Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

From thecrankyhermit

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Companies Konami
First release date Aug 28, 1987
Original platform(s) FDS
Current official platform(s) Official emulation: VC

Platformer adventure

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Drac's back, because Simon forgot to burn the body at the end of the first game. Now set in a sprawling rural landscape of interconnected areas, with exploration and RPG-like mechanics, anticipating the "Metroidvania" style by a decade. Castlevania II has just as much of a cohesive setting as the original, made bigger and more impressive by its open design, and a suitably spooky atmosphere thanks to fantastic art direction, attention to detail, and a now iconic soundtrack. This could have been the best in the trilogy, but the experience is marred by boring dungeon levels, underwhelming boss fights, and far too many nonsensical puzzles that will leave you either wandering aimlessly for hours or checking a walkthrough.

The original Japanese FDS version takes advantage of the audio expansion chipset and sounds quite different from the NES version, but in this case the Japanese version is not better.