#castlevania 2 simon's quest

[my-beautiful-wickedness]

[songsofwaterandnight]

X

[spinningbuster98]

controversial/unpopular opinion: Simon's Quest wasn't as bad as people made out to be.

Ehhhhh kinda agree...?

It's not a Sonic 06 tier game, the game (mostly) works on a technical level (unless we're talking about the bosses, which are 100% broken).

However the fact that it's pretty much impossible to complete without a guide due to its crypticness (which was nothing necessarily unique to it within the larger context of 80s adventure games, see Zelda and Metroid, but still very severe) puts a pretty big stain on it.

But honsetly? Even if we ignore its more cryptic aspects the game....jsut doesn't live up to its predecessor: the level design is much more basic and less focused, I could swear there are more cases here of enemies spawning from offscreen and taking you by surprise, the amount of grinding you have to do in order to buy stuff gets really tedious (even the likes of Dawn of Sorrow, which has a similar grinding problem, at leastt makes said grinding mostly optional, not to mention the game is far better from a level/enemy/boss design perspective overall).

Even the graphics and music feel like a step down (how many locations are actually recolors of previous ones?), like yeah Bloody Tears is phenomenal....but I can list only 2 more tracks that are memorable.

I'd still very much rather play this over the likes of Castlevania the Adventure or Haunted Castle (dear God!) but I don't feel Simon's Quest's reputation is completely unwarrented, though the AVGN making it his personal chew toy certainly hasn't helped matters

[simonsquest]

[lune-redd]

Blossom but she has a curse

Bonus feat. Simon and the other two

[batcastlesociety]

wowie zowie!! another one!! simon again, hwhegewh. second installment in my KRABTLASBCO rant series!! of course, this one is about CV2! :3 akin to my previous rant, this one is under the cut! wahoo, more yapping!!! ^_^

(⚠️ tw for discussions of rotting/decaying alive, basically [simon's curse] ⚠️)

MAIN MAN!!!!! SIMON'S QUEST SIMON!!!!! YEAAAGGHHH THAT'S MY BOY!!! ((resounding clapping and cheering))

i. Love this design. so much. i'd say off the bat that this is pretty functional!! but for sad reasons. :(

this outfit is a stark contrast to what we see in CV1. instead of a bunch of armour with lots of leather and metal accents, now we get simon in some sort of bodysuit, along with all-metal armour! additionally, simon doesn't have his cool headband in this one, which honestly makes me feel a little bit sad for some reason.

anyway, i can't really tell what sort of material the bodysuit even is, at least not with proper historical context. 💀 i would say that it could be leather, but the way the fabric wrinkles around simon's ankle despite the rest of it practically being vacuum-sealed on him, along with the way it's shaded, i honestly have no idea. probably some sort of cloth, but still,,, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

same goes for his boots, now that i'm taking a better look at them. they're a different colour than the rest of his bodysuit – the latter being a dark, blueish black (?) and his boots being a rather easy-on-the-eyes silver – but they're also vacuum sealed.

hell, they don't even really look like boots all that much; you can't see any buttons or laces or actual soles or anything. i mean, there is the possibility that simon put some sort of padding or insoles on the bottom of his feet before he squeezed himself into the bodysuit, but that's the only possibility i can really think of... (╥﹏╥)

and, for functionality with the bodysuit, i have no idea! i mean, considering simon is literally rotting under there due to his curse, the fabric of his bodysuit definitely does the job (at least somewhat...) of literally holding his body together. so that means that it should at least be durable, which is good.

considering, once again, that My Main Man Slimeon is pretty much about to collapse at this point, the bodysuit helps with that. it also aids general protection; his entire body is covered (along with the all-metal armour; more on that in a bit) in fabric (??), which shows that he's just less vulnerable. he has his guard up even more because why would he want to get cursed or just maybe even heavily injured in general AGAIN??? 💀

now, speaking of the all-metal armour, it is EVERYWHERE lmao. plus, there is armour in the places i talked about with CV1 simon! his knees and elbows are protected!! he also has pauldrons on BOTH sides!!! bringing back the loincloth motif from CV1 but this time it's metal!!! yeeeaaaaaaaghhh, awesome!!! :0

the armour isn't too thick, so it shouldn't hinder his movements too much. maybe. i'm just going with the assumption that although simon wants more protection in this armour, it wouldn't be heavy as to ruin his agony-riddled body even more, here. i dunno, that's just what i would do...

all-metal armour is definitely a wise choice! it seems our poor goober learned the hard way from getting cursed!! ahaha...hahaaa.... somebody please save him

anyway, my point still stands!! metal armour is obviously more fortified than leather. it's thicker and harder to cut through! (D:>...) but the poleyns and pauldrons, along with the chestplate and everything else just being metal? definitely more strong. i'm sure simon's willing to sacrifice a bit of flexibility in turn for overall protection. now, i still have no idea about the boots, gloves, and bodysuit overall, but otherwise i rate this armour a 10/10 in terms of strength and functionality.

now, for design and appearance!! (^vv^)

this design is also very, very memorable for me!! i do definitely miss the headband, but the bold, colourful armour makes up for it! i absolutely adore the gold and bejeweled accents! they really stand out in the armour, and the main purpleish red as the base colour for his outfit is pretty recognizable as a Simon Colour™, especially in his SSBU design (which i will also explore later :3)!!

although i have absolutely no idea what the idea for simon's gloves and boots was, i do still like them regardless!! the silver in contrast to the gold and maroon-ish/byzantine main accents really stands out!

ALSO. THE BOB??? god damn simon!!!! i honestly prefer him with longer hair because it's easier to draw, somehow... but i feel like that just makes this outfit even more unique! more people recognize simon with hair that's a tad longer, but this goofy little guy has SHORTER hair. very interesting!!! 10/10!!

tldr; strength and overall functionality: 10/10. appearance and overall design: 10/10.

[asksimonbelmont]

Were you scared the two times you had to fight Dracula? Did you, at any point during the fights, thought that you were gonna lose, or maybe die after successfully killing him?

If I may be honest… Yes. I was petrified. The injuries I sustained from our first encounter—paired with the falsehoods Dracula planted in my mind during—had me absolutely certain I would not survive, and that I would perish either during the fight, or soon thereafter.

I had made my peace with God. As long as I slayed Dracula, what became of me after the battle did not matter.

Resigned to whatever fate God had chosen for me, I fought as hard as I possibly could.

It is a miracle I survived the battle.

However, for our second encounter…

To my greatest shame, I became cowardly. The curse—and the illnesses from it—wore me down. I was a shadow of my former self. I became paralyzed with fear of what it meant to return to the ruins of Dracula’s Castle.

But I had no choice but to stand resolved: I had to heed the call, no matter how difficult. No matter the cost. Even my life.

But I was terrified, the moment that I arranged Dracula’s remains on the altar…

And when he appeared before me once again.

[chibishortdeath]

So, little attempt at comic stuff :3. I’ll be putting what the text says under a cut in case it’s still hard to read. Unfortunately this isn’t as high res as I’d like it to be but it was either do this or end up splitting an already short comic into two posts and eh this works, it’s an experiment anyway X3.

Text under here ⬇️

(Angel’s Hill)

(Simon walks through the foggy cemetery, all graves say “Belmont”.)

(He stops at one. The grave also says “BELMONT” on the top in bold lettering, but the bottom section is worn and only the names “Christopher” and “Cyncia” are readable.)

-

(Simon begins speaking, somberly.)

“It’s been a while since last I came to visit. I’ve been…

…reflecting on things lately—

too late— but about what happened then that day and now… well…”

(He hangs his head, shadows of his hair covering his eyes.)

“There’s something I have to tell you.”

(Simon looks away to the side towards the cliff’s edge for a moment.)

“I—”

(The waves are fairly calm below.)

“I won’t be coming back anymore. I came to apologize, say goodbye.”

(He reveals a blackened, shriveled, scarred hand from his cloak.)

“I think my time is getting near, it’s getting worse… again…”

“Everything has these past months, or years really… the townspeople, the nightmares… and this… this… sickness.”

—

Yeah so that’s it so far, not too many events happening, but it’s based on like a single line or so of the Japanese manual story. I’m kinda considering almost having like all of CV1 be a quick prologue cause it’s important context for story things I wanna do later. Simon’s story is both simultaneously comparatively short, but also somehow a lot (TwT ).

[wyverncult]

some castlevania requests from a few months ago!

[vgtrackbracket]

Video Game Track Bracket Round 2

Bloody Tears from Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

vs.

BFG Division from Doom (2016)

Propaganda under the cut. If you want your propaganda reblogged and added to future polls, please tag it as propaganda or otherwise indicate this!

Bloody Tears:

This game gets a bad rap (that it really doesn't deserve) but I fight anyone on this: this track is one of, if not the best, pieces of music for the NES. Instantly iconic, still great to listen to today, launcher of a thousand other variations of this track. It is Castlevania to me.

