Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is a bit of an oddball in the NES trilogy. Rather than going linear, Castlevania II takes more of a non-linear approach which, at the time, seems impressive. Just exploring the countryside of Transylvania looks cool, but it has so many issues that I want to cover in this review. But first, let's talk about the plot

The game takes place seven years after the first game. After Simon defeats Dracula, he is struck with a curse, which continues to affect his body for seven years. To stop it, Simon must collect the scattered body parts of Dracula and burn them where his castle once stood. This is because if he didn't, Simon would die, and Dracula would have been revived if that happened. So starts the journey of Simon's quest

Now let's head to the gameplay. As I said before, this is an explorative Castlevania game, the first of its kind, predating Symphony of the Night about a decade after Castlevania II released. You have multiple towns to explore while also having the option to talk to the villagers, though their advice makes no sense. It also has a designated shop where you can buy/upgrade weapons or stock up on stuff like Laurels. Though purchasing the things you need is weird, to simply put it. Rather than money, the main currency in the game is hearts, the same one that depletes when using sub-weapons, and it can be a bit of a grind when farming for them because buying the weapons and items in the game is expensive. I recommend being cautious of your surroundings when killing enemies because if you die and get a game over, whether, from an enemy or water, the hearts you've collected and saved up for will be gone. And that is one of the most aggravating things about the game cause I feel like I wasted a few nights grinding for them

Speaking about nights, another new feature that they added is the day and night cycle, which I'm pretty sure most of you have seen the memes before. Every time the day and night have passed, the game will pause, and the text box will appear, and you cannot skip the text box when encountering it. It may not seem bad at first, but once you've progressed further into the game, it becomes a bit of a nuisance

To collect the body parts, Simon has to explore the five castles that have the body parts, and every time you get inside the castles, you have to buy an oak stake from the shopkeeper somewhere inside the mansion to collect the pieces. And this leads to the biggest issue with the game, the structure itself. A guide is necessary if you want to blaze through because collecting the specific items you need to progress can sometimes be cryptic. There's also a lack of variety in enemies, and only three bosses are in the game: Death, Carmilla, and Dracula. Death can be ignored entirely if the player doesn't care about the golden knife. Carmilla has one attack pattern that is easy to dodge, and Dracula is a pushover. You can take him out in less than ten seconds by constantly using Sacred Flame, and then boom, you beat the game

Depending on the number of days, there are three endings you can get. Getting the normal ending requires completing the game in 8 to 14 days. For the bad ending, for 15 days or more. And seven days or less (canon ending) for the good ending. I don't expect anyone to get the best ending on their first try, but I say aim for the normal ending and watch the rest of the endings on YouTube or use the old-fashioned cheat codes. I had to start over and replay where I was previously because my first run of the game wasn't a good one, which is why it took a little longer for me to finish it. I almost forgot to mention the mistranslation, which was common back in the late 80s and early 90s, so I'm not going to go into specifics

The music, to no one's surprise, is superb. It's a shame that there isn't a lot quantity-wise, but what's here is still good. Bloody Tears is an absolute banger of a song that is remixed and rearranged in future entries

Overall, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is not a bad game. Despite its issues, I enjoyed it for what it's worth. I think this game is overlooked and overhated, in my opinion, thanks to a specific nerd who reviewed this game 16 years ago (still like AVGN though). Give it a chance, but don't expect it to be better or equally comparable quality-wise to the first Castlevania