I was wrong about Castlevania II: Simon's Quest | Friday Night Arcade 

If you really want to dig into the lore of Castlevania, please check out GamerThumbTV's Timeline Series: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bzElto3SNAQ.html Tell him FNA sent ya!

Always happy to hear someone come around on this game. I also thought it was really lousy way back when, but I've come to appreciate it in recent years, mostly for the same reasons you very articulately stated

I loved this game. It had RPG elements. I remember finding the water mansion on accident and calling all the kids in my neighborhood over to show them. You were king for the day back then if you found out a puzzle that literally everyone was stuck on lol.

still one of my all time favorite games! my brother ACCIDENTALLY found the tornado lol

What you said about manuals is right in the spot! I remember the trill I had reading the manual of a game I just rented or bought...not to mention, manuals had an artistic quality (as gameboxes) that is lost in this modern times.

Pro tip: do all of your hearts grinding inside of the mansions. Time passes outside, but it does not pass inside the mansions. This will allow you to get ample hearts but not get the worst ending by wasting all of your time

I like how the manual actually tells you that some townspeople will give you false information since they are pranksters......

At 3:29, all I can think of is "I terrify them, Sypha disorients them, Alucard goes over the top and we support him.". Best scene making the best use of the iconic theme.

The difference between Zelda fandom and Simon's quest booing is that everyone had the Nintendo power for Zelda.

Man I LOVED the idea of the different whips. Even today, "thorn whip" sounds unique and awesome. They couldn't really do too much in terms of damage dealt visually, but it's cool. Heart farming was what threw me off on these games. Great look at the series. I love the way you explained just how tough it was with a blind rental based on the sticker of a cartridge, and how inhibiting it was to have no resources.

i always loved this game and never understood the hate. was one of my best christmases ever as a kid. i was 10

It should be mentioned that the game does feature 3 different endings, depending on how many in-game days it takes you to complete it. The "good" ending is achieved if you can finish it within 7 day/night cycles, the "normal" ending is achieved if you finish it in 8 to 14 day/night cycles, and you'll get the "bad" ending if you finish it in 15 days or longer. A good tactic to use if you want to save time, is to farm for hearts within the mansions as the in-game clock actually pauses while you're navigating your way through one of those places.

I still remember at school on recess talking to kids on what to do in this game. Nobody knew what the heck was going on in the game.

Games like Castlevania II and The Legend of Zelda have taught me that sleeping on the NES because its an older system is a crime. Some of its games still hold up pretty well!

Utterly underrated gem. This one and Super Castlevania 4 are my personal favourites.

I need to play the patched version. They added some major quality of life improvements.

Dude, I'm glad to see that you FINALLY came to your senses about this game! Such an AWESOME game!

Excellent take on what has always been my favorite 8-bit Castlevania. I love them all but Simon's Quest was my favorite even in the 80s for how big and expansive it felt. Always nice to see it get some love.

I've always loved this game, ever since I was a little kid. My neighbors knew where to go and helped me get through it my first time. Been a fan from day one and is still one of my favorite Castlevania games. I love the soundtrack as well, learned most of it on guitar.

1:24 "Simon Belmont, his back still seriously injured from the first fight with Dracula" Wait, what does the manual say? "the wounds inflicted during the duel slowly gnawed at your soul" As someone with chronic back pain... ok yeah "slowly gnawed at your soul" checks out.

Getting chased by three flying eyeballs with one health left. Yeah, I've been there...

You talking about looking at the manual on the way home from buying a game. (closes eyes and falls into nostalgia, remembering the good old days)

It was so cryptic younger me could only clear the first mansion. I wandered aimlessly for years never knowing what to do.

Yes. You TEAR into that box. Biggest mistake I repeatedly made.

Plenty of games have been smeared because of confusion but its always great to give "bad" games another shot!

I always loved playing this as a kid, next to Zelda, Metal Mech, Super Mario Bros. 2, plus many others. Also to note, this would be one of the first open world games with night/day cycles that I've ever played on a game console.

Simons Quest battles the original game for my favorite game of all time. They both basically share that spotlight.

'80s games were such simpler times.

