Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest -Nes- 8

May 22, 2024

I last played Simon’s Quest in high school, roughly 25 year ago. So for the last few days, I’ve been replaying the game to see how it holds up after all this time. I beat it yesterday and again today, first time getting the bad ending, and the second time getting the normal ending.

Simon’s Quest is big departure from the first Castlevania. This time, there is a large, interconnected world to explore, rather than a series of linear levels. This very much feels like what later installments would play like (coined as “Metroidvania’s”), but most of the locations here are outdoors. You travel to find five dungeons that each hold a piece of Dracula’s body in order to lift a curse that afflicts Simon. You visit towns along the way, and search for clues and items to unlock new paths. There is also a day/night cycle, where the enemies in the woods a nd graveyards are stronger, and the townsfolk turn into zombies.

Simon’s Quest has a lot of brilliant concepts that were developed even further in later entries of the Castlevania series. The freedom to explore the entire landscape right from the start is a breath of fresh air. Certain dungeons can be completed in different order each playthrough.

Finding new weapons and pieces of Dracula’s body is rewarding. His rib acts as a shield, and his eyeball allows Simon to see hidden manuscripts that contain clues. The day-night cycle is also really neat, adding to the brooding atmosphere. And just as the series is known for, the soundtrack is phenomenal. “Bloody Tears” and “Dwelling of Doom” are absolute classic tracks.

However, there are some definite imperfections with Simon’s Quest. The clues from the hidden manuscripts and advice from the townsfolk tend be quite vague. Some hints are useful, but many are not. So figuring out how to progress further can be cryptic, which was common for a lot of 8bit adventure games made at the time.

As for battling enemies, the difficulty is massively curbed compared to the first game. You get infinite continues at the same point of death. So it’s a pretty easy game once you know where to go next. You can level up your character with experience points, but they don’t matter much with the infinite continues. I was able to beat the game fine with level one experience.

My biggest gripe was the lack of boss battles. There are only three bosses in the whole game, and they’re all very quick and easy to defeat. After the challenging boss fights of the first Castlevania, this was pretty disappointing.

The dungeons themselves are also fairly straightforward, only requiring you to find the sage who sells you a stake, and then using it to open the treasure bag with one of Dracula’s body parts. This is an early adventure game afterall, so the simplistic nature of these dungeons is forgivable. I also could have used a bit more enemy variety. But the enemies here are cool and fit the classic horror theme perfectly.

Despite the flaws, I still admire Simon’s Quest for being an early trailblazer for the Metroidvania genre. I love how the game allows you choose your own path and you can get certain items in whatever order you please. It pioneered a lot of ideas that would come into play for the series later, and most of those ideas (not all) work well here. Exploring the spooky setting and listening to that gothic soundtrack is still an absolute joy. I’m giving Simon’s Quest an 8 out of ten.