Playthrough of Castlevanai 2 for the NES. The gameplay departs from the standard platforming genre of the first Castlevania, and instead uses an exploration system. Simon, controlled by the player, can travel to towns and dungeons. Some RPG elements are included in the game — Simon can talk with townspeople who will offer vague clues or lies. He can also go to merchants who will sell items, either for fighting enemies or for traversing to unreachable areas. In order to pay for them, he must collect hearts, which are dropped by defeated enemies. In addition to the ordinary items in Simon's inventory, he can also purchase new whips in a few locations of the game. He begins with a standard Leather Whip, and can upgrade to stronger ones with each new purchase.
Simon's Quest has an Experience Rating system, also found in role-playing games. Simon's Experience Rating is raised by also collecting hearts. After he finds a sufficient amount of them, his level will rise and his maximum health will increase. Each time his level rises, the required amount of hearts for the next level also increases.
Simon's Quest has a night and day function, where the period of time in the game can change between daytime and nightfall. Each sequence lasts a few minutes before the next transition, and they have a prominent effect on the game and Simon's encounters. During the day, the enemies outside of towns in the game are less strong and occurrent. At night time, they appear more often and do more damage to Simon's life points. But when defeated, they give more hearts in compensation. The townspeople and merchants in their respective locations are no longer available to talk to during night time, and are replaced by enemies called zombies.
Despite the departure from the previous game, there are elements from it that have remained. This includes the Magic Weapons, which are secondary weapons to Simon's whip. Each of them have a different use. Like most games in the series, some of these require the usage of hearts. One of them returning from Castlevania is the Holy Water, a small glass which can disintegrate walls that conceal hidden items. Some Magic Weapons from the previous game do not return, but there are also new ones that make their first appearance in Simon's Quest. One of them is the Diamond, which bounces off any walls surrounding Simon, and damages any enemies.
The objective of the game is to travel to the five mansions to find the body parts of Dracula's corpse, and an item known as the Magic Cross. The body parts can be utilized to support Simon in the game. For example, the Rib Bone can be used as a shield to block any projectile attacks fired from an enemy. After finding all of the required items, this will allow Simon to clear the blockade in front of Dracula's castle, and fight the last boss.