The Villagers giving the Vampire Hunter "False Rumors or Bad Clues" are from the Hammer Horror Dracula and Vampire movies. The Villagers are afraid of repercussion or revenge from Dracula or a Vampire who lives nearby who would terrorize the villagers. The Villages would play dumb or give Prof. Van Helsing False Clues through out the Hammer Horror Vampire movies. It's part of the Vampire Hunter Genre. It's just annoying when your playing a game having to rely on information given to you to find stuff or complete a task game though. It didn't work and that's why many of us had to buy a Nintendo Power Magazine.

This game initially frustrated me as a kid but once I got some info, I forget from who or where, and started to really love it and played it all the way to the end. It kinda blew my mind that I went from not knowing what to do to finishing it. I think this series really impressed me as a kid because as an adult in 2016 I went to Transylvania and listened to some of my favorite songs from these games.

I owned this game as a kid an played it hundreds of times an never knew about the tornado. But was never upset about it an just enjoyed playing it an to this day love the soundtrack like no other!

You nailed it in the end that's exactly what we did as soon as you start leaving the parking lot read that book if for no other reason than you get some cool pictures and story to read

Game was ahead of its time for sure. Translation was the main problem, fortunately there are romhacks like the one you mentioned that address that now and make it playable without the need of guides.

I was a huge fan of the original Castlevania. I got Simon's Quest with my NES for Christmas in 1988 and played this game everyday until I finally beat it. I still play through this game every year or so.

Doritos and Pepsi on a Friday...good combo.

The NES does have a nice slew of early hits that received sequels that were completely different from their predecessors. I’d argue that could be due to the relative age of the video game industry back then. How many sequels did 2600 titles have? The idea of games with 8 whole bits of data(!) completely changed the games at home environment. Gone were the arcade ports, and original story lines had to be made. Necessitating the need for “sequels.” It’s a fascinating topic.

Everyone was wrong about Castlevania 2. Easily one of the coolest.

I love how u use Dracula’s end music as ur background .. it’s rare u here it that long and it’s great ! Another great review !! Keep em coming

So basically this entry in the Castlevania genre is not only a metroidvania but a souls like game

This was my first Castlevania. I got stuck where you had to kneel in the cemetery. Other than that, I love this game and still cherish it to this day!

The Famicom Disk System version of this sounds fantastic. The digital audio percussion doesn't pop, either.

Agreed. I'm 38 and just revisited the game earlier this year after leaving it for about 30 years. It's good, fun, esoteric, slightly incomplete but worth your time if you want to experience what the developers intended.

As a kid this one was my favorite and only Castlevania I beat on the nes growing up

Bloody. Tears.

This is THE game of my childhood. Still love it a lot ❤️

Looking forward to playing this one again! Sounds like a lot of people are coming around to the fact that it's not such a horrible night to be cursed after all.

8:21 For that false floors problem, I recommend the "Annoyance Fixes" rom hack by thempkes. Its IPS package includes a version designed to be applied on a rom that has already been patched with the Simon's Redaction hack.

I love how so many people loathed this game so much back in the day and then later on have a different view. This has been and will always be my favorite Castlevania game in the series.

this was my favorite castlevania... just ordered it for my ps4

If you’re going to farm for hearts, do so in a mansion. Time doesn’t pass while indoors, so you’ll have all time you need to farm and level up. Can’t gain anymore experience? Go to the next mansion. 🙂

As ever, the study of ancient tomes illuminates what mere experience cannot.

This game is so amazing

It's always interesting to see how with just a few minor fixes many people do agree this is a solid title worthy of being appreciated. And yeah, Bloody Tears rocks.

I look at this game like trying to solve a mystery in another language, which gives it an authentic feel in my eyes. Even using Nintendo Power felt less like spoiling secrets and more like translating things to just make sense

Cool review. I was one of those that loved this one as a kid. I never got very far, but I rented it over and over just to soak in the creepy atmosphere of the game and the awesome tuneage. I loved wandering around the open world and killing stuff and getting into trouble.

This game is pretty underrated and honestly a head of it's time considering this is how the modern castlevania games played.

You called it all the way down to the game the Pepsi and the Doritos here dude.

Thanks for this video. It really brought me back to cherished times. All the traits everyone bitches about this game never mattered to me. I just loved exploring and discovering. Such simpler times.

I've always liked this game. I beat it many years ago and play it off and on ever since. I was originally typing this as I watched the video, and I was about to reference Symphony of the Night when you mentioned it. I've often referred to the sequels of 1988/9 myself and it is nice to see somebody else say instead of simply crapping all over the Castlevania and Zelda sequels for the NES.

This was my first game (not including Mario/Duck Hunt) I got as a kid. I remember watching a Saturday morning show that provided the passwords to get all the items. About a year after that, I wanted to best it straight up but couldn't figure out how to get to some of the mansions. I wrote Nintendo Power a letter. Got a response (I still have the letter) and I was finally able to beat the game without passwords. I really like this Simon's Quest and always have. Even when I couldn't beat it without the help of passwords, I enjoyed playing it. It has cool items and fun areas to get through. The soundtrack is amazing. I actually bought the vinyl of it and that is the only game soundtrack I own. I fire this up still to this day here and there. Thanks for the video.

Everybody always talks about how annoying it is to throw holy water every other step to check for fake blocks, but... when I played through this game as a kid, I didn't do that. I didn't have to, because the enemies made it clear where the fake blocks were. Although it wasn't the case everywhere, in JUST ABOUT every single spot in the mansions where there are fake blocks, there are skeletons walking back and forth that will turn around and start walking the other way when they get to a fake block... or there are those jumping slime things that will suddenly rise up right through a block. And if you stop to observe this behavior, you now know where all the fake blocks are in the area! Tossing holy water willy-nilly is a good failsafe, sure, and is of course something you'll want to do in empty houses, but in the mansions, you really don't ever need to -- just watch the enemies, and you'll be good to go!

The only part that I couldn't figure out as a kid when it first came out was ha ing to go to a certain spot and kneel down for a few seconds to be taken away by the tornado. I'd have never figured that out on my own.

I've always loved this game! I do have to admit, that my buddies and I did have a lot of help from tip guides though. There is absolutely no way we would've been able to finish this game without those guides, so I definitely understand the frustration, as well.

I really like your channel such nostalgia ! Thanks ! Keep up the good work 🔥

While I agree with your nostalgic view on game manuals, I have been frustrated by many in my day that offer little to no help for actually playing the game. I'd much rather have to deal with in-game tutorials and hand holding these days.

I listen to this soundtrack like its an album. So good

I was also like 7 when I played this game as a kid and I was able to figure everything out without a guide, except for the red crystal thing, I heard that from a school friend, but everything else I figured out myself... and I didn’t even speak English by the time! I remember I had a Spanish-English dictionary by my side while playing this game. I loved it back then and I love it now

The Famicom Disk System seems to have more clues within it. Better music, as well.

People always get stuck at the cliff. But it's kind of a self intuitive game. Like the blue crystal. You kneel in front of the water and the path is revealed then you would know the cliff uses the red crystal and one of the townspeople gives you part of a clue. It's trial and error

I actually got through it without Nintendo power by the simple fact that it was the only game I had for a year or so. You’d be surprised what you figure out by being stuck with it. I still remember the day I figured out how to use the stake.

I figured this game out as a teen back in 1990... no extra help.

RE: ROM Hacks - There's two pretty thorough books called Someone Set Us Up The ROM. Recommended if you just want to cut right to the awesome stuff like Extra Mario (Metroidish hack of Super Mario Bros 1) or Mario Adventure (a similar concept but with insane additions like weather effects for Super Mario Bos 3). Recommended reading for beginning a dive into ROM hacks.

Simon's Quest is a gem. I apprecciate the fact that someone loves it, and gives it the just importance it deserves. My top 3 is: 1 - Super Castlevania 4; 2 - Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest; 3 - Castlevania Aria of Sorrow. Thank you for the video!

This is one of my favorite games ever. That soundtrack is permanently burned into my brain. The only thing that tripped me up and I needed help with was the Tornado. My uncle had Nintendo Power and he had the issue with Simon's Quest in it and I eventually broke down and just asked him if he knew what to do and he told me. But otherwise I managed to beat this game as a kid. I just played it on and off for months when it was released until I literally tried everything just like anyone who had Metroid did. A couple of years ago I played it on Halloween after not playing it for like 25 years and entirely from memory, with no guides or even re-reading the manual, I managed to beat the original NES version of the game in one sitting. This game is very much like Symphony of the Night in that once you've got this game down you've got it down for life and can just jump back in after any amount of time no problem.

