Castlevania II: Simon's Quest retrospective: Quest-ionable design choices | NES Works #103

Thanks to games like Castlevania II and Zelda II, I didn't even question whether SMB2 was even a "real" Mario game until way down the line. I was basically like "well, the second game is always weird"

I'm one of the rare folks who beat this back in the 80's without Nintendo Power. Even solved the red crystal thing on my own. I'd love to say it was because of my incredible puzzle solving skills, but that would be a lie. Instead I screwed up a game mechanic and fell ass backwards into the solution. I could see the platform under the lake where you need the blue crystal, and thought if I held down on the controller long enough the screen would pan down and show me if there was another way down there. Later I tried the same thing for the red crystal puzzle once I was out of ideas. It took me something like 2 months of real time to finish the game

The empty castle at the end makes me think the developers wanted to communicate the tension of Simon going through the abandoned castle and approaching in silence the chamber where the unholy ritual to bring back Dracula will be performed... and they just couldn't make it work.

This game did the "Dig Reagan Up Just to Shoot Him Again" thing before it was hip.

I definitely appreciate the idea that, like in the real world, a video game world can be filled with people who run the spectrum from "has actual useful knowledge" to "is repeating something that their grandparents told them in a centuries-old game of telephone" to "is just trying to mess with you due to either malice or ignorance."

Graveyard Duck is my favourite Castlevania character.

Jeremy Parish talking about Castlevania never ages for me.

Simons Quest is a masterpiece. The music alone is legendary

All these years I thought the bad villager dialogue was a result of poor localization.

Back in the day Simon's Quest was my best friend/next door neighbor's favorite relatively early NES game. It even got him to subscribe to Nintendo Power for a couple of years after he read my issue that covered the game and decided he didn't want to have to borrow mine all the time. While Simon's Quest wasn't the "best" Castlevania game on the NES it held a special place on our hearts and we poured many hours into getting all the different endings and exploring every nook and cranny of the game. Plus the graphics and especially the music are quite good as well! It's easy difficulty was a nice change of pace since a lot of other games were quite hard at the time. It was a good game to play when it was too hot or cold to go outside to play as a kid.

My only complaint with this discussion is the disrespect placed on "Dwelling of Doom" as a background track. Sure, it's not "Bloody Tears", but it's still a fantastic chunk of OST.

I loved Simon's Quest growing up, warts and all. My parents bought it for my 9th birthday. The RPG elements and exploration really appealed to me. Probably my second favorite Castlevania behind SotN. Whenever I go 8 bit retro theme in my phone, Bloody Tears is my ringtone.

Ever since beating the first Castlevania I've been beyond stoked to play this one. I haven't started it yet, but I now own it for FDS. I wanted to get one that had a Konami Card as well, but I think that doubled the price... Oh well... At least my copy of Ai Senshi Nicol has one.

Simon's Quest seems like a case study in how a few influential critics can completely change a work's critical reputation. In the early 2000s, Simon's Quest was seen as a flawed classic whose forward-thinking design choices set the stage for Symphony of the Night. IGN's History of Castlevania and other retrospectives reflected this view. James Rolfe and Arin Hanson completely overturned this consensus with their video reviews, creating a new consensus in which Simon's Quest was seen as a disastrous misstep for the series. Part of what made Rolfe's review so funny in the context of 2006 was that it defied what was then the critical consensus about the game.

Ugh that OoE crab boss, excellent game though

I actually love the idea of the villagers lying to you or mistrusting you. I think that concept has a ton of potential. However it should have come with someone who warns you not to trust everyone. Or a way to figure out who's lying. Nothing too obvious though. I tend to like worlds where magic is mistrusted or similar ideas, so having the hero not immediately treated as the savior is kinda rad. Then again, my favorite games are stuff like Kings Quest 3 and Majoras Mask; not the most friendly to the player

CV2 is definitely a strange beast, but I love it. Appreciate you drawing the connection between this and SotN and the later IGAvanias. It seems obvious but I rarely hear anyone acknowledge it.

Jeremy- wonderful job at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo a couple of weeks ago! Your presentation on Sega’s 8-bit journey was a blast. It was great meeting you and chatting a bit afterwards! Thank you for signing (and drawing in!) my copy of NES Works Volume II: 1986. Cheers! -SpaceMonkeyJay

I played this on the NES classic and shamelessly used a guide the whole way. I have no idea how it’s possible without one.

That localization tidbit is absolutely new to me (that text was intended from the start) Imagine NPCs in current AAA games that lie to you