Castlevania 2 - Simon's Quest Playthrough (Best Ending) (NES)
1The Castlevania series holds the distinct honor as my favorite series in video games and I think its fair to say that it all started with this game funny enough. Another one of my neighbors on my street years ago had an NES, with a very nice selection of games and this was one of them. Simultaneously I was also starting to be introduced to classic horror movies through the Crestwood Universal Monsters books in my elementary school library and Dracula was quickly becoming one of my favorites. The story and knowing that there were many many sequels/remakes fascinated me to no end. Then I discover that there is a game series dedicated to slaying Dracula and any other monster and undead fiend you come across.....my 8 yr old brain was in pure overload at the time. Now for the game itself.....yes its cryptic as hell and makes no sense in spots but for years this game was my favorite NES of all time and it still stands as one of my favorites. I loved the idea of an open world to explore (wasn't introduced to the other games yet so I had no idea what the others were like) with weapons and clues to find. In our innocent and unknowing minds we thought the first Mansion was actually Dracula's castle (it looked like a place where Dracula would hide and rest during the day or so we thought) and that we just had to find our way down to him.....we were very confused to find some weird glowing orb instead. We just shrugged our shoulders and kept on exploring...never did figure out the orb at the time either lol. As the years went on I did eventually score myself a copy of the game for a nice $5 and I immediately picked up where I left off 6 yrs prior. I did manage to actually beat the game as a combined effort with my best friend over the course of a weekend and with no internet help or walkthroughs I will add. It was a very long and amusing weekend and one that sticks out in my memory lol. All in all though the game still stands up for me as a flawed classic that has somewhat deserved and in some ways undeserved reputation. The control is great, the music is arguably among my favorites on the console period (the music is one thing that always stuck with me over the years) and the game would later prove to be influential on the series later on. I always replay this game and the other early games every year around Halloween since it brings back so many good memories of that time of year of when we were kids playing out our own "Castlevania adventures" throughout the neighborhood and each other's yards all decorated for Halloween. In short I'm very very fond of the game and it's one of my favorites of all time period. Well worth the effort to pick up and try it out. Just requires some patience!
Hope you Enjoy!