Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest

Castlevania was a cakewalk compared to this bloody curse. You thought you had the Prince of Darkness defanged - eh, Simon Belmont? Well think again, 'cause according to a damsel in distress, evil Count Dracula has left a horrifying curse in his wake. And the only hope you have of ending the terror is to destroy his missing body parts! Talk about your frightening quest, searching a maze of mansions, graveyards and dark, eerie forests - each guarded by man-eating werewolves, fire-throwing zombies and other devilish demons. Your grim chances are kept alive in Transylvania, where cowardly villagers offer clues to the whereabouts of Dracula's remains. And where you'll purchase magic weapons, including silver knives and flame whips. But beware the night. For when the sun disappears, Dracula's curse grows deadlier. And your chances grow dimmer and dimmer.


Castlevania 2 is in many ways the forerunner of what is now usually associated with the Castlevania franchise; an action title with nonlinear based gameplay with various RPG elements woven into the mix (making this more of a sequel to Vampire Killer, see Castlevania). 


In Castlevania 2 you retake the role of the whip bearing hero Simon Belmont 7 years after the defeat of his nemesis. Besides receiving terrible injuries, after the confrotation Simon was cursed. The only way of ridding himself of the curse is to summon Dracula again and destroy. But to summon the dark lord, he must first search for all of his body parts which are scattered across the land. 


Like in many adventure titles, Simon starts out relatively weak but during his travels, but he may acquire different weapons and items to aid him in his quest. These items are sometimes purchased in to salesmen in different towns. Others are scattered through the land and must be searched for. Also, leveling up is very useful as it increases your life bar (hit points). 


Like its predecessor its graphics and sound are some of the best the NES produced, and it has an even more eerie quality to it. Most of the series defining traits are there (skeletons, mermen, hearts, among others), and those introduced are of the same quality. Also it has three different endings (depending on how long you take) which gives it more replay value. 

As great as those attributes may be, it does have some limitations. For starters 8 bit sound and graphics might not be enough for some gamers. Controls are very similar to the previous game and might seem a little stiff and unresponsive for younger gamers (though many fangame makers intentionally incorporate these elements into their games). Also unless you play the Famicom version, there will be no save just long passwords (though emulation may solve this issue). However its main drawback is it's clue system. 


The original Japanese version had false clues to make things a little more interesting. However poor translation made some clues too misleading, and one of the puzzles in the game lacks any clues. This has been the cause of much criticism and hence there is usually mixed opinions of this game. 


In any case this is certainly one of the NES and even Action/Adventure/RPG's classics. Future installments (such as Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow) owe much to this game which gave birth to the term metroidvania which is more than enough proof of its legacy. So if you are a fan of this series, or like NES hard 8 bit challenges and exploration you should give this game a try (just give it a little slack and I'm sure you'll be more than glad you did). However impatient gamers beware, this game can get on your nerves and you may not be able to enjoy it.


As for my own opinion, I can only say some of my most cherished memories are linked to this game so it is just not possible for me to be objective. However I can point out that I was capable of completing the game without cheating when it came out and hence it can be done (however I did have plenty of free time back then)...


Play Castlevania 2 : Simon's Quest online at nintendo8.com


Related Games

• Castlevania
• Symphony of the Night: One of the most acclaimed games in the series that features the son of Dracula (and platformers period). This game reaped the RPG/exploration seeds in this game. Since this game came out most Castlevanias adhere to the "metroidvania" tradition. 

Additional links


Some useful romhacks that correct the problems mentioned:

• Castlevania-fan wikia - Castlevania II : Simon's redaction; fixes typos and poor translation making it posible to finish the game without relying on strategy guides.
• Romhacking.net - Castlevania II SRAM Hack; adds savegame feature (an emulator can do that though).

