, then tries to move in the wall very quickly, making a shaking monster in a wall.

In other words, glitches in Simon Quest are as countless as stars in a moonlight sky. I think words cannot say how glitchy is the game, you cannot believe it without having played it yourself.

Finally, the game control is not fair, the gameplay is incredibly repetitive due to the fact that each place is just like another one, and all monsters and all their attacks constantly glitches, and the game slow downs a lot.

The Bottom Line
Conclusion ? This makes an incredibly over-rated game. Konami really put all the crap they could in that game. I cannot believe it is possible to input so much glitches and re-used stuff in a game, which are possibly the two worse flaws of gaming. Also, mediocre over-repetitive graphics (that actually are worse than the original Castlevania) and quests that are impossible to complete without a FAQ because you just cannot guess what you have to do doesn't bring anything good to the game.

The game could have be good if programmers wouldn't be so lazy, tough. I think the design part of the game is good, but the realization is pure crap.

NES · by Bregalad (937) · 2006

scour the country side, and hunt for the counts missing body parts!

The Good
this was the first of the series i played, and it was very entertaining. i found the leveling up system and password feature was a great idea, and when day turns to night, the game gets increasingly harder. the music must also be noted, because like the original, you remember the music, and will be whistling it for weeks. and the ending is great! this is the best music i have heard for this system, and i am sure you will enjoy it to.

The Bad
the final boss was rather easy. i used the golden knife trick and i beat him on my first attempt every time. and unless you have a guide to this game, you will get stuck on the tornado part of the adventure. some of the later creatures are annoying if you have not leveled up either.

The Bottom Line
this is a great follow up to a legendary game. the side quests will leave you wondering what to do next, and the journey into the counts castle will be something you will remember for all time.

NES · by benjamin grimes (9) · 2005

One of the best NES games out there...

The Good
Very well planned out strategy/RPG game. Twists, plots, and secrets everywhere. Beasts are stronger at night, weapons and armor get cooler by the hour, and the base storyline is unmatched, trying to reform Dracula so you can kill him once and for all.

The Bad
Nothing about this game was bad. It can drag at times when you are stuck, but thats the fun of old Zelda/RPG-styled games.

The Bottom Line
A must play. Many hours of fulfilling gameplay. One of the best RPG-style games ever made, compensating for its time period. You'd probably need a strategy guide to figure out all the hidden items and doors. Unmatched in originality of gameplay, depth of storyline, and feel.

NES · by Cormana6868 (12) · 2004

[ View all 8 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Also released May 2019, part of Anniversary Collection, including a Windows version. Andrew Fisher (697) Jun 23, 2023
Another "black sheep" turns out to be a gem Unicorn Lynx (181780) May 30, 2012

Trivia

Endings

The game features three different endings, which are activated based on the amount of game-time it took the player to finish the game. The first one is for three days or less, another is for eight days or less and the third is for any time playing over that. The endings are different between the US and Japanese versions of the game. It's debatable which of the three is the better ending (the fastest ending isn't considered the best), however it seems that in two of them, Simon Belmont does not survive the curse Dracula placed upon him.

Famicom Disk System Version

The original Japanese version of the game, named Dracula II: Noroi no Fuuin, was not released on a cart. It was available for the Famicom Disk System, an add-on that lets the Famicom play video games straight from a special floppy disk.

There are some differences between this version and the US one:

  • It does not use passwords to record the player's progress, it saves the data to one of three save files on the disk.
  • It has different music because the Famicom Disk System has an extra sound channel that was not available via other means.
  • The mansion music also plays when the player is at their outside entrances.
  • There are some sound differences: the glass-shattering effect of holy water doesn't exist, the sound effect for Simon falling into water is altered, the secret-discovering sound plays only when the player initially talks to hidden souls and not after, and there are snazzier sounds for the Ferryman's actions and the Deborah Cliff tornado-soul ride.
  • There are deviations on some names (most notably, Simon's last name in the Japanese version, as is usually the case with the family name, is Belmondo. Also, Camilla Cemetery is instead called Carmilla Cemetery).
  • It has a slightly higher enemy rate.
  • It's possible to purchase garlic and laurels even after Simon's stock is filled.

Garlic Exploit

In the original Japanese Famicom Disk System-only version of the game, it is possible to beat the last boss using only a single piece of garlic. Doing this really takes a long time though. Just drop a piece of garlic on the floor, move and wait for the boss to hit the garlic. It will be hit 256 times without having the ability to move, then die. In the western cartridge port of the game, Konami made the supply of garlic vanish for the final battle, probably because this trick was well-known in Japan.

Innovations

It was the first game to feature a day/night cycle.

Novel

A 1990 novella based on this game was published by Scholastic as part of their Worlds of Power series for children at risk of losing their literacy to video gaming -- books based on non-Nintendo-owned NES games, all attributed to the author F.X. Nine (though this one is also credited: written by Christopher Howell, a Seth Godin Production). At the ends of chapters, hints for the completion of the video game appear in spoiler-secured upside-down text.

Nintendo Power Controversy

The second issue of Nintendo Power had a cover based on Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. It depicted a man in a suit of armor (probably Simon Belmont) holding Dracula's severed head. The cover prompted several phone calls from mothers who claimed it gave their children nightmares.

The Black Dahlia Murder

The American death metal band The Black Dahlia Murder, used this game as inspiration for their first release, What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse. The title is derived from the phrase "What a horrible night to have a curse" which appears onscreen during transitions from day to night. The song What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse from their third album Nocturnal is a downloadable track in Rock Band, bringing Castlevania to that franchise in a sort of round-about way.

Awards

  • Power Play
    • Issue 01/1990 - #3 Best Nintendo Game in 1989

Information also contributed by Andreas Vilén, Bregalad, CaptainCanuck, Dracula Marth, Pseudo_Intellectual, ResidentHazard and WildKard.

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Related Sites +

  • Castlevania Dungeon
    Fansite dedicated to everything and anything Castlevania.
  • Howard & Nester do Castlevania 2
    A regular feature in Nintendo Power magazine, Howard & Nester was a comic strip about two game whizzes who would one-up each other, while disclosing hints and tips, in the settings of various recently-released games for the NES platform. In the November / December 1988 two-page installment, they figure out how to find Bodley Mansion.
  • OC ReMix Game Profile
    Fan remixes of music from Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, including the album "Sonata of the Damned".
  • Play "Castlevania II: Simon's Quest" online!
    The entire game can be played on this website, which uses a Java-based NES emulator called vNES to call up ROMs for its visitors.
  • Video review of Castlevania II
    The Angry Video Game Nerd, Jame Rolfe, reviews Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. This is Jame Rolfe's first Angry Video Game Nerd review.
  • Video review of the Castlevania series (WARNING: Language)
    The Angry Video Game Nerd, James Rolfe, reviews games in the Castlevania series. In part 2, he takes a second look at Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and reviews Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, both on NES.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 10125
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Roedie.

Wii U, Nintendo 3DS added by GTramp. Wii added by Sciere.

Additional contributors: Guy Chapman, Foxhack, Pseudo_Intellectual, Echidna Boy, LepricahnsGold, jsbrigo, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, Thomas Thompson, MobyReed.

Game added August 24, 2003. Last modified March 3, 2024.