If you heard of the game Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, you might have heard that this game is terrible and that you should never play it. On the other hand, you might have heard some say that it's actually not that bad. Me personally, I don't think it's as bad as some would say but at the same time, it isn't my favorite Castlevania game in the series. So with that in mind, I'm going to be reviewing Simon's Quest and listing points, both good and bad, hopefully without trying to persuade anyone on their opinion. Let's get started...

Graphics: Visually, this game looks pretty good. Yeah, some SNES and other future games look better, but at that time Castlevania 2's graphics weren't too shabby looking. The character sprites and background look darker than say Castlevania 1, giving this game a darker atmosphere and I think it was pretty good.

Sound: You can hate this game all you want, but I think we can all agree that the music in this game is awesome! This was the game that brought the ever famous song, Bloody Tears. It's so catchy, that it's pretty much remixed in just about every other Castlevania game. The sound effects in this game were also good, but the memorable sound track is what gives a high rating on the sound.

Addictiveness: I might play this every now and then, but I have to be honest; this isn't the first Castlevania game that I would go back to playing. Yeah there are different ending (which I won't spoil), but the endings all depend on how fast you beat the game so it's not like it adds any replay value. I guess I just prefer the more linear side-scrolling Castlevania games like 1, 3, 4, etc.

Story: I actually really like the story in this game. It's better than your average Castlevania story where Dracula's resurrected, doing bad stuff, and you have to kill him. Instead, the story takes place after Simon has defeated Dracula. He finds out that a curse has been placed on him and the only way to break it is to find all of Dracula's body parts that had been separated and put into different mansions, return to the ruins of Dracula's castle, revive him, and to kill him once and for all. As you can see, the story is a bit more in-depth than say its predecessor.

Depth: This game is really big and has you do a lot before finishing it. It kind of reminds me of Zelda where both games let you talk to people in different cities, explore new areas, collect items, and visit dungeons (in this scenario, they're known as mansions). All in all, this game has a lot to offer.

Difficulty: This game isn't too bad in terms of difficulty, but at same time it is. The reason I say it isn't that hard is mainly because of the bosses, which actually aren't that many. As a matter of fact there are only 3 bosses in the entire game including the final boss and they're all really easy to defeat; but what makes it even more sad is that you don't even have to fight them (except for the final boss of course). You can walk right past them, grab Dracula's body part, and just ignore the boss again when leaving which I think is lazy designing. So you may be wonder why I rated the difficulty up to 7. Well remember when I said that this game is really big? You can get lost easily because of it. Sure you'll probably get past the first mansion easily but after that, you'll have no idea on where to go. Now you can talk to people and you might find some useful information, but some advice that some people give actually don't help at all and leave you even more confused. As a matter of fact, the only way I beaten the game was by using a guide on the Internet. Would I be able to beat the game a second time now that I know what to do? Probably, but if you play it on your first time without a guide, it's very likely that you'll get lost.

Overall: I think Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest is an alright game. As I mentioned, there are some flaws but there's also things that make up for it. Should you go buy this game on virtual console or on eBay? That's up to you to decide. However, if you can find a way to get for free like through an emulator or on RGR, then I recommend you give this game a shot so you can come up with your own opinion on Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest.