Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest - Sophomore Slump - IMPLANTgames 

This was my first nes love. As a kid I named two of my pets Simon.

How does this game NOT have a remake or something. I feel it would benefit A LOT from one.

You can also watch the enemies to tell when there's a hole in the floor.

This game became a cult classic. It was lost in translation, and the Redaction version (Hack) is a fantastic game that fixes those mistakes.

It is always heartwarming to hear Monster Dance and Dwelling of Doom get some love and credit. (Even if Bloody Tears is still my all-time favorite Castlevania theme) I have a lasting fondness for this one because it was my first Castlevania but every criticism here is absolutely fair and on point. I do still hope for meatier, much more polished, multiple village, day-night cycle Metroidvania though.

Nice contrast to AVGN’s legendary review of this game. I’m really enjoying your content. Thank you!

Finally an in-depth review with no bashing of the game. Good work Kris!

I genuinely love your accurate and thought-provoking reviews Kris! I want to share my opinion on this one. Despite all the flaws you highlighted correctly, I still love this game. Kinda like that nerdy, goofy, ugly girl at the party that glows for her personality. This game is technically inferior to the other classical Castlevania entries, though it does better at capturing the eerie, dreary nature of Transilvania and its atmosphere of despair, confusion and fear. The mansions are looking dull and dead because they are victim of pure chaos after the demise of Dracula. People are afraid of His return, showing secrecy and hating on Simon for even being related to what their land is going through (see last town before Dracula's castle). Simon's surroundings and quest at hand do have a direct influence on the world for the first time in the series. Despite lacking action, clever mechanics, good boss and enemy design and everything along that you mentioned, I believe it still set the basis even for the future RPG entries (post SOTN) and definitely stood out from other NES titles back in the days.

Stellar as always. Running out of words of praise. You could seriously teach a class on gaming reviews on RU-vid. Outstanding

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest on the NES will forever be remembered for this catchphrase: "What a horrible night to have a curse" - still, it's a great game with a rocking soundtrack and minor RPG elements.

You are seriously one of my favourite channels right now. Whenever I see a new video from you in my feed I immediately get hyped, haha.

Well done. Enjoying the unique format you use on IMPLANT games. Subscribed.

Paused it 10 minutes in to make sure I liked and subbed. Great content man!

I still love the game. It single-handedly shaped my childhood :)

One of the best reviews I ever seen on RU-vid. Every word you said about it was accurate. I even felt this way when I played it back then. It's a game that had so much potential but fell short due to its laziness in terms of game design. One thing we did get out of it was inspiring the game design in later games. I always believed this is the one that should have gotten remade. I would love to see a fan remake or an official remake

3:30am here in Chile and i i had to watch this before sleep haha

I don’t think anyone has noticed that you can identify the holes in the floor by looking at the background.

Your videos are great - so well presented and commented. Absolute star RU-vidr.

Excellent video Kris! Loving the Castlevania lately. I remember buying this game on the 3DS eShop and never getting around to beating it because I didn't want to play it, haha.

I love this game. But I am sure that a lot of my love for it because of me being a kid when I played it over and over. And I'm getting older now. Ahhh Nostalgia...

Brutal. But when something needs to be said, you say it just well. Exceptional analysis.

I appreciate how detailed you go into how the game plays. I think it really gives new plays a good idea on what the game is all about from a gameplay perspective. For me, I am willing to admit the game has loads of "issues", but I still love playing it. It's a "zone out on a rainy day" kind of game for me. Routing it is fun and improving the time taken through the game is satisfying (you are rewarded with better endings as a result). It's an annoyingly cryptic first playthrough that pretty much requires a guide, but it gets progressively better on subsequent playthroughs as you become more proficient at it. Back in the day, word of mouth and Nintendo Power is how we got through the game and that was enjoyable. A more recent game that is equally as cryptic as Castlevania II (but gets the "challenge" part down), also requiring tips from others via word of mouth, is Dark Souls. Now *that* would make for an interesting analysis video.

just played through the Castlevania anniversary collection recently. having never played Castlevania before. and Simon's Quest was literally my favorite out of 1,2,3,4,bloodlines,and the GB games.

A great retrospective, as always, Kris.

Great video as always. I hope you review Rondo of Blood eventually. I've been playing it for the first time, finally got it working, and blimey it's amazing. I'd heard it was the best classic castlevania for years, and it might just be that. The movement is so quick and fluid, even better than Bloodlines. And every pit you can fall down doesn't kill you, it drops you in a new area. There's such a huge amount of hidden areas, it's great.

