SCREAMSHOTS

Cover Art [American Version] [Japanese Version] [European Version] Review For some reason, the designers of Castlevania 2 decided not to stick with the standard side-scrolling gameplay of its predecessor. Instead, they took the setting and basic gameplay, molded into an RPG-style adventure (akin to Metroid and Konami's own Goonies 2), and ended up with the classic we now know today. The storyline actually picks up shortly after Dracula's death in the original Castlevania, despite the fact that Simon now returns to his Vampire Killer-style color (red and black) as opposed to his Castlevania 1 dark brown pallete. It turns out that Simon Belmont's murder of the Count wasn't exactly a good thing, and a pestilence has been set upon the land. Naturally, the townspeople everyone are none too happy, and this being an RPG, are too busy walking back and forth to really do much of anything. What's further, Simon is actually facing the brunt of this curse - if he does not break it, he will surely die. The only way to break the Count's seal is by collecting his five body parts, mysteriously strewn throughout the land, taking them into the depths of Castlevania, and burning them. As Simon, you must explore Castlevania, traversing through towns, caves, swamps and forests to find the mansions that house these body parts, and discover items that will help you. While the game controls and feels similar to the original Castlevania, one of the biggest difference is the difficulty - or, lack thereof. You'll fight tons of monsters, but it doesn't really matter - die, and you'll simply be resurrected in the same spot. Run out of lives, and you're docked all of your hearts, but otherwise continue nearly unscathed. The mansions provide some challenge, mostly in avoiding the many traps and facing the few bosses (most of which you can simply walk past), but the only real hurdle you'll face during this quest is your own confusion.Naturally, given that translation of this game was given to a bunch of drunken semi-English speaking monkeys (as were most NES games), you are pretty much left in the dark to what you are actually supposed to do most of the time, so mostly you just sorta walk around until you stumble upon something useful. In spite of this, the game is still less confusing than the aforementioned Metroid or Goonies 2, mostly due to the fact that the world of Translyvania isn't all that large. Given the memory constraints though, almost all of the areas tend to look the same, making exploration a bit more baffling. It's nothing that a FAQ won't cure, however. The addition of a timescale, creating gameplay during both the day and night time was very innovative for the time, too - enemies are stronger during the dark hours, but yield more experience and hearts. Even though it's flawed by today's view, the game still broke quite a bit of ground by taking the Castlevania feel and revamping it to suit other genres. This flexability is one of the aspects that makes the series so interesting, and has led to Symphony of the Night and Circle of the Moon - arguably the finest moments Castlevania has ever seen. Toss in the best soundtrack you'll ever hear in a NES game (both in sound quality and composition), and you've got another seminal title that we all know and love. Thanks to Rob Strangman for the manual scans. Artwork American Cover American Back Japanese Cover European Cover European Back European Cartridge/Manual Advertisement Japanese Flier 1 Japanese Flier 2 Japanese Manual - Story Japanese Manual - Story 2 Japanese Manual - Map of Translyvania Japanese Manual - Monsters 1 Japanese Manual - Monsters 2 Japanese Manual - Monsters 3 Nintendo Power Cover Nintendo Power Map Howard and Nester Comic Page 1 Howard and Nester Comic Page 2 Japanese Collectors Card 1 Japanese Collectors Card 2 Other Japanese Collectors Cards

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