Castlevania II: Simon\'s Quest

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Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Series	Castlevania
Platform(s)	Famicom Disk System, Nintendo Entertainment System, Virtual Console
Release date	JP August 28, 1987 USA December 1, 1988 EUR April 27, 1990
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	OFLC: G
Media	Floppy disk (FDS), 2-megabit cartridge (NES)

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, known in Japan as Dracula II: Noroi no Fūin (ドラキュラII呪いの封印, Dorakyura Tsū: Noroi no Fūin^?, lit. "Dracula II: The Accursed Seal"), is a Japanese console video game developed by Konami in 1987 for the Famicom Disk System. In 1988, it was ported to cartridge format and released in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was released on the Wii's Virtual Console in Europe on October 19, 2007, followed by North America on October 29, 2007.

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest was the first game in the Castlevania series to venture away from straightforward linear gameplay, instead featuring a single continuous map and some role-playing game-like elements. The game stars Simon Belmont, the hero of the first Castlevania title, and takes place in 1698, seven years after the original.

The game's English localization has been critisized for its Engrish quality. Most notably, the dialogue spoken by NPCs in the game. They would offer clues or cryptic messages, which would confuse or mislead players, because of the unclear translation. Current producer Koji Igarashi, revealed in an interview that all the NPCs in the Japanese version were deliberate liars, which resulted in a more confusing translation.

Storyline

After Simon destroys Dracula in Castlevania, Dracula places a curse upon him that gives him little time to live, unless Dracula was revived again. Simon takes the whip Vampire Killer again, and travels the land and its settlements. In his travels, Simon searches for body parts of Dracula's corpse to revive him. Once all the parts of Dracula's body are gathered, Simon takes them to the remains of Dracula's home, Castlevania, and revives him. Defeating him once again, Simon finally succeeds in ending the curse.

Gameplay

The five mansions each have a body part placed by Dracula's minions. Collecting all five body parts and the Magic Cross allows the player to clear a blockade to enter Dracula's Castle.

• Berkeley Mansion holds Dracula's rib. The rib can be used as a shield against projectile attacks. Simon can use it when he stands still or jumps.
• Bodley Mansion holds Dracula's nail. This allows certain blocks to be destroyed with the whip.
• Brahms Mansion holds Dracula's eyeball. This reveals previously hidden items.
• Rover Mansion (also known as Lauber Mansion) holds Dracula's heart. This is a pass for the river-man.
• Laruba Mansion holds Dracula's ring. The ring is only a requirement to enter Dracula's Castle and has no alternate special use.

Reception

The game was reviewed negatively by the Angry Video Game Nerd. On his first review, he said that, "Castlevania I and III are both great, classic Nintendo titles, but for Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, the game designers obviously were not thinking straight." Among the complaints were the ten-second time delay that occurs whenever a day-to-night transition occurrs; the lack of in-game clues for the game's esoteric puzzles; the lack of boss monsters in the mansions; the depiction of Dracula as the Grim Reaper (a departure from the series' usual depiction of Dracula as a middle-aged man in a dark suit and cape); and the ease of the final battle (in his review, the Nerd demonstrates a strategy that allows the player to legitimately beat the boss in less than thirty seconds, without any cheat codes).

Other games

In 1988, Tiger Electronics released a handheld based on Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.

On November 16, 2002, it was a part of Castlevania and Contra: Konami Collector's Series in North America. Aside from a few spelling corrections in the game's text, it is a direct emulation of the original game.

Media

• Simon's Quest was the basis for a Worlds of Power novel, a series of books with stories based on Nintendo games. It was written by Christopher Howell.
• On 7.7.07 ,Sacred Sorrow, a Louisville based Goth Rock band released their EP titled "A Prelude to Betrayal" , which contained a track titled "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse!" Which dealt with the bands frustration with boredom and Zombies that were freed from a haunted mansion by the band, and repaid them the favor by eating the band's enemies. "The More you scream the less I hear, just as you've done me. Trust me man, I've got my friends and they'll have plenty to eat.. Go! go! Walking Dead!"
• Inspired by the game, Detroit death metal band The Black Dahlia Murder released What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse in 2001. The band later recorded a song with the same name for their 2007 release Nocturnal.
• The band Bear vs. Shark released a song titled "What a Horrible Night for a Curse" on their 2005 album Terrorhawk. This a reference to the famous quote "What a horrible night to have a curse".
• "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" is also the title of a song by Cleveland band Above This Fire.
• The band Powerglove performs a song called "Vanquish the Horrible Night" which is the band's arrangement of songs from Castlevania II and Castlevania III.
• The online riddle game Dracula's Riddle is based entirely on this game. The location names are the same and occurrences of Castlevania II items such as Silk Bag, Laurel and Garlic can be found through out the riddle. Even the name of the game has been taken from the famous Castlevania II quote: "Thirteen clues will solve Dracula's Riddle".

References

External links

• Castlevania II: Simon's Quest at MobyGames
• The Castlevania Dungeon: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
• The Angry Video Game Nerd's review of Simons Quest
• Lyrics to the Castlevania II inspired song