Good job on the review 👍 I never played Castlevania but I've never heard anyone talk good about Simon's curse so I knew the general consensus before I started watching the review

Castlevania 2 is the definition of a guide game. It's old and clunky, probably unplayable for most younger gamers, but I still love Simon's Quest. I always enjoy your work, Kris

I want a remake of Simon's Quest. The first game's gotten quite a few remakes throughout the years and I think it's time Konami went back to its sequel and remake it from the ground up.

I saw Castlevania in the arcades, but this was my first home console experience. It was awesome. I remember looking for codes for the save system at one of my local stores that had one of those code books back in the days. I played it so much, I memorized one of the codes - PSPR VRBV U2DT RFIZ. It almost granted everything!

Great work. I'm looking forward to your CVIII analysis. If you do one, that is.

Was not expecting this so quickly 😃

In terms of challenge, I think it's worth noting that this game came out at a time when you couldn't find a guide easily. I played it as a kid, loved it, but couldn't finish it until years later when tips were more available. They did have a Nintendo hotline you could call, but my mom wouldn't let me. For sure, the clues don't really help, but the password feature mattered more back then. You're right that this game is the worst... but somehow, it's among my favorites top play because of the aesthetics and soundtrack. It feels like a great game even if it isn't. I still think is a must play:)

Another great video :)

2:47 Oh. My. God... I always thought this meant that there was an item in town that was worthless and not worth buying.

I wish you would review the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES game. It's a childhood favorite and I think it's misunderstood. It's actually a really good Konami game from when they were in their prime. Great graphics, good control, interesting character-switching gimmick, variety of gameplay, fantastic music, and much much more. Never mind what the AVGN said, if you haven't played it in awhile give it another go.

I love Simon's Quest, I grew up playing the 1st Castlevania along with this one, with all it's flaws and miss translation, this game is very dearing and full of nostalgia for me, the best moments of my childhood, I love it.

What's interesting is that, if you get the Castlevania Collection, they have a lot of the design documents they used to make this game and it was even more elaborate than the final game. Yeah, Simons Quest fell on it's face, but this was a maturation period for games. It was incredibly ambitious and could really do well as a remake.

1,000 thumbs up if i had them. Well done, man. You're fast becoming one of my favorites.

Thanks for the tip about Dracula's heart.

I loved the adventure aspect of Simons Quest after playing the first Castlevania. If the clues had been fixed in the original it wouldn't have gotten so much hate.

You sound alot like SuperDerek rpgs. That's not a bad thing, he's got a cool channel. Good job,Simon's quest is one of my favorite castlevania games. You've got a new sub👍😎

I honestly can’t believe I beat this game as a kid.

One of my favorite games growing up

Loved this game when I was a kid. I never had a problem with Deborah cliff. I hit everything I could with holy water, that’s just the way it was. Back then, there weren’t many quality adventure games. Basically the ones you mentioned alongside this one (Zelda and Metroid). I feel I should mention in those games you bomb and shoot every block and pixel, too. Today, people expect everything to be easy and linear (FF13) Thanks for your content, I was entertained!

Simon's Quest is my favorite NES game. Too bad it's so misunderstood. You need patience as well as interpret what the NPCs say.

Another great and honest review. This game is so hard because of the poor translation and extremely hard to find "clues". Never a favourite of the series for me. PS. Bring back the podcast!!!!

Harsher than expected but a very fair analysis. I have a lot of nostalgia for Simon's Quest but also was rather put off by it compared to the first title.

I love this game and really wish people would try playing it instead of just listening to people on RU-vid. In my opinion (a word not used enough on this channel) the first and third games are far too difficult and simply aren't fun. While you need a guide for "Simon's Quest" it doesn't exactly have to be extensive. If you've watched the AVGN's two videos then you probably already know the cryptic secrets of what you're supposed to do. As for the Sacred Flame, it's a SECRET WEAPON. Yes it breaks the game, that's why it's a secret. You don't have to use it if you don't want to, but it's also kinda fun to go through a Castlevania game as a monster slaying machine who's unstoppable. Listening to Bloody Tears while grading away levels or hearts is really satisfying, and there are very few annoying enemies due to having plenty of weapons appropriate for the job. Some you're meant to just run passed and I see nothing wrong with this as there are several enemies in the first and third games that are easier to avoid than fight. In my OPINION, "Simon's Quest" is a flawed but overall fun game. You will need a guide to complete it but it doesn't need to be extensive or anything, just informative enough to set you on the right path. It's not too difficult but sometimes it's nice to play a casual game that won't tempt you to throw the controller. You'll likely die in this game but it's not too bad a setback and you'll do better the next time and avoid the illusionary floors. I think it's something people should try out for themselves because it really is a fun game in my opinion. There's a reason why Konami continues to promote it, and that's because people purchase it and enjoy playing it.