Some tips to help you get through it:

• GameFAQs.com
• Cheat code guides.com

And finally a few sources of information on this and other Castlevania titles:

• Castlevania wikia
• The Inverted Dungeon
• Chapel of Resonance

Megaman

"It's Mega Man versus the powerful leaders and fighting forces of Monsteropolis - that strange multi-faceted land of robot-like Humanoids. Brilliant scientist Dr.Wright conceived the construction of fully-operational human-like experimental robots to perform specific everyday duties. Dr.Wright, and his assistant Dr.Wily, encouraged with their very first near-human robot - Mega Man - proceeded to develop six additional Humanoids, all programmed to perform prescribed rituals. But, with the exception of Mega Man, all of Dr.Wright's near-human robot experimentation went awry. Assistant Dr.Wily turned disloyal, re-programming Dr.Wright's Humanoids, now bent on destroying opposition so Dr.Wily could control the world and its resources. Resisting re-programming, Mega Man is chosen the defender of the universe and its inhabitants. Mega Man dares to single-handedly penetrate seven separate empires of Monsteropolis, eliminating the leaders and followers of these sovereignties."

This game marked the beginning of what would be one of Nintendo era's strongest franchises. In this action packed platformer, you guide a robot named Rock (and renamed Mega for the US) who must stop the infamous Dr. Willy. First, he must defeat 6 robot masters who where also made by his creator. Each time he defeats a robot master, Megaman obtains its abilities. Also each robot (and boss) is vulnerable to an attack with a certain ability, hence the game follows a rock, paper, scissors approach being much easier when the appropriate weapon is used. 

Its techno soundtrack sets the stage for its nonstop gameplay and relentless difficulty. However due to the incredible soundtrack quality, tight and responsive controls and excellent catoonish (and somewhat goofy) graphics this manages to become a very enjoyable and addictive experience. Although future installments would expand on this formula, this game manages to set the standard under which most action platformers are measured. And to be completely honest, the formula hasn't changed much because of a simple reason, it really doesn't have to. It's just that good!

As for the legendary difficulty, its well deserved. I won Megaman's 2 through 5 as they came out (often at the first rental), the fact that I'm having a VERY hard time trying to beat this one made me respect its well earned position of being the hardest Megaman in the series. 

Don't trust me? Good! I could be wrong or just plain lying! Guess the only way you can ever really know is by trying it out yourself muahahahaha...

Play Megaman online at virtualnes.com

Additional Links

These sites contain additional information about Megaman:

• Wikipedia
• The Megaman Network
• Megaman Wikia

Megaman in the Mushroom Kingdom

"Dr. Wily finally concedes that Mega Man may be too much for his evil robotic creations. Determined to get the best of the blue bomber, Dr. Wily contacts another famous villain, Bowser! Having combined their forces, Dr Wily and Bowser unleash their new destructive creations upon the Mushroom Kingdom. After hearing  news of Wily's new plan, Mega Man decides to travel to the Mushroom Kingdom himself to stop Wily again. Mega Man now finds himself in a strange new world filled with obstacles and locales very foreign to him. Fearless, Mega Man presses on to Super Mario's old stomping grounds to defeat these new foes."

This is a Megaman hack that turns its landscape into a mash up of Mario 1, 2, 3 and World, type scenarios. Megaman now jumps higher (the plumber's influence I suppose heh)  and the level design is made taking advantage of this, introducing a more Mario like ambiance. Also, the overall difficulty is toned down a little bit.

This results in a very bizarre and interesting experience that fuses both gameplay dynamics and not only their graphics. But unfortunately, since this still uses the exact same bosses from the original game I would consider this a mod rather than a new game in itself (and that is why I include in this game's description and not a separate article). 

If what I just wrote sounds like a complete disaster. Then avoid it and look for something that suits you (life is short). However if it sounds like a dream come true, or a least an interesting proposition, then by all means give it a try:

Play now at Derok.net 

or download the patch:

• Derok.net
• Zophar's Domain
• Romhacking.net

Castlevania

GOOD EEEEVENING
Step into the shadows of the deadliest dwelling on earth. You've arrived at Castlevania, and you're here on business:
To destroy forever the Curse of the Evil Count.
Unfortunately, everybody's home this evening. Bats, ghosts, every kind of creature you can imagine. You'll find 'em all over the place, if they don't find you first.
Because you've got to get through six monstrous floors before you even meet up with the Master of the House. Your Magic Whip will help, and you'll probably find a weapons or two along the way.
But once you make it to the tower, you can count on a Duel to the Death. The Count has waited 100 years for a rematch. He's ready. Are you?

Castlevania is the first widely known game of a very strong franchise. And a very unsual game it was. We should start by saying it's reserved, that is it keeps a low profile. Like in many succesive adventures, you a Belmont must go and defeat Dracula. And like these other games you may obtain many auxiliary weapons that help you in your quest. But what makes this game different from the mayority? Let's go back in time to 1987.

The NES has recently come out, most of its cartridges have labels (action, adventure, sports; hey my labels are actually based on theirs). Mario is still all the rage. A game known as Vampire Killer had been released for some plataforms but was relativelly obscure and was more of an Adventure title (the first in the series). It had a simple storyline but it had really intricate maze like levels that needed to be explored, multiple items and even sellsmen (they're everywhere aren't they :P).

Konami decided to port this great game to the hot new console (the NES of course). However in the process they streamlined this game, its gameplay was simplied to an action title's with linear levels (now its just you and Dracula's minnions). Also due to NES limitations they decresead the resolution of its graphics and sound. So a new approach had to be taken. A very well crafted level design, atmospheric and gloomy. Some areas have nonstop action, others have a strong emphasis on mood and still others on platforming challenges, however all are memorable. And lo and behold Castlevania was born.

So now with that said, we can trully give a fair description of this game. As I mentioned before this game is reserved, its storyline will not interfere with your gameplay. Neither will the gameplay mechanics. Yet it has a very well crafted level design, with a very coherent progression, you can almost imagine being in Dracula's castle.

However, Simon is not really super human. He can't jump 5 stories high out of a sudden and if he's hit by an ball of fire he's thrown back (which often frustrates gamers who had a heavily overpowered champion to play as), just a very fit and dextrous guy with a lot of courage. To me this makes sence, if the prince of Darkness has barricated himself in his castle you'll find yourself out numbered and overpowered and that is just the case. Not all is lost though, Simon is actually very much capable to conquer all these problems but he really needs a lot of help from you.

So let's see how this turns out, atmospheric stage design, graphics and music. Nonstop action, and a coherent sequence of locations. That is this game honestly tries to emmulate that feeling you get when you go into a haunted mansion. Plus it's relentless difficulty adds the only element that could be missing, adrenaline. Unfortunately though, many gamers are far too jaded and can't seem to allow these graphics to do their charm (kind of like what happens with movies special effects, people might get startled with a some horror movie scene until someone finally locates a zipper on the monster).

So honestly that is what this game tries very well to offer. If you give it a chance, you might find yourself battling hoards of monsters in the darkest of places. Unfortunately though, as far as I've played (none since the PS2 version came out) this was never attempted again, with the same measure of success (and as far as I know it was only attempted in Haunted Castle). All new Castlevania games have either a very strong storyline or superheroes rather than humans or some other thing that prevents them from reuniting these elements that made Castlevania stand out way back in 1987 (some might say 1986).

Still not all is perfect, as I pointed out the characters mobility is one of the mayor limitations of this game. Controllers have evolved since the NES considerably (not to mention Colleco's and Intellivisions or Atari's), so it had only a limited number of buttons to choose from and only two of which may be used comfortably (the others are more akin to functions keys due to their placement). Hence we might find our hero to climb stairs rather than throw a weapon (and this is something that si common even in fanmade games, guess not everyone has a problem with this, personally I don't think its such a big deal). And yes, in this instalment Simon is incapable of huge or double jumps, firing his whip in other directions, carrying an inventory or asking some other character for help.

So the big question, is it any good? Well to me it's great! But as usual it depends on each persons perception. If you don't mind your games to be challenging, 8 bit graphics and sound, and are not all that picky with controllers you may very well enjoy what this title has to offer. Otherwise however, you might find that future instalments have "solved" these problems (like in many forms of art there is just no right way of doing things, I actually cherish these qualities). And like usual I'll finish leaving the veracity of this article and this games quality entirely up to you, who in the end is the only important person (the user or, in this case, gamer). And now its time to enter Castlevania:

Play Castlevania online at nintendo8.com

Enhanced versions of this game

• Vampire Killer: An MSX game with many adventure elements.
• Castlevania Chronicles: A remake for the Sharp X6800 and later PS1 (very good but its tough love I tell you).
• Castlevania Remix: This is a romhack with a much darker tone. The game is a completely different experience with different level designs, monsters and such, however unlike many other deravative works it's still supposed to be this particular journey.

Related games

• Simon's Quest: Its sequel.
• Super Castlevania (Castlevania IV): The Super Nintendo's version is supposed to be a remake. It has a very different tyle of gameplay and to be honest is another great game itself.
• Haunted Castle: An arcade game, similar though in that one Simon's bride is snatched by Dracula (ala Ghosts and Goblins). It has a stiffer game play and, believe it or not, much greater challenge (plus Simon looks like a walking boiler, but is really not that bad).

Aditional links

A few good sources of information on this and other Castlevania titles:

• Castlevania wikia
• Inverted dungeon
• Chappel of resonance

Faxanadu

"I've been on a long journey. I came back to my home town to find it is almost deserted. The gate is closed, people are gone, and the walls are crumbling. I wonder what happened."

Faxanadu can be considered a side-story of Xanadu, which is the second installment of Falcom's long-running RPG series, Dragon Slayer. The title Faxanadu is a portmanteau formed from the names Famicom and Xanadu.



This game is a side scrolling adventure platfomer. It has many types of weapons, armor and magic that are obtained as the game progresses. Also, like many games of its genre it has an experience based level up. However its approach is very unusual. First you must accumulate enough experience and then visit a priest in order to receive your new title (level up). Also this title allows you to obtain a greater amount of money if you die or start over, rather than make you stronger (which is still very useful).

The world is very vast, but not overwhelming. It all flows in a very natural manner; you basically explore sections of this world in order to advance, and backtracking is limited to the actual section being explored (unlike say, Metroid and mostly its hacks). There are many towns whose inhabitants are willing to offer clues, services, items, etc.

Its gameplay is somewhat stiff. First of all, like the first Castlevanias, you can't control the hero in the middle of the air (save when he's flying). Also like the first Megamans you cant duck, so at first some enemies can't be killed by means of a weapon attack. Also its limited color palette might turn some people down.

Personally I don't see these as limitations. I found the gameplay very satisfactory. I really enjoyed all these locations and all the elements related to this unnamed hero's quest. Also to me, its graphics and sound were crafted with great care so that the NES limitations were less notable. The end result being a very involving game with a design that has more in common with games of the 16 bit and 32 bit era, offering a very well crafted storyline and a very beautiful scenery with interesting characters that perfectly match the mood and setting.

Still as usual the most reliable opinion is no doubt your own. So if you like Zelda (specially Zelda 2 which came out after this game), Metroid, Action-RPG's or any related type of games you should give it a try.

Also, while I won't host any roms or links to them, the following link has a vnes emulation of this game (so you may play on your browser). So give this beautiful game a try:

Play Faxanadu online at nintendo8.com

While there are no sequels, if you just can't get enough of this beautiful piece of art. You might want to check out other Action RPG's such as the Zelda series or Crystalis. As for the Dragonslayer series, I can say legacy of the wizard has very little in common with this game. But maybe the original Xanadu game might be more in line with this gem (I honestly haven't played them yet, but will edit this once I do).

Aditional links

The following links have more information about this game:

• RPGClassics
• Hardcore Gaming 101
• romhacking.net: "Uncensored version patch". The Japanese version had some religious imagery that was left out of the US release. I honestly thought that maybe elves had their own religious beliefs or something. In any case, if you want to experience this game as it was designed you may want to apply this patch.