Seven years after the original Castlevania, this installment takes a rather large departure from the first game. This entry was different from what fans expected.  Simon is on a pilgrimage to visit his family’s resting place. On this journey he meets a lady who offers information on the Belmont family. She tells him that Dracula has placed a curse on the Belmont family (bummer).  Unlike the first title, Simon’s Quest is more of an adventure title than action oriented. Simon can talk with townsfolk and learn details and information about what to do and where to go/avoid. This information is generally cryptic tips (par for the course of an adventure title).

Simon’s Quest was a departure

This was my first real interaction with the Castlevania series.  I dabbled with the first one at a friends house but not enough to really form an opinion on it. I knew it was more interesting than playing Super Mario Bros, at least to me.  Simon’s Quest was more my style, it was easy to play. The game play changed when the game world went from day to night. There was a lot of interaction with the characters in the game.  Rather than obliterating everything in your path like the first and third titles, here there were shops. You could go different directions if one area is too tough, turn around and more.

The first Metroidvania elements appear

There is somewhat of a Metroid vibe with the levels of Castlevania II Simon’s Quest. Not to the point that the maps sprawl up and down for seemingly forever though. They do go left and right for long periods and sometimes ending in a dead end forcing you to backtrack. Sometimes your next step requires thought to process properly. There was also interaction with the townsfolk to figure out what to do next rather than a hint book.  Simon’s Quest also carries a bad taste with it for many fans of the series. This is mostly due to its departure from straight action.  For gamers like me though, that is a good reason to give it a try. The other Castlevania titles on NES could be too “tough” or action based for your tastes.

For more fun check out these Castlevania articles.

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest by Konami
Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System
Genre: Action/Adventure
Availability:  Ebay or Amazon.com or similar used game store offering retro titles
Virtual Console- Wii, Wii U and 3DS
Konami also released the Castlevania Anniversary Collection for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam for PCs (save with Kinguin). This collection features pretty much all the Castlevania games up to the 16-bit ones.

Carl Williams

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