Has anyone else noticed that the skeleton enemies wont walk over the false floor area? And if there are any slimes nearby they'll pass through.

I’d love to see you cover Rondo of Blood.

Totally in line with my own view. Simon's Quest could have had the most clear and helpful translation possible and it would still be an action RPG with no decent action whatsoever.

I got this game brand new as a kid. I got it at Kaybee toys at the mall.

This game haunted me as a kid . Something about it that spooked me .

The first Castlevania game I played... Nintendo Power Magazine required in order to found out where you need it to be and beat the game. I will love it FOREVER...‼ ∞♥∞

Somehow, I managed to beat this game within the time limit and got the best ending sorta recently. I felt proud.

I hope you’ll be going on to Castlevania III. That’s my favorite!

My favorite nes castlevania,part 2 was the first one I played and I loved the rpg elements and the hard to find secrets.Its the easiest as far as combat goes(pt 1 was hard and 3 was much larger and even harder) the hard part in pt 2 was finding the hidden secrets and passages that allow you to progress through the game and thats what I loved about it.

Great review. Somehow you always nail 'why' a game is good or bad. I don't think I'm a fan of having part of your final opinion in the video title, though. Perhaps you'd be good at reviewing movies/books too. This is another game I struggled with as a kid and never got anywhere significant. This and Metroid were really intimidating as a kid and I finally beat Metroid with zero help or maps a few months ago. I would like to take on this one again when I get a chance.

The strength of this game, in my experience, is the grindyness. (Bizzare, I know) There's something very atmospheric about trying to wait out the night while camped out in a village waiting for the sun to rise.

I still love dropping a couple hours on a mindless night play through vs almost any other NES game. Maybe because it’s not overly difficult but probably because that soundtrack is just so good.

He does realize that the sacred flame and golden daggers need hearts to use right.

One of my favorite games. Like Zelda 2 it would be considered one of the best games on the NES had it not been in the unfortunate position of being forever compared to Castlevania 1 and 3. Yeah, it could have done with some tweaking too, but the atmosphere alone made it something very special. It's dry, stark twilight zone predicament is like a fever dream. It feels like the "Castlevania dimension" opened up to allow you to walk right out of the game into an mc etcher nightmare of stairs and endless mansion. Many players, such as myself, had anticipated a game with these possiblities and this kind of atmosphere. Even outside you feel trapped inside this strange place. Reminds me of how in shadowgate and shadowgate 64 (or other Castlevania games for that matter) you sometimes enter a courtyard that opens up to the outside but you're still actually hopelessly stuck in the castle. It's hard to explain actually living through all these developments back then. No, I don't mean nostalgia, I mean what you wanted out of video games and why. (And how *important* it was to you that developers spent time and energy and money on something that would make the high price of their games feasible in real life circumstances) Many of us respected the quality of say, Super Mario brothers for instance, but weren't all that into playing video games for cute goofy fun, but rather hoped for something that matched the pulp fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Horror, Military and Martial arts material that we were all so interested in at the time. We had a limited availability for diversion and eagerly awaited more D & D and comic book severity and less Saturday morning paper comic strip cuteness. That was the market *they* wanted. Something that wouldn't flip parents out and that might bring more younger and female players maximizing their profit to effort ratio. We wanted blood, not more clowns. Oh well. Anyway, I'd say the same thing I've always said about Adventure of Link, it should have been treated as a side story: Simply "Simon's Quest" and not a sequel to Castlevania. Obviously with a better translation. There are so many games that this is better than and like with Zelda 2; every game better than it can easily be said to be among the greatest NES titles ever made.

I know it's not a popular opinion but this was my favorite game of the series. I just beat it about 2 years ago, as a kid I was stuck about half way thru and didn't know what to do next.

Good job.

I'm currently replaying Zelda 1 after your excellent review (since you sold it so extremely well, despite all its flaws), and I'm having a really good time. While playing, I knew I needed more of that afterwards, so I was considering actually giving Castlevania 2 a shot, since it seemed so similar gameplay-wise (even you yourself said it at the beginning). And wouldn't you know it, you made a review of it! I know it's a really flawed game, but then again many of Zelda 1's flaws weren't really an issue to me (I liked the clunky combat for example, it's simple but still fun to me). In fact, I'd even consider it as one of the best Zeldas ever made and I think it can still hold up (as long as you don't expect Breath of the Wild-like gameplay). So who knows what I'll think of Castlevania 2 after I'm done with it? So yeah, I think I'm gonna do what you said, I'll open up a PDF of Nintendo Power and play through the game like that. I bet it'll be fun! PS: I find it interesting that you didn't mention the large focus on verticality this game had. In Castlevania 1, many levels were just cut-off rooms with horizontal layouts, with sometimes a bit of verticality in it. But never to the extend that the sequel offers, where everything seems to take place in massive rooms with tons of freedom in all 8 directions. I feel like that really helps with the open-world aspect it offers. It really FEELS like a giant world you're exploring, rather than the enclosed hallways of the castle. I also prefer the sequel's artstyle. Egoraptor said it all blended together, but I feel like that's only a good thing. It's a drab, hopeless world and everything has been taken over by evil. Of course there's not many bright colors, since there's no more goodness anywhere. It's all just depressing and gloomy, like Dark Souls. That one has mostly only gray and brown colors, but I would never say it's a bad-looking game at all! Sound design is also much better, you even do noise when you land on the floor! It looks and feels a lot better than the original in my opinion. More realistic and less arcade-y. PPS: Your channel is extremely good and I am very glad I subscribed. Surprised you don't have more subscribers!

Yup!

Never heard much about this one outside of AVGN, so I'm interested in seeing what you have to say about it. Never played it myself though.

No mention of multiple endings, which depend on your clear time?

this was the first game i bought with my own money (mowing lots of lawns) and i hated myself for it. it took me about 8 years to understand it and finally enjoy it. which i do now and have warm fuzzy feelies when i reminisce on it. that damn tornado though . . . 🤬

Waiting for more Castlevania reviews. Especially da “MetroidVania” ones

Despite all its flaws, I did and do still enjoy this game. I think had I played this game the first time as an adult, I would have likely hated it. But as a kid I could sort of get over the annoying parts and cryptic translation by just getting immersed in the game. Great video! Earned a sub. :D

What the game needed was bosses in every mansion that were a challenge to actually beat

Fun Fact: Though commonly misattributed to Metroid, Symphony of The Night actually was inspired by Zelda II

What about the reappearing enemies and the graphical show down?

Nice

Thiis games development us incomplete. Thank you for your fair and accurate analysis. The game did not get the attention to development it deserved. Neglected masterpiece.

The main inspiration was not Metroid but original Castlevania for MSX computers. Or Vampire Killer how it was named in Japan. It wasn’t straight port of Famicom version but absolutely different game design from same development team. They add open world, grinding, RPG elements to original Castlevania. But this version for most people unknown cause MSX was Japanese computers

I will tell this without remorse or shame: Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest is my personal favorite of the NES Castlevania games, and one of my personal favorites of the entire series!

I love this game, before i knew about kneeling at the cliff with the crystal all i would do is travel back and forth confused to death. As kids we didn't get video games hardly ever, so we kinda got forced to enjoy what we had. I'll never forget the first password that gives me everything, and i even want it carved on my tombstone when i die.

If you want a modernized Simon's Quest, there is a number of fan-remasters, such as Revamped. However, I recommend checking out the La-Mulana games. While they have no relation to the Konami franchise, they offer an excellent take on classic Zelda puzzles and the Metroidvania formula. The La-Mulana games are very difficult games - the riddles and puzzles tend towards being cryptic. As such, be ready for a challenge between that of Dark Souls and I Wanna Be the Guy.

This is an excellent and fair retrospective. I would have liked this game if not for the cryptic gameplay mechanics (hidden floor blocks) and badly written clues badly translated into English. I actually love to sparse and dark visuals. And I love the music. It's too bad I don't like anything else.

Much better phrasing about the music ;)

what does npc stand for

I think people tend to massively overlook elements of all three nes games in retrospect that made them popular to start with - in particular with CV2 the gameplay itself is not the primary draw. That does not excuse the elements that are a part of the gameplay but in all reality CV2 was far more focused on the tonal, narrative elements. It's world design is hardly random and is I think something that has stuck with many players of the game and what the game did for Simon Belmont, the sense of horror in the series, the more meaningful links to literary works and the world-building here is where the game really shines. These are nor irrelevant points - a game is more than just the gameplay and CV2 was debate too focused on these elements. Then again when the series tried to return to the CV1/2 way of doing thins when it comes to look tone story and atmosphere, we got the n64 games. There's two more games that people used to like and have since been labelled 'bad' under the restraints of what people on the internet have now decided makes up a good game (nothing outside of basic game design unless it happens to be widely praised as is the case with cv1 and its art or say FF7 and its plot). Anyway the video was really well done and I'm glad I watched it - the above are just half-explained ramblings from a nerd with too much time on his hands.

I replay the second game more then Castlevana 1 and 3 though how odd is that?

implantgames, can you please review Super Castlevania IV for the Super Nintendo?

Ironic really, the black sheep of the franchise is the one that introduced the music that would become the face of the franchise

Maybe Simon's Quest ended up feeling so lackluster because the devs bit off more than they could chew? For a late 80's game, SQ features a lot of ambitious ideas that in some regards were forward-thinking... it just seems that the dev team was too focused on these new ideas and didn't have time to polish up the action that they nailed so well in the original.

Now that you’ve reviewed Mario 2, Zelda 2, and Castlevania 2, can you do a cross-comparison?

A fantastic game, released before it could be fully realized, and badly translated. I still love it and play it regularly.

Despite this game's shortcomings and mostly deserved awful reputation, it's interesting to note that the game design of Simon's Quest serves as the main inspiration of the first Shantae game on the Game Boy Color - like Simon's Quest it's a Metroidvania game with a Zelda-like game world consisting of towns and dungeons, a day/night cycle which affects the strength of enemies and Shantae's hair whip is clearly a spoof of the whip attack in Castlevania. It's not a perfect game but still quite enjoyable and it's basically what Simon's Quest could have been if it would have been realized without these egregious game design flaws.

What pissed me off....was.... There was a tornado that transported you...and it was from a crystal that I just happen to have. Awesome video.

It may not be the best Castlevania but it is my favorite. It was the only one I had as a kid and I played it to death.

While I can't disagree with your critique of this game, I also can't agree with your ultimate assessment. This game is really unmatched in the outdoor aesthetics, which is seemingly absent from all other Castlevania games. While I go back and forth between the first three titles in the series as to which one is my favorite, this game holds a special place in my heart. I played this game for hours and days and week and months as a kid. I loved this game back then, and I still do. As six year old child this game was far more accessible than Castlevania 1 or 3, which are way too hard for a young child. This game placed all of the difficulty in figuring out where to go and what to do next. Is it perhaps overly cryptic and does it have a bad translation, yes, but while that may retract from a modern gamer picking it up for the first time, it did not affect me at all in 1989 when I first played it. In fact this game was in and out of my system for probably about a year and half or two years before I beat it, which of course made the password system absolutely key to the experience. This is still perhaps my most satisfactory gaming experience because of all the time it took to beat it. The backtracking and day/night system were so minimal to me as time wasters that I never even considered them as drawbacks until pointed out to me decades after playing the game for the first time. And I totally understand that this game is complete shite if you didn't play it as a kid, and I understand that nostalgia should not be the thing that artificially props a game up as a "good game." However, those of us that love this game will always love it, and it gives us an experience unmatched by other titles, not just in the series but in general. If you have never played it, then I highly recommend picking up the hack that fixes a lot of the issues in the game which is called Simon's Quest Redux, I believe, and play it WITHOUT a guide. This game is all about figuring out what to do, and using a guide removes all the difficulty.

I love this game but it was clearly not finished. This is a game that could benefit incredibly from a remake. New script, adding the ability to warp to towns so that the outdoors areas can be made more challenging without making the areas backtrack nightmares, completely redesigning the mansions and adding/reworking bosses would all significantly improve the game.

it's been a long time since I played my NES classic but if I'm not mistaken I believe they have Castlevania 2 on the NES classic which is also hugely disappointing because they should have just had Castlevania 1 and 3 not Castlevania 1 and 2.

man, i played this game before i knew english. it was VERY confusing :D

I was all frustrated w castlevania 3...it was horribly hard. Then i bought simons quest and i was like...THIS IS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!! My fav castlevania!!

Yeah you're right but it isn't stopping anyone from loving the game, I'm not ashamed to say I do, there's just some thing about it that's cool

This guy can write my AP Comp essay and get an A+. Holy shit honestly I have no idea how you write your scripts