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Reviews (6)
Apr 08, 2009
What a horrible night to have a curse...
4 of 4 found this helpful Castlevania II was the perfect game to play in 1988. Sitting in your basement with your NES, accompanied by a couple of friends and copy of Nintendo Power – together deciphering the game's cryptic clues and passing the controller around the room to help lessen the boredom of the tedious parts. It was a game tailor-made for what the culture of being a Nintendo gamer was, 20 years ago. But removed from that context, it's lost some of its original appeal.
While the first Castlevania was a linear adventure, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest took the series in a new, free-roaming direction. Similar to the style first seen in Nintendo's Metroid, it was the first time Konami's vampire-hunting series tried its hand at a go-anywhere, fully interconnected game world – which is important, today, because that's how the core Castlevania series has continued to evolve over the years. It was a rough first step in that bold new direction, though, because while Castlevania II's attempt to present an open-ended, explorable Transylvanian countryside was daring, it also came across as incredibly confusing.
You don't know which way to go. Or when to go which way. Or what to do when you do get there – wherever there is. The story of Simon's Quest is that our hero, Simon Belmont, was cursed by Dracula at the end of their last encounter and that Simon must reunite the Count's scattered body parts to resurrect the dark lord, then kill him all over again. And that's all well and good, but, in-game, there isn't sufficient information presented to you to tell you where those body parts are. Or how to acquire them when you do manage to find them.
You were in good shape, in 1988, if you had your friends and your Nintendo Power at the ready – because the gaming guides and general collective knowledge of other players in that age were the perfect solution. And, again today, you can try to reclaim some of that bygone era by pointing your browser to a walkthrough or FAQ. But it's not the same. Advancing through Simon's Quest means knowing abstract answers to obtuse riddles, like how to summon the boatman to take you across the lake. Or what crystal to equip to summon the tornado. Or how to destroy the orb encasing Dracula's rib.
And even if the extreme lack of direction in the game isn't an issue for you, there are still several other potentially frustrating elements introduced here that you'll need to adapt to – like the monotonous money-gathering required when you need to purchase new items or weapons from hidden shopkeepers, and random holes in labyrinth floors that look like they should be perfectly solid surfaces to walk across. Additionally, an ever-present night/day time progression system randomly asserts, every few minutes, that evening has either fallen or been banished by the rising sun – when it's night time, enemies are twice as strong and townspeople, including healers, disappear.
What Castlevania II does right, though, is be a Castlevania game. In look and feel, in control and especially in its audio presentation, Simon's Quest is a true entry into the franchise series – Simon Belmont is once again the hero, he's once again wielding his whip and jumping, stiffly, through the air with unalterable trajectory, and his soundtrack is still absolutely amazing. This sequel's score is especially impressive for its introduction of Bloody Tears, the song that has gone on to become one of the signature musical pieces for the entire series.
May 02, 2017
Solstice -- A Game to Remember!
1 of 1 found this helpful Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos is an isometric "3D" perspective fantasy-themed puzzle-solving adventure game for Nintendo Entertainment System. Developed by Software Creations (Mike Webb, programmer; Mark Wilson, graphics; Tim Follin, composer) in 1990, it was released in North America for NES via CSG Imagesoft. The vivid box and cover artwork was painted by Mike Winterbauer.
The game has over 250 rooms to explore, dozens of enemies, and hundreds of puzzles. Play as Shadax the good wizard who must enter the cursed Kastlerock to gather the six pieces of the Staff of Demnos in order to defeat the evil wizard Morbius who has kidnapped the princess Eleanor. Magic items and potions help with the adventure along the way.
This was an amazing game when released, and holds up well to the test of time. At first the isometric (slanted) controls are a bit hard to master. It's incredibly difficult to "complete" 100% (meaning to explore all rooms, gather all items, and complete all objectives to win the game). However, it only a moderate challenge to beat the game with a score less than 100%.
The game has one of the most amazing soundtracks from the 8-bit era, with a progressive title track composed by Tim Follin which has a three minute playtime (one of the best game music tracks of the era in my opinion).
The game works great on NES, but will also function on modern retro clone consoles. There are a handfull of useful "Game Ginnie" cheat codes available with a simply Google search, and several walk-thru tutorials available via the same means.
If you like old-school 8-bit games, and don't already have Solstice in your collection, I highly recommend picking up a copy. It's will worth the investment.
Jun 28, 2021
Great Box for Facing a Collection
Great for facing a collection. Since the original copies of this game came OEM distributed with NES consoles, it never had an actual box. However it is nice to have a box made for it so it faces well with all my other complete-in-box games in my collection. The box looks fantastic, is solid quality, and is sized perfectly to match original NES game boxes. I added a blue sticky note inside mine denoting that it's a fan-made box and why it's in the collection.