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Good, but not great

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Over the years, Konami has become one of the best-known video gaming third party corporations out there - for a number of reasons. But, their most popular series of all would have to be the vampire-killing franchise, Castlevania. Konami released the first installment of the series on American consoles in 1987, and released a console-only sequel the following year (the original game was released in arcades before it reached consoles.) Read on for my review of the second installment in the series - Simon's Quest.

PROS:
-FOR ITS DAY AND AGE, THESE WERE SOME OF THE BEST VIDEO GAME GRAPHICS OUT THERE. The on-screen graphics move along at a pretty decent pace, and slow-down is very minimal. As far as the NES in the eighties goes, the graphics didn't get a whole lot better than this.
-THE MUSIC IS GREAT FOR THIS KIND OF GAME. I've played a number of NES games with great music in them, but this title features some of the best. The music always suits the mood of the location you are exploring perfectly.
-PLAY CONTROL IS SIMPLE AND TO THE POINT. Basically you move, crouch, jump, attack, and attack with a secondary weapon. This was one of the first video games to feature a secondary weapon - a video gaming feature which has since been copied countless times.
-IT'S CHALLENGING, AND MIND-BOGGLING. If you're a fan of side-scrolling platformers and you're looking for a good challenge, one that will test both brain and brawn alike, this game will give you the best of both worlds!
-IT WAS THE FIRST ENTRY IN THE SERIES TO USE PASSWORDS. Thanks to passwords, you no longer have to start the game over every time you play it! This is a great feature.

CONS:
-THE GAME IS VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO COMPLETE WITHOUT A PLAYERS GUIDE OR AN FAQ. Most of the game revolves around finding certain items, and using them to advance further into the game. However, the game offers virtually no hints to the player whatsoever, and the towns and mansions aren't even really given names in the game - although people in the game and the players guides and FAQs like refer to them by their names!
-PLAY CONTROL CAN SEEM VERY STIFF AT TIMES. Your character has almost no midair jump control whatsoever, which can make life a living hell. Also, having to hold up on the control pad to use a secondary weapon can be a pain. And let's not forget about scaling flights of stairs - that's where the control is at its worse.
-IT'S NOT THE CASTLEVANIA THAT GAMERS KNOW AND LOVE. When someone plays a Castlevania game, they generally want a side-scrolling platformer of nothing but pure action. Unfortunately, this game, for the most part, swaps action in favor of searching.

OVERALL:
Overall this is a very good game, but it just isn't a great one. Many aspects of the game come off seeming unfinished, and ultimately the player ends up being the one that suffers for this. If you're looking for a traditional Castlevania adventure, pass this one by. But if you've got an open mind and you like side-scrollers, give this one a whirl - it might pleasantly surprise you.

good game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

one of the early castlevania games.if you like castlevania games you should play it.

What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is my favorite Castlevania game of all time and always will be.

You are Simon Belmont with the classic whip, trying to defeat the one who wants to keep the world shrouded in darkness, Count Dracula. As Simon, you go to different towns talking to different townspeople, going to Churches to replenish life, many different mansions to gather the different parts of Dracula. You get many different kinds of whips, including my favorite, the Flame Whip. You also get the classic subweapons like holy water, knife, and cross.

The mansions that you go through have one of the best pieces of music ever in a Castlevania game. As well as the title screen where you input the password and the music Bloody Tears. This game also lets you level up but it's still the adventure game. It's more action and adventure than anything.

The classic Ferry Man is reason enough to own this game. The classic line "I'll take you to a good place, heh heh heh" was one of the coolest things in the game. Along with the lines "What a horrible night to have a curse" at night and "The morning light has vanquished the horrible night" at daylight. I'll never understand why so many people hate this game. I keep hearing "it's not like the original." Oh please! I must be the only person who doesn't compare games and just plays games as their own. Whoever cannot appreciate this masterpiece is just very closed minded.

Oh yeah, there are 3 different endings for this and this game is so much better than 99% of the games out there today. Graphics don't mean a thing, it's the amazing platforming and adventure elements that make this game a must own for Castlevania fans!

If you have never played Simon's Quest, play it! And if you've played it before, play it again! It's one of a kind!!

"What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse!" Ha Ha Ha!

Best of the three castlevania nes games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I loved Simon's Quest for the same reason I loved playing Symphony of the Night and Curse of Darkness.... It's a more involved game and story!Not just simple go from Point A to Point B and kill giant monster at each stop.I also liked the controls better than in part 3.With part 3 I found myself constantly dying by accident from not walking onto the stairs and falling.

Also as another reviewer stated,the music to this game is simply one of the best on the nes.You'll especially appreciate the music if you listen to bands like Advantage or Mini-bosses.

While I'm usually not a fan of multi-ending games,this doesn't bother me as much.Really when I'm playing this game,I don't try to make the time limit.I just like to collect every single weapon and item possible.With regards to the endings,any one of the three(even the bad one) are alot better than the one you get at the end of castlevania 1.Also the funeral organ dirge being played errily fits the mood of the game.

If you think about it,SHOULDN'T you get the bad ending?Simon Belmont was only in 1 and 2.Part 3 was his ancestor Trevor,and 4 and X (on SNES) and Symphony of the Night (on playstation) was his descendant Richter.Who knows?This could have had a Shadow Hearts mentality (supposed to get the bad endings storyline wise) way before it's time.

Well enough game philosophy.Castlevania 2:Simon's Quest is one of the best titles in the nes library,and definatly the best in the castlevania nes series.

Not everything I hoped for

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is not the pick-up-and-play whip-thrashing game I hoped for. The fact that each enemy needs to be hit 2-8 times makes it really hard when enemies are coming from both directions. There are also a lot of dead ends that make things confusing. (There are no in-game maps, either.) It has good graphics for being an earlier NES game. The music is also good. Another positive aspect is that there are many terrains and areas to explore. Overall, the game is just pretty good.

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