Simon's Quest laid out the blueprint for the Castlevania series 🔪💦✝

I was just revisiting this game myself! The funny thing about the Nintendo Power is that it's almost useless. It gives you some good hints, but only for a few places in the game. I was lucky enough to have been visited by Sathdresh on my Twitch stream and he gave me so much awesome technical background information into the game that he's learned from speedrunning it. Did you know that if you crouch and take damage on a floor that's only 1 block from the bottom of the screen, you'll likely glitch through the floor and die from falling into water that you can't even see? Also - ever notice that the Whip on the box/label art forms the number "2"?

There's some frozen pizzas that's better than Little Caesars like Red Baron

This was the first Castlevania game I played and one of the first games I played when I got my NES. I got the game used with an NES from a pawn shop in the late 80's so I had no manual. It took me a long time to figure this game out lol

Love this, been thinking about playing through, like you as kid, we totally didn’t understand everything going on with the game although I think we did have Nintendo Power, I saw it at my local game store, probably should have picked up

Does this romhack at least leave the “what a horrible night to have a curse” line intact? I mean that’s classic.

I’ve always loved this game, even back when it released. It was a bit shady that they made you rely on the Nintendo Power issue to progress (I was fortunate enough to have a subscription at the time), but aside from that, I always loved this game’s vibe. The combat felt great, the graphics and music were amazing, and it had this eerie sense of mystery to it that I don’t think the other games had. Great video! Thanks for starting off my weekend right 😀

Loved this game as a kid and I love it even more in my old age 😄 Great work Aaron, hope all is well with you and the fam. Have a great weekend bud!

Five dollar box with subpar Pizza it's a shame how Little Caesars had fallen

Fond memories of this game. Playing with my dad who's never been into video games but liked Castlevania 1 and 2. Trying to interpret the clues and figure out where to go. We never beat the game but it's one of our few bonding moments.

This appears to be for the Castlevania fan who has lots & lots of patience!

Classic game! I forgot did the game at all hint at where to kneel in those 2 spots or was it basically unknown unless you called the Nintendo help line?

Modern games have learned from this game. Never make a game that's unplayable without the manual.

Wrong! Incorrect! Nope! Its MOUNTAIN DEW with your Doritos. Everybody know that! Glad to see ya back man.

things that could've made it better was just having the game due day to night transitions like Friday the 13th did but even that game was kind of poopy. Nintendo: You can't have it all

'Any' of the hate this game gets is undeserved? What about how cryptic it is? Or that day/night transition?

The hack you're using is great but has been outdone by one called "Castlevania II English Re-translation (+Map)". It's the definitive version, offering an in-game map in addition to all the improvements in the "Redaction" hack.

I was stubborn enough to beat this game without any walkthroughs and guess, what. I didn't even know english at a time. Just loved this game to death back then.

I like the description of the ring! >D

Almost totally agree... except Mountain Dew and Fritos lol

This game was so damn frustrating. At least it foreshadowed how brutal life is. Thanks for the crippling depression at age 7 Konami !

I'm glad there's a reconsideration about this game because I really did like it as a kid and yes, I did have the issue of Nintendo Power to help me along.

It would be really cool if in the rom hack version they worked also in each dracula's piece area to fought also a boss,because in this game this was one of the biggest absence from the franchise! Yeah it has those two or three enemies that you can think them as bosses but i cannot think of them as bossfights that much to be honest! As a whole as you saying they experimented those years to make something unique & timeless and who can blame them to tell you the truth.They also tried that out a little in that MSX version of the first game and it was also really confusing as well if i remember correctly!

It was a complete shock to me to see how much everyone seems to hate this game over the years on RU-vid. When I was a kid and this came out, it was the favorite game of everyone I knew (and me). Even meeting people in later years, most people always listed this as basically their favorite game on the NES. The soundtrack itself is my favorite game soundtrack ever lol. Glad you discovered it was a good game, brother!

this game was so cryptic that I found glitches to proceed in the game before I found how the game devs actually designed the players ability to proceed. That's what I call broken design. Despite that, I still played the hell out of this game and still like it quite a bit

I actually won this game from a scratch off ticket that came in a box of Oreo cookies. I forget how it worked exactly, but you could only scratch three out of the six or eight spots on the ticket. The last one I chose was the winner.