 When the NES Classic was released a few years ago, of course it was a given that the original Castlevania and Castlevania 3... wait, Castlevania 2? They skipped Castlevania 3, which might be a top 5 NES game ever, for Jank-ass Castlevania 2? Well, I think I can actually see where Nintendo might have been coming from with that decision. The mini was already absolutely loaded with action platformers, from Mario 3 to Kirby's Adventure, which are probably top 5 games themselves, along with Mega Man 2, Ghosts and Goblins, and Super C. Castlevania 2 at least represents something a little different since it's more of an action-adventure game, with some exploration and RPG elements, where you go around talking to people, piecing together clues to try and figure out where to go and how to get there. It's almost like a compliment to Zelda 2 in that way, in fact Castlevania 2 was released in Japan within a few months of Zelda 2. The main difference, however, is that Zelda 2 has aged a little bit better when it comes to those exploration aspects, whereas Castlevania 2 has a... not. Geez Louise, this game shows its age in the most excruciating ways. Hey, don't get me wrong, the graphics, sound design, and gameplay are all around the same level as the first Castlevania, and those parts of the game have held up really well over time. But the structure they tried to go with... eh, maybe not. This is one of those games where it's almost impossible not to have a strong opinion, but even with all its flaws, is Castlevania 2's Simons Quest still worth playing today? Well, we might as well start with the story, which picks up right where the first game left off, when, spoiler alert, Simon destroyed Dracula, and pieces of Dracula's body were scattered in different castles in the form of orbs. What was he made of, Lego? Simon also ended up with a deadly curse as a result of the battle, so now he has to track down every orb and shove a wooden stake through it, if he's able to... possess them, I guess? But yeah, each of these parts give you an ability when you collect them, like Dracula's rib becomes a shield somehow? Sure, okay. But yeah, the strengths here are in the basics. The soundtrack is frickin' great, the graphics are well done, gotta love how the backgrounds make everything look dreary as hell, even during the day, and it's always really satisfying to kill an enemy, since the game provides some great sound design. Really, when it comes to the action here, you have to learn to pick your spots. There are certain parts where it feels overwhelming with tons of crap flying at you, but the game allows you to just skip it, for better or for worse. Like these spider things? Yeah, no thanks, see ya. There are problems with the platforming in Castlevania 2, but it's nothing game breaking, just, you know, annoying stuff, like how there's hidden blocks throughout each castle, so your first time playing, you have to inch your way across, tossing holy water around, I mean, geez, this is the holiest floor ever. But yeah, it's still easy to forget and fall, and then backtrack your way around again. And that's not the only spot you have to backtrack, you also have to back your way out of every castle once you finish it, and while the level design allows this to be a little easier than normal, it's still kind of annoying. I guess that's the way to sum up the flaws in this game, annoying. Like these jumps here? I mean, come on, what is it about Konami games from this era in jumping? It feels like I'm playing the first Ninja Turtles game. Also, there's plenty of typical NES annoyances here, too, like when you switch screens and there's an enemy waiting right there to do some unavoidable damage, and of course, stuff like water is an insta-kill. Guess this water isn't holy enough or something? This game is still forgiving, though, especially compared to the other two NES Castlevania games. You get three lives for every continue, but that doesn't really matter since you have unlimited continues and you start exactly where you died every time. It's almost too forgiving, really, because once your life bar reaches a certain point, it's like, well, I might as well just die and start over with a full health meter. Sure, you're punished since you lose all your hearts when you die, but after a while, it's like, so what? I can just stand here and grind and get all my hearts back anyway. I should point out that in Castlevania II, hearts are currency instead of ammo, and you use those hearts to buy all sorts of different stuff you need to progress with the game, and you buy that stuff in these different towns you visit, and therein lies the difference between Castlevania II and the other two NES games. You go around talking to people, asking for advice, and buying items you can either equip or use to unlock the next part of your quest. Of course, this being an NES game, this can be pretty dang clunky. There is, of course, the infamous day and night cycle you have to contend with, where whatever you're doing is interrupted by this incredibly obnoxious text box, and it wouldn't be an NES adventure game if there wasn't tons of cryptic stuff here that's not exactly forthcoming. Some things seem pretty clear, like, hey, you walk into an empty room? Well, there must be a hidden entrance somewhere. Drop a piece of garlic in a cemetery to get a silver knife? Sure, sounds good. But then there's incredibly goofy stuff, like where you have to kneel with the blue crystal in front of this water to access a passageway. That's assuming you can even see the platform there, depending on how you're playing this game. And most famous of all, you have to kneel against a wall with the red crystal and have a tornado whisk you away. Man, it must've been really fun to come up with ideas for games like this back in the day, like, yeah, you get the golden football, jump three times, wait till exactly 34 seconds into nighttime, and then Bo Jackson from Tecmo Bowl will do a clear screen attack. Hey, don't laugh, that's the kind of stuff kids would come up with back then. Most of the time though, the problem isn't that stuff is hard to understand, it's that it's just time consuming, and it really makes this playthrough pretty dang boring at times. Like, when you don't have enough hearts, you just find a certain spot on the edge of the screen and keep killing an enemy, rinse and repeat. And if you go back into the town at night, you have to sit there like an idiot until it's daytime before people appear again. You're just stuck waiting around a lot in this game. One other thing I wanted to point out, there's hardly any boss fights here either. Where the heck are the bosses? I do want to mention real quickly that you're not necessarily stuck playing the original version of Castlevania 2, there is an improvement patch out there called Redaction, and it speeds up the text, cleans up the translation, and removes all the bogus hints you get from villagers that do nothing but waste your time. And if that's not enough for you, there's other hacks out there that remove the day-night text transition entirely, or even make it look and play like a 16-bit game like Castlevania 2 revamped. There's plenty of other stuff out there that can help make this a more palatable playthrough if you go looking for it. So yeah, all this is just to help manage your expectations going into Castlevania 2's Simon's Quest. My own expectations were low. I was expecting to be really annoyed with the day-night stuff, the cryptic BS, and the typical NES hindrances of the time, but really, I ended up enjoying this one more than I thought I would. The music and visual presentation really helped carry this game big time, and like I said, it's always satisfying as hell to kill these enemies. And hey, just like any other adventure game where you have to figure stuff out, it's always fun when stuff clicks in your brain. I will say if you're looking for an NES adventure game, I think I'd still recommend Zelda 2 and even Fazzanadu over Castlevania 2. Are the other two NES Castlevania games better? Well, yeah, but they're also completely different games while this one is a departure from that. And look, I totally get it if the annoyances pointed out in this video are dealbreakers for you. I won't blame you if this game is a stay-away for some of that stuff. But I hope it's understood at this point that this game is seen by some people as bad for things in popular culture that have nothing to do with the game itself, and that's kind of dumb. I do think this game is worth a chance, and I still think there's a lot to be enjoyed in Castlevania 2. All right, I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.