Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

"A nice turn for the Castlevania series"

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is the follow-up to Konami's hit Castlevania, and was released in about September of 1989. In it, Dracula has been defeated...but he has left a curse on you, Simon Belmont. So in order to break this curse, you must journey to 5 mansions and gather Dracula's parts, then bring them to his lair in Castlevania so that you can reassemble them...and defeat him again. Strange, but cool. The ratings....

Graphics: 9/10- The graphics are very cool. Once again, there's not much animation to the enemies, but that's okay. One problem I DO have is that some of the enemies are just stronger versions of the same enemy (I.E. pallette swaps). All in all, though, the backgrounds are very nicely done, and though all the buildings and such look basically alike, they do in every other game too. The mansions looks cool too. Finally, more attention seems to have been paid to the bricks in this game, and you can still see the water splashing off of frogmen.

Sound: 10/10- WOW. Simply put, this is probably the best soundtrack ever in an NES game. EVERY song is great, from the mellow village theme, to the zippy (Yet still scary) Mansion theme, to the 3/4 time theme that plays in Castlevania, to the final battle with Dracula, and everything in between. The effects are just as great, with different whips yielding different sound effects. You can also hear frogmen splashing out of the water, and the howl of the enemies when you wound but don't kill them. The Game Over theme keeps true to the Vampire Hunting theme, yet is almost mocking you in a way, daring you to come back and try again.

Control: 9/10- Once again, very nicely done. This time, the whip you start out with is actually somewhat useful (Which is good, because you'll use it for at least a short while), and there are many different items, each having a different technique and function. To use these itmes, you have to go through a menu, but that's alright. Even Dracula's BODY PARTS have a function; for instance, the Rib give Simon a shield. However, while the small delay between pressing the whip button and actually whipping seems to have been rectified, the 2 biggest problems from the first Castlevania remain. These are that you can't control the height or mid-air direction of Simon's jump (Which is as annoying here as it was in the first one), and you can't jump directly onto stairs (Which is even MORE annoying here, as there are a LOT of stairs to climb). Everything else is done very well though.

Story: 10/10- YES!! For ONCE, the plot ISN'T "Save the world from the Evil Meanie(tm)"! *Dancing around* Uh, sorry. Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, the plot is that Dracula put a Curse on you at the end of the first Castlevania, and you have to reassemble him, just to destroy him again, thereby breaking the Curse. Cool...all games (Or at least sequels) should have plots like this.

Challenge: 8/10- The game is pretty difficult, and it only plays somewhat like the first Castlevania. It plays more like Metroid, in that you have to try many different things in different places, sometimes backtracking to places you've already been. The townspeople leave red herrings when you talk to them, so the game is also a litle like Phantasy Star (Dezoris in particular). However, the battle with Dracula at the end is REALLY easy, if you know how to do it. The game itself is still difficult, however, at least if you've never played it before.

Replay Value: 8/10- There are 3 different endings, depending on how quickly you beat the game (Again, like Metroid), so theres plenty of reason to go back and play the game again after you've beaten it once. Also, you may want to try to find all the items in subsequent playthroughs (You can beat the game without finding some of them). All in all, plenty of replay value here.

Overall: 10/10- This game is just great. It has great graphics, an INCREDIBLE soundtrack, and near perfect control; it's tough, the story's original, and it has 3 endings. Sounds like a 10/10 to me. In short, go out and BUY THIS GAME!! You won't be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99