Topic: Castlevania II - Simon's Quest

So I recently picked up a copy of Simon's Quest I found cheap because I've never really played a Castlevania game before (I've only plaed the N64 one, and actually liked it even though I know most people don't) I've heard some people say it's terrible, some say it's their favorite in the series, and I know that like most NES sequels it's kind of the black sheep of the series. Outside of personal opinions about the game itself, I just have 2 questions: 1. Will I miss anything by not playing the first one? Being an early game I assume no because the stories aren't that connected, but I thought I'd ask. 2. Will I actually get a good grasp of what Castlevania is like by playing this since it's supposedly different from the others (I played it for a minute just to make sure it worked and it seems exactly like Zelda 2, which is funny, but I love that game so it's okay). Thanks in advance.

thats a handsome game youve got there

1) I have never been one to care about playing a sequel before the original. I don't care if I miss something, its a video game! Now to focus more on your first question. No you will not miss anything. It's a NES game and other then Simon Belmont enters Dracula's castle to kill the count. There's not much else to it.
2) If you want a good grasp of what classic Castlevania is like, then play 1 or 3. I like Simon's Quest, but its very different and the bosses are much easier. Figuring out where to go and what the hell to do is another challenge though.

1. The stories are connected — but you don't need to play the first one. All you need to know is that in the first game, Simon defeated Dracula, and afterwards Dracula's body parts were scattered around the land (your primary mission in Simon's Quest is to collect them).

2. Like Ryno said, 1 or 3 is more representative of classic Castlevania. While the overall gameplay in Simon's Quest is similar, it's a very different style of game.

Personally, I quite enjoy Simon's Quest, even if it is often incredibly hard to figure out where to go and what to do. To this day, I still have no idea how my friend and I beat the game way back when without any tips or guides or anything.

Castlevania 2 can be very fun if you can get past its many flaws, but it's far from the ideal Castlevania to play.

i used a walkthrough for it myself.
lol, not even a nintendo power or tips from some kid at school, not many people can say that.
WERE GOIN TO GOLDEN CORRAL!
i can say that!

Yeah, most of the obscure parts we figured out purely by chance.

SPOILER, I GUESS, LOOK AWAY IF YOU CARE!!!

The one part with the kneeling at the dead end to get the whirlwind to appear was figured out purely by accident. We were totally at a loss, and my friend just happened to kneel down there, and then all of the sudden, we were like HOLY CRAP!

Also — CHOCOLATE WONDERFALL!

lol i was hoping you were going to have a story about that part, i find that fascinating actually. i bet you guys were kneeling everywhere after that incident or accident rather, trying to see what else yall could discover, you belong with our elite team...*

*sponsored by golden corral

I beat it as a kid w/o a walkthrough... But good lord was there a lot of random ambling around with no clue what to do. The hints in town are really cryptic, and the game doesn't teach you how to "use" crystals before you're required to. I found the second castle by dumb luck.

It's a cool game though. Not a whole lot like most of the others around it... and Idk how you can say it's exactly like Zelda 2... The two games have almost nothing in common, aside from being sidescrolling, not being stage-based, and requiring you to kill stuff with something.

Castlevanias 1 and 3 play very differently. The physics in CV 2 are pretty bad.

I've beaten the game too! _{with the help of these "14 Pages of Gory Details"}

What a horrible night to have a curse.

The only reason I knew to do the tornado thing was because of The Angry Video Game Nerd.

I didn't have Castlevania 2 as a kid. Just 1 and 3. My parents would always rent games before buying them, so I guess they decided 2 wasn't good enough to buy. As an adult, though, I got the game on the Wii VC and played through it. I remember as a kid, in that first level where you can't see the platform that goes up and down unless you have the right item, I discovered that you could jump on an invisible platform, but I thought I just couldn't see it due to a glitch. I don't remember getting very far as a kid, but I only had a for a few days.

AVGN is definitely right about the day to night transitions. Why won't it let you skip that but it will let you skip the clues that you never have a chance to read again? Ugh... Not that the dialogue is very good, anyway, but that's just due to poor translation. Some people say that the people in Castlevania 2 flat out lie to you, and I guess they do, but I'm not sure if that was intentional or just really bad translating, because the translations really are bad in this game.

All that being said, I do like it. It's still a good game. Not as good as Castlevania 1 or 3, but still worth a playthrough if you're a fan of Castevania or old-school adventure games.

I've always enjoyed Castlevania II. You can't go wrong with the flame whip!