- "Step into the shadows of the hell house.
You've arrived back here at Transylvania on business:
To destroy forever the curse of the evil Count, Dracula." - — English in-game prologue
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, known in Japan as Dorakyura II: Noroi no Fūin (ドラキュラⅡ 呪いの封印? lit. "Dracula II: Seal of the Curse"), is an action-adventure platform game developed by Konami in 1987 for the Famicom Disk System. It was ported to cartridge format in 1988 and released in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
The game features Simon Belmont as the protagonist and takes place in 1698, seven years after the first game.
Plot[]
It is the year 1698, seven years after Simon Belmont originally defeated the evil Count Dracula.
After Simon delivered the final coup de grace to the Prince of Darkness, the Count placed a dark curse upon him that would send him to an early grave unless Simon revived him. Moreover, Dracula's minions are once again stirring throughout the land of Transylvania, ravaging throughout the many villages and terrorizing the townsfolk.
Simon takes up the legendary whip, the Vampire Killer, once again and travels throughout the land to the towns of Jova, Veros, Aljiba, Aldra, Ondol, Doina and Yomi to liberate the people and seek help from them as he searches for the Count's body parts which have been hidden in five different dark manors (Berkeley, Rover, Brahm's, Bodley and Laruba) throughout the land.
Once all the parts of Dracula's body were in place, Simon took them to the ruins of Dracula's Castle and burned them. Simon didn't expect, however, for Dracula's ghost due to the power of a sixth remain, Dracula's Fang, which was hidden inside the ruins. Simon fought Dracula again and this time finished him for good (or so the people thought, though Dracula would return in the 18th century).
Characters[]
| Characters: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Name | Information | |
| Protagonists and Allies | |||
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(Simon Belmondo) |
The mighty hero who had slain Count Dracula seven years prior and now 29 years old. After Simon had put away his enemies' flesh for another hundred years of slumber, he noticed his body began to slowly decay.(...)
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| Antagonists | |||
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The Demon King who Simon sealed away seven years earlier. During his battle with Simon, Dracula had cast a deadly curse on him. The more Simon's body will demolish, the more he will grow in power and will ultimately be resurrected if Simon were to die.
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Dracula's confidant. The Brahm's Mansion keeper.
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(Vampira) |
The Laruba Mansion keeper.
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Gameplay[]
Simon's Quest's environment differs from the linear castle of the first game, and is instead an open-ended landscape interspersed with towns, cemeteries, manors and dungeons. The passage of time in game causes day to become night and vice versa. Enemies are stronger at night, zombies invade towns and the townspeople are nowhere to be seen as they are hiding in their houses from the monsters. New to the series are several RPG elements, such as an inventory and a leveling system which causes Simon's health to increase whenever he collects a specific amount of Hearts. During the day, townspeople offer hints (although the player must be aware that some of these may be half-truths or outright lies), and merchants sell items (such as whip upgrades) in exchange of Hearts. The amount of time it takes to complete the game also affects how well Simon fares at the ending.
Sub-weapons return from Castlevania. Old weapons include the Dagger and Holy Water, while new ones include the bouncing Diamond and Laurels of invincibility. Some (but not all) of Dracula's remains also offer additional abilities once collected.
Endings[]
The game includes three different endings, determined by how long it took for the player to complete the game and how many continues were used. All three are variations of the same ending, but with different twists featured.
Bad ending[]
Method: Complete the game in 15 days or more.
Neither Dracula nor Simon survive the battle. Dracula's grave is shown and text appears telling the player that:
- "The battle has consummated. Now peace and serenity have been restored to Transylvania and the people are free of Dracula's curse forever. And you, Simon Belmont, will always be remembered for your bravery and courage."
- — Bad ending
Normal ending[]
Method: Complete the game in 8 to 14 days.
Simon defeats Dracula but eventually succumbs to the curse anyway. Simon kneels by Dracula's grave and text appears telling the player that:
- "Although the confrontation between Simon and Dracula has concluded, Simon couldn't survive his fatal wounds. Transylvania's only hope is a young man who will triumph over evil and rid the city of Dracula's deadly curse."
- — Normal ending
Good ending (canonical)[]
Method: Complete the game in 7 days or less.
Simon defeats Dracula and is freed from the curse. He kneels by Dracula's grave and text appears telling the player that:
- "The encounter with Dracula is terminated. Simon Belmont has put an end to the eternal darkness in Transylvania. His blood and sweat have penetrated the earth and will induce magic and happiness for those who walk on this land."
- — Good ending
Simon walks away from the grave, but that night Dracula's hand pushes through the dirt.
Game mechanics[]
- The format for telling (game) time is DAYS:HOURS:MINUTES.
- Each nighttime cycle begins at 18:00 PM and lasts until 6:00 AM the next day, and each daytime cycle begins at 6:00 AM and lasts 12 hours (game time). The time also starts at noon on the first day (which in game is Day 0).
- Game time does not pass while inside a building or church in town, or inside a mansion.
- Every time the player gains a level, Hearts dropped by enemies won't give any EXP for some time. This is likely a programming bug and the player will eventually start gaining EXP again after collecting more Hearts (probably after acquiring a certain amount, or after a determined period of time has passed).
Quotes[]
The North American version of Simon's Quest is famous for its several translation errors. The villagers often give the player lies.
- American version - "What a horrible night to have a curse" - When the sun goes down during gameplay.
- Japanese version - "And so the shiver of the night has arrived" (ソシテ センリツノ ヨルガ オトズレタ Soshite senritsu no yoru ga otozureta).
- American version - "The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night" - When the sun comes back up during gameplay.
- Japanese version - "The nightmarish night has ended" (アクムノヨウナ ヨルガアケタ Akumu no you na yoru ga aketa).
- "You now prossess Dracula's Rib" - A typo of "possess".
- "A symbol of evil will appaer when you strike the stake" - A typo of "appear".
- "Let's live here together" - Spoken by an old woman in a house.
- "Take my daughter, please!!" - Spoken by an old man in a village.
Staff[]
Like several other Konami games of this era, the staff are only credited by aliases and their specific roles are not given in the game itself. What follows in the in-game credit list, accompanied by those whose full names and roles have been identified:
- Invincibility: Akamatsu (Hitoshi Akamatsu; game designer and director)
- Permanance: Iwasa
- Philosophy: Togakushi (Noriyasu Togakushi; character designer)
- Masterpiece: Kawanishi
- Sensitivity: Hatano (Yoshiaki Hatano; sound effects)
- Excellence: Terashima (Satoe Terashima; music composer)
- Ambivalence: Kuwahara (Yasuo Kuwahara; game progammer)
- Flourish: Higasa
- Warm-Heart: Matsuoka (Nobuhiro Matsuoka; game programmer)
- Admiration: Ohyama (Hideki Ohyama; character designer)
- Superiority: Murata (Kouji Murata; audio programmer and music composer)
- Synchromism: Matsubara (Kenichi Matsubara; music composer)
Trivia[]
- This is the first game in the series not to be called "Akumajō Dracula" in Japan.
- Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is the first side-scrolling role-playing game in the series.
- Director Hitoshi Akamatsu cited The Maze of Galious (sequel to Konami's MSX game Knightmare) as an inspiration for Simon's Quest.
Bottom: Dracula in the Simon's Quest cover artwork.
- The cover artwork for the game, featuring Dracula standing on a balcony, is borrowed from the cover of the 1983 Dungeons & Dragons module, Ravenloft.
- Reportedly, Simon Belmont's whip on the cover artwork traces a number "2".
- Brahm's Mansion sounds similar to "Bram", as in Bram Stoker, the author of the 1897 Gothic horror novel, Dracula.
- This is the first game in the main series where Dracula doesn't transform at all during his boss fight.
- In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the Ferryman says to Alucard the same phrase he said to Simon Belmont in the Japanese version of Simon's Quest. Even though Simon's Quest is in katakana and Symphony of the Night is in hiragana, the phrase is the same, maintaining the same meaning and sonority ("Iitokoroni, tsureteitte ageyou", lit. "I'll take you to a good place"). This similarity is also evident in the English version, although it isn't the same dialogue (this similarity doesn't occur in The Dracula X Chronicles, because the phrase was changed in that version).
- Even though the best ending of Simon's Quest implies that Dracula was restored to life regardless of Simon's efforts, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance does not consider this aspect as canon and instead explicitly states Dracula was still dead fifty years afterward.
- The phrase "The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night" used to signify the coming of daytime, was referenced by Shanoa in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia with the phrase: "I am the morning sun, come to vanquish this horrible night!".
- The phrase "What a horrible night to have a curse" used in this game to signify the coming of nighttime, was used as the name of a Black Dahlia Murder song from their album Nocturnal.
- Similarly, the open portion of the music played in the forest during daytime, "Bloody Tears", was used in the With Dead Hands Rising song "A Ghost for the Broken Hearted" from their album Behind Inquisition.
- Many of Simon's Quest's (and Dracula's Curseʼs) aesthetics and concepts bear a resemblance to the arcade LaserDisc video game Super Don Quixote (Universal, 1984), particularly the original artworks on the Japanese Famicom Disk System instruction booklet. Similarities include the hero's design and costume, the hero having to traverse a medieval countryside that includes cemeteries, forests, caves, etc. to defeat a vampire/grim reaper-like character who wields a scythe (artworks of Dracula on the manual also resemble this antagonistic character) in a faraway castle full of monsters, with their roster comprised of bats, skeleton warriors, a skull knight, giant water serpents, mummies, zombie hands reaching from the ground, flying jellyfishes akin to slimes, winged demons, and even a dragon that introduces itself in the form of a tornado, like the tornado spirit summoned in Deborah Cliff that transports Simon. Like in many Castlevania games, the castle crumbles at the end while the heroes watch it from a distance.
- In the multiplayer role-playing game EverQuest II, the zone Loping Plains is beset by a curse every night and the message "What a horrible night to have a curse" appears in the player's chat window. When day breaks, the message "The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night" is also displayed in the chat window. (see more here)
See also[]
Related pages[]
- Simon's Quest Bestiary
- Simon's Quest Inventory
- Simon's Quest Passwords
- Simon's Quest Script
- Simon's Quest Walkthrough
- Simon's Quest World Map
Alternate editions[]
- Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (wrist watch LCD game) - A Tiger Electronics LCD watch game based on this game.
- Electronic Castlevania II: Simon's Quest - A simplified version of this game in LCD handheld format, also by Tiger Electronics.
Related games[]
- Castlevania - Simon's Quest is a sequel to the original Castlevania.
- Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Official sequel to Simon's Quest.
- Castlevania: The Adventure - Originally considered to be a sequel to Simon's Quest in America.
- Super Castlevania IV - Originally localized to be a sequel to Simon's Quest in America, but now considered a remake of the original Castlevania.
Related albums[]
- Akumajō Dracula Famicom Best - Contains the Simon's Quest original soundtrack.
- Akumajō Dracula Best Music Collections BOX - Contains music from this game on Disc 1.
- Dracula II: Noroi no Fūin SOUNDTRACKS - New recording original soundtrack.
- Castlevania II: Simon's Quest Original Video Game Soundtrack - Vinyl album containing the Simon's Quest original soundtrack.
- Music from Akumajo Dracula Kuro - Contains music from this game on Disc 1 and 2.
Related guides[]
- Dracula II: Noroi no Fūin Kanzen Hisshōbon - A Japanese guide book for this game.
- Nintendo Power - Castlevania II: Simon's Quest guide - A US guide for this game.
- NES Game Atlas - Contains stage maps for this game.
- Club Nintendo Strategy Guide - Contains a map for this game.
Related products[]
- Konami Chara Cards - Small sets of trading cards that came with Konami games in the 1980s and 1990s, including a set for Simon's Quest with original art.
- Worlds of Power - Simon's Quest - Children novel.
- Howard & Nester
- Captain N: The Game Master - Has episodes featuring elements of this game (especially "The Greatest Game Master").
External links[]
- Castlevania II: Simon's Quest at the Castlevania Fan Wiki
- Castlevania II: Simon's Quest at the Castlevania Fanon Wiki
- Castlevania II: Simon's Quest instruction booklet at the Castlevania Realm
- Castlevania II English Re-translation (+Map) - Romhack that retranslates game text to be closer to the original and adds some QOL improvements.
- Castlevania Dungeon
- Castlevania Realm
- Dracula II: Noroi no Fūin instruction booklet at the Castlevania Realm
- GameFAQs
- Konami Wii order page (Japanese)
- MobyGames
- Simon's Redaction - Romhack that retranslates the game, changing the hints to be more player-friendly.
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