Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is a 1987 action role-playing game developed and published by Konami. It was originally released in Japan in 1987 for the Famicom Disk System, and in North America in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the second Castlevania game released for the NES, following the original Castlevania (1986). Set seven years after the events of the first installment, the player once again assumes the role of vampire hunter Simon Belmont, who is on a journey to undo a curse placed on him by Dracula at the end of their previous encounter. Dracula's body was split into five parts, which Simon must find and bring to the ruins of Castle Dracula in order to defeat him. The game deviates from the traditional platforming of its predecessor, incorporating role-playing and open world elements.
Gameplay
thumb|256px|left|The player-character Simon can buy items and talk to villagers for clues.
Gameplay in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest departs from the platforming genre of the first Castlevania, and introduces nonlinear gameplay and role-playing elements inspired by The Maze of Galious (1987), including a world map which the player is free to explore and revisit. Simon, controlled by the player, can talk with villagers who will offer him clues or lies. He can go to merchants who sell items, either for fighting enemies or for traversing to otherwise unreachable areas. To pay for them, he must collect hearts, which are dropped by defeated enemies. Simon's Quest introduces an Experience Rating system, in which Simon's power level and maximum health may be increased by collecting a sufficient amount of hearts.
Some elements from the previous game return, including the Magic Weapons, which are secondary weapons to Simon's whip. Finding all of the required items will allow Simon to clear the blockade in front of Dracula's castle to fight the last boss.
Development and release
Simon's Quest was designed by Hitoshi Akamatsu, who also directed Castlevania (1986) and Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1989) on the NES. It was released on the Famicom Disk System (FDS) on August 28, 1987 in Japan. When asked if Metroid (1986) had any influence on the development of the game, Akamatsu instead cited The Maze of Galious (1987), another platform-adventure game by Konami that features puzzle solving and a world map. The FDS version features a progress saving feature, commonly seen on FDS games due to the rewritable floppy disk. The NES version instead uses a password function to save player progress. It has been re-released on other consoles through Nintendo's Virtual Console service. Simon's Quest is included in the North American and European versions of the NES Classic Edition, a miniature replica of the NES featuring many built-in games. It is also a part of the multi-platform Castlevania Anniversary Collection, a 2019 compilation of past Castlevania titles, and Simon's Quest has the distinction of being the only game in the collection that was released in Japan using the North American version instead of its Japanese counterpart.