Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)

Another Castlevania game that has a film effect on the title screen. I suppose the developers would have gotten a lot of their inspiration from classic horror movies.

Hmm, whip, awesome music... yeah this is definitely a Castlevania game. Simon's going for a bit of a darker look in this one though. He's wearing Dracula colours.

Immediately I find myself approached by a creature. When my whip proves to be ineffective I decide to make a run for it.

Well this way doesn't lead anywhere. There's a huge wall at the end of the street, this door is locked and bolted, and I can't seem to get down the stairs.

Seriously, look, he just won't go down the stairs. I can't even manage to fall through the stairs, and I got plenty of practice at falling through stairs (to my death) in the first Castlevania.

Out of desperation and boredom I decided to go chat to one of the horrible shambling monsters. Who are actually villagers. They told me tales of a merchant offering bum deals. I decided not to inquire further.

Eventually night fell on this stretch of road I'd come to call home. Apparently it's going to be a pretty crappy night for people with curses though.

Suddenly all the townsfolk dive indoors and monsters come out. I see why he doesn't like the night much now. If you've got a curse then the last thing you want to do all night is fight monsters.

Son of a bitch. NOW he goes down the stairs!



I had to press down on its own, without pulling right. If I press diagonally, he won't move. In Castlevania I always pressed diagonally, and it worked fine.

Left of the town is a group of monsters.

Right of the town is a group of monsters. Meh, I might as well go this way, seeing as I'm already here.

During my epic journey I met my old friends, the mermen, who greeted me by leaping out of the water and knocking me off the ledge to my death. As is their tradition.

Finally the long, rubbish night is over and done with, and I can enjoy a nice pleasant stroll through the forest. Oh wait, it turns out all the monsters are still here. Though it seems they take less time to kill now.

This looks interesting, a huge mansion with suspiciously identical weathering on each side of the gate. How could I resist investigating?

Well, damn. Unless I get myself a grappling hook or a jetpack I probably won't be seeing the rest of this place any time soon.

Add spiders to the list of Castlevania enemies I don't reckon I like much. They wouldn't be so bad if they didn't keep throwing webs at me. The only kind of spider I know who can fire off a fully formed web is Spider-Man.

Aha, a branching path. I'll have to remember this staircase later. Though I probably won't.

Whoa, a second town? To be honest I was expecting maybe, I dunno... Dracula's castle or something.

I don't think it's very safe to have huge gaps in the road like that. What sort of crappy town has an open sewer across the main road into town? The water isn't even animated, that's how much this town sucks.

That open doorway intrigues me however. Perhaps inside I may find one of these shops I've heard mention of. Hopefully one which doesn't trade in bum deals.

Wow, nothing. What a crappy town.

Then suddenly night falls once again, and I'm stuck fighting supercharged monsters. They're not overly deadly, they just take four hits to kill. And between each hit they get to shuffle a little closer to me.

I make my escape from the cursed town, racing right into another dead end.

You know, I think it's fair to say that the graphics are generally much better looking in this than in Castlevania 1.

I guess I have to go backtrack through the town now then. Maybe I'll go see where that staircase in the forest led to.


SOON.

I don't dare move from this spot. Enemies are everywhere and I have two hit points left. I'm safe up here though, they can't touch me! Safe in my tiny corner.

Just gotta wait them out until morning, then the streets will be clear. Clear of monsters anyway, all those NPCs will be wandering around instead.

ONE LONG WAIT FOR MORNING LATER.

Someone else said the clues were in Rover Mansion. I get the feeling that these comments are entirely pointless, as I'm probably going to have to visit every place in the game at some point anyway. Plus I don't know what anything's called, or where anything is. I don't even know where I am now!

It's like I'm playing Battle of Olympus all over again.

Yeah... right. I'll be sure to stock up on carrots and spinach too for night vision and super strength. They didn't even tell me where the shop was.

That's it, I'm done with this town. Time to leap the open sewer again and head back to that branching path.

That's it, I'm adding floating eyes to the list of Castlevania enemies I despise. I'm going to put them down right after spiders. Everything takes so long to kill in this that I've just stopped bothering.

It seems that I reappear pretty close to where I died in this game. Which I'm definitely not complaining about. Plus I seem to still have infinite continues like in the first game. And passwords!

But the reduced consequences for death does mean I can be a little less careful in how I navigate the levels. Like here for instance, where I decided to wade through the pit of what seems like corrosive acid rather than taking the boring path with the skeletons on it.

Purple town seems about as useless as blue town when it comes to information. I still haven't found a single shop in the game so far, though to be honest I have lost all interest in looking.

All I really want now is to find a dungeon that leads to an item, or something. Anything.

I finally get back to that staircase I was looking for... only somehow I'm coming from the direction it leads. So basically it leads nowhere interesting that I could see. Which is pretty much my opinion about the whole game so far.


Well I could draw up my own map maybe, and write down all the clues. Or I could quit and play something better. Which is what I'm actually going to do. Next game.

1986 - Castlevania (NES)
1986 - Vampire Killer (MSX2)
1987 - Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)
1988 - Haunted Castle (Arcade)
1989 - Castlevania: The Adventure (Game Boy)
1990 - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES)
1991 - Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Game Boy)
1991 - Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
1993 - Akumajō Dracula / Castlevania Chronicles (X68000)
1993 - Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo / Rondo of Blood (TurboGrafx-CD)
1994 - Castlevania: The New Generation / Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis/Mega Drive)
1995 - Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss / Castlevania: Dracula X (SNES)
1997 - Castlevania Legends (Game Boy)