[castlephantom]

Castlevania Characters Nationality because I'm bored

Leon Belmont: French

Sara Trantoul: French

Rinaldo Gandolfi: Italian

Mathias Cronqvist: Hungarian (at first I want to put Swedish, but then I thought that this wouldn't make sence)

Elisabetha Cronqvist: French or Polish

Walter Bernhard: German

Joachim Armster: Danish

Justine Gandofi: Italian

Lisa: German

Alucard/Genya Arikado: Hungarian-German (since Mathias is Hungarian and Lisa German, thats the headcanon I go with)

Trevor Belmont: German

Sypha Belnades: Spanish

Grant Dinasty: Romaian

Isaac Laforeze: Italian

Julia Laforeze: Italian

Hector: Greek

Rosaly: Romanian

Saint Germain: French

Christophor Belmont: German

Soleil Belmont: German-French

Simon Belmont: German

Juste Belmont: French-German

Maxim Kishine: German

Lydie Erlanger: German

Richter Belmont: German

Annette: French

Maria Renard: French

Iris: German

Tera: German or Romanian

Shaft: German

Shanoa: French

Albus: French

Barlowe: German

John Morris: American

Eric Lecarde: Spanish

Elizabeth Bartley: Hungarian

Drolta Tzuentes: Hungarian

Jonathan Morris: American

Charlotte Aulin: Irish-American

Stella Lecarde: Spanish

Loretta Lecarde: Spanish

Brauner: German

Julius Belmont: Romanian (because his both parents are Romanian and I go with this headcanon)

Yoko Belnades: Japanese-Spanish (I decide that her father is Spanish and her mother is Japanese)

Soma Cruz: Japanese-Spanish (this little headcanon that his father is Spanish and his mother is Japanese)

Mina Hakuba: Japanese

Hammer: American

Graham Jones: American

Celia Fortner: British or American

Dario Bossi: Italian

Dimitri Blinov: Russian

[beevean]

@simonsquest My part of the art trade <3

I hope you like it!

[akumahoshojo]

Castlevania I + II Fanfic: A Horrible Night's Dream (Chapter 1 preview)

I wrote this fic for @eboni-napalm as part of a Halloween gift exchange that started back in like... 2021 😱 After two of the roughest years for me ever (school/health/family/general RL problems all happening at once), I've actually been able to work on it!

While I'm still finishing up my final draft of the first chapter (fingers crossed I can do it before midnight!), I thought I'd post this preview of it here for tonight for any CV fans who might be interested in reading... and hopefully checking out the rest. It's the first 4 out of 8 vignettes to be contained in the completed first chapter, set in CV1 era for now.

Game: Castlevania I and II Pairing: Simon Belmont + CV2's "Mysterious Woman" (😉) Themes: Prophecies, Curses, Fighting Fate, Anachronic Order, Second Person POV, Experimental Style Content Warning: General themes of prejudice, non-graphic human sacrifice scene Thanks so much for your patience eboni-napalm-- I'm so sorry about the delay, but getting to work on this story has been rewarding and challenging in the best kind of way! 💗 Check out the story below!

i. now

To one who dreams the future, the present is the past. And thus all your remembered life has been a divided one, waking eyes on constant guard and inner eye fixed on time untold, like two-faced Janus in the body of a girl.

You've never been able to consider your nighttime visions a power, or even a gift: not when they've only come to you as you've lain helpless in the dark, bringing unwanted glimpses of a greater darkness in the world that encircles the realm of dreams.

And if some force beyond even that world can tear through the layers of time to give you a fleeting glimpse of what lies on the other side, then one lone human attempting to change the future’s design in response seems as futile a task as attempting to prevent an avalanche through the placement of a single snowflake.

But that's never stopped you from trying.

ii. then 

To the citizens of Transylvania, he may have been a savior, but to you, he was no different from the rest of them—which placed him somewhere just above scum. And so, as all of Jova turned excitedly north to welcome their conquering hero home, you chose to remain alone in the wooded outskirts of town, where they'd told you your kind would always belong.

Simon, the latest golden boy of the Belmont clan, with a mane of golden hair and bags of looted gold to match, was already the stuff of legends. He'd journeyed alone only days before to Dracula's stronghold beyond the mountains, slaying its monstrous guards and unholy master in a single night and escaping just in time to watch the demon castle crumble at dawn. Stories of his triumph had already traveled down from the hamlets at the foothills and across the river from the town of Yomi, faster than the news of the Dark Lord's resurrection on the night the Black Mass occurred. 

The night they’d shunned you for the last time.

iii. now

The future creates itself in the darkness behind your closed eyes. Your essence stares back from the depths of your mind.

Another vision, two-sided as always: fate's promise to you, and yours to yourself. You will fight it, the truest part of you swears, in the waking world where dreams can't reach, no matter what you'll see and see again.

It catches you off guard anyway.

As your mind's eye clears, the darkness that clouded it coalesces into a black sea, the crests of dozens of waves rising ominously from its surface. The light comes next—faint touches of distant moonlight and dancing candlelight, refining the indistinct sea of shadows into something all too real.

Hooded worshippers, lit by candles as black as their robes, fill the gutted remains of an old church. The church is dark, and the night outside is darker, showing through the shattered stained-glass windows like a void swallowing up the holy and the fair. Idols and relics, goat-headed demons and inverted stars and things you can't decipher, lurk just at the edges of the shadows.

But it's the thing on the altar that scares you the most.

Nearly shrouded in a tattered black cloak, it lays limp and motionless, sickly pale as any corpse—but with a countenance alert as any living man. Its face is twisted into a rictus of mad triumph, sightless eyes fixed on the crumbled ceiling above and a sky empty of stars, as if to mock, even now, whatever higher power watches from above. You're certain you've never seen it, through this eye or your outers. And yet, the longer you stare, the louder a primal alarm seems to scream from somewhere deep inside you.

Known and unknown, mighty and weak, living and dead—the thing’s very existence is a contradiction made flesh.

Clarity flashes across your mind in the errant glint of candlelight off a fang.

You know, now, what this thing is. Its—his—name is Dracula: scion of the dragon, the devil's very son.

His dark grip still chokes Transylvania as tightly in legend as it did in reality, even a century after his last death. Though the countryside has long healed from the scars of his prior reign, those like yourself, too well acquainted with the occult, feel their phantom ache to this day. It is the pain that springs up with each scornful word and every hostile stare, the chafing knowledge that anyone judged slightly less than normal will never be truly safe from a populace still cowering from even the memory of Dracula's shadow.

Your gaze focuses once more at a sudden shuffling among the faceless worshipers: a parting of the shadow sea. From the darkest corner of the church a maiden is borne, light as spindrift, through the crests. Her dress is pale, and her panicked face is paler. She seems almost to shine amongst the shadows that guide her onward, a lone spot of white nearly consumed by the blackness of the church.

A sacrifice.

As she nears the grim idol that lies in wait upon the altar, one of the encircling shadows shoves her roughly forward. She stumbles against the altar's edge, delicate hands bound tightly behind her back.

You are forced to watch, powerless as always, as present and future slip beyond salvation.

Another shift of the lurking shadows. A fleeting flash of metal. A torrent of blood from the maiden's lovely neck.

As the blood splatters on the leering corpse below, its fanged grin seems only to widen. And with a creeping chill of dread, you realize the thing on the altar isn't a corpse anymore.

The church darkens even more, beyond what seems possible, as the sky through the ceiling is choked by thunderclouds. The candlelight drowns in a shadow sea.

For a moment, you see nothing but blissful darkness, blessed oblivion—for a moment, you can nearly imagine what a normal night's sleep might be.

By the time a flash of lightning illuminates the church once more, Dracula is already gone—the monster loosed from its temporal cage.

You barely notice. You'd seen it, then, when the lightning struck, in what little you could view of the world beyond the church. The outlines of a cityscape all too familiar. The narrow curve of a waning gibbous moon.

Jova. Easter Sunday.

You still have time, you realize.

And, fate willing, so do they.

iv. then

It had been Easter then, the time of the town's yearly carnival. Those dull brick buildings had looked almost inviting, festooned with grand banners and colorful paper lanterns, as lively dances and celebrations went on in the market square. The scenes of joy and community, the swirls of music and laughter, seemed to sweep you up despite yourself, almost softening the heart their world had hardened long before. You were hopeful enough to believe the Lord's Resurrection reason enough for them to accept you, for that one day at least, to heed your warning and save their souls.

You were wrong.

No matter who you approached, no matter how you pleaded, the hatred you'd grown up with, inseparable as your shadow, blocked you at every turn. Maybe it was your clothes, or your accent, or just the fact you knew something they didn't, but whatever attempt you made, they judged it to be wrong. Your warnings, increasingly desperate, were met with insults from even the kindest faces in that celebration, insults steeled with the threat of something worse.

Liar.

Witch.

Unholy.

Unwelcome.

You'd finally turned your back on Jova when the stares began to linger a little too long, when the murmurs in the crowd began to overpower even the sounds of the festivities. You refused to add your own life to the number that would soon be lost.

And you'd tried, dammit. They couldn't say you didn't try. 

If their blood was to be shed, it would not be on your hands.

You told yourself this as you left them all behind, the music growing fainter and the colored lights dimmer with each step you took into the engulfing darkness. They'd just shown they cared nothing for you, for even themselves, so why chance your life for them? You didn't care—you truly didn't care.

But when your prophecy came true and hell came to earth, you suffered with them all the same.

[megahorous]

GROUVEE HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE #4: WILD WEREWOLVES

Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest

Second time beating this one. I'd forgotten I used it for last year, too

[simonsquest]

My heart of fire burns for you, Valentine

YOU NOW PROSSESS MY HEART, VALENTINE

Let's not wait until night, Valentine

[maximkischin-e]

The Megas - The Belmonts (Cassette EP): 01 Bloody Tears (2016)