I first encountered this game when at a friend's house when he rented it. I remember getting mauled every time the night fell, but I still thought it was awesome. At the time, I didn't have an NES, and this was one of the games I used to try to convince my parents to buy me one. "But Mom, there's this one game, and you hafta watch out, because you have a curse and every time it's night all the zombies come out and try to kill you!" This speech was one of the main reasons I didn't end up with an NES till years later — my parents weren't too keen on the whole "play this game and you'll get cursed" speech.
Years later, I got this game for a couple bucks on eBay, and this week I finally decided to sit down and play through the whole thing. I had seen the Angry Video Game Nerd's review of it and was expecting an awful game. However, I really think it's pretty good. Clearly very different from Castlevania I and III, but not altogether bad.
The main drawback I see to this game is the impossible secrets you have to figure out to progress in this game. I admit, I cheated three times when playing through it: (HIGHLIGHT TO READ SPOILERS) (1) to find out I had to equip a blue crystal and crouch next to a lake for five seconds to uncover the second mansion, (2) to find out I had to equip Dracula's heart when talking to the Ferryman to find the third mansion, and (3) to find out I had to equip Dracula's nail and whip some stones to find the entrance to Castlevania. I had already remembered from AVGN's review that you have to equip the red crystal and crouch by the cliff to get taken to the fourth mansion — I know that step usually trips a lot of people up, and understandably so.
This game must have been designed assuming that kids would call up the Nintendo Hotline or subscribe to Nintendo Power — I really can't imagine most kids figuring out all these things on their own. So, in my opinion, that's a major downfall. I like to be able to beat a game all on my own, and this game makes that nearly impossible.
Other than that, beating the game is very easy. In contrast to the other Castlevania games, there are very few bosses, and the ones that exist are very easy. The minions aren't that hard, especially since you spend so much time wandering around cluelessly that your levels raise pretty quickly.
Beating the game quickly enough to get the best ending, however, was a fun challenge. This first time I beat it, I got the worst ending, since I had spent so much time trying to figure out the riddles. The second time, I went as fast as I could, getting every item, but I only got the normal ending. The third time, I decided to only get the weapons absolutely necessary to beat the game — omitting the garlic, dagger, silver knife, diamond, and silk bag — and I bought only the minimum amount of laurels necessary. Doing this, I was able to get the best ending — and it was a lot of fun trying to go as fast as I could! I was able to beat it in about 5 "hours" (or whatever that time unit in the game is; I think you need to be under 8 "hours" to get the best ending), if I recall correctly.
As with other Castlevania games, Simon's Quest has some of the best and most memorable music for the NES, and the graphics are likewise very good. The controls were fine, I thought, despite the AVGN's complaints that he was getting knocked in the water all the time.
So, the game was really pretty fun, especially if you have low expectations going into it. There are some ridiculously difficult riddles for which I highly recommend peeking at a FAQ rather than wasting time trying to figure them out. But the gameplay, while different from previous editions in the series, is very fun.
Anybody else have thoughts about this game?
This was my favorite game as a kid. I didn't have Nintendo Pwer back then, so I had to figure everything out on my own. I don't remember it being immpossibly difficult. I remember me and my best friend beating it, although I don't remember how long it took us.
It's like the Castlevania black sheep. For a 9 year old though, collecting eyeballs and limbs of dracula is fun. Still is in my book 
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