DRACULA II - NOROI NO FUIN
( Castlevania II - Simon's Quest )
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ドラキュラII 呪いの封印
©Konami 1987
Release: 1987-08-28 (¥2980)
DiskCard KDS-DRK
Action/Adventure game
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Released in America as
CASTLEVANIA II SIMON'S QUEST
( NES-QU-USA )
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Released in Europe as
CASTLEVANIA II SIMON'S QUEST
( NES-QU-XXX )
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Dracula II: Noroi no Fuin is a platform/adventure game by Konami
and is the second Akumajō Dracula released for the Famicom system.
After vanquishing Dracula in the first game, the vampire slayer Simon Belmont
is hoping to take a well-deserved break from his obligations. But things don't always
turn out the way they should. Before dying, Dracula placed a curse upon the young
man and, seven years later, Simon must retrieve and destroy the remains of
the evil vampire to break it. Dracula's five body parts must be brought back
the his castle and sealed away forever. This episode is a big departure from the
series and unlike other installments, Dracula II includes major RPG elements
such as experience points, shops and conversations with villagers and other townspeople.
Time and especially day and night cycles are at the dynamic core of the gameplay and greatly affect the
various enemies Simon encounters throughout his journey (each second equals four
minutes in the game). Simon still uses his vampire killer whip as his primary
weapon but he also has a choice of several sub-weapons such as the knives and
the Holy Water. However, they are not scattered around each stage anymore
and have become unique quest items. Hearts are the game's currency and can be used
to purchase new items or to enhance the almighty whip. Finally the game features
infinite continues and the only price the player has to pay for consuming all his
lives is to lose his accumulated experience points.
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There are slight differences between the original Famicom Disk and
American NES versions of the game. The obvious difference is the quality of
the soundtrack which fully uses the advantages of the Famicom Disk sound chip.
Then the Famicom version allows the player to same his progress onto the disk
itself whereas the NES uses passwords. On another hand, the Famicom Disk
version has loading times which sometimes affect the gameplay.
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Like several other early Konami games released in the 1980s/1990s, Dracula II
included a numbered collector card also known in Japan as コナミ キャラカード (aka 'Konami Chara Cards' or 'Konami Character Cards').
Each card featured an illustration or a snapshot
from the game (picture on the right), and the back of each card showed a serial number as well as the
game's title. They were randomly included with the games and Konami
produced several variations of each card. That's it, each game included a
card from a series related to the game, it is however not known
how many different card variations were made for each game.
Apparently six cards (on average) were produced for each game, except
for Doremikko (1 card), Exciting Boxing (1 card) and Meikyujin Dababa
(which, curiously, only seem to feature five cards).
The list of
Konami games to include such cards are believed to be :
Ai Senshi Nicol (FDS),
Dracula II Noroi no Fuin (FDS),
Arumana no Kiseki (FDS),
Contra (FC),
Doremikko (FDS),
Dragon Scroll (FC),
Exciting Baseball (FDS),
Exciting Basketball (FDS),
Exciting Billard (FDS),
Exciting Boxing (FDS),
Exciting Soccer (FDS),
Falsion (FDS),
Getsu Fūma Den (FC),
Majō Densetsu II Daimashikyō Galious (FC),
Meikyū Jiin Dababa (FDS),
Metal Gear (FC),
Salamander (FC),
Tetsuwan Atom (FC),
Top Gun (FC)
and Wai Wai World (FC).
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Teaser text from the American version:
Castlevania was a cake walk compared to this bloody curse.
You thought you had the
Prince of Darkness defanged-
eh, Simon Belmont?
Well think again, cause
according yo a damsel in
distress, evil Count Dracula
has left a horrifying curse in
his wake. And the only hope
you have of ending the terror
is to destroy his missing body
parts!
Talk about your frightening
quest, searching a maze of
mansions, graveyards and
dark, eerie forests - each
guarded by man-eating were-
wolves, fire-throwing zombies
and other devilish demons.
Your grim chances are kept
alive in Transylvania, where
cowarfly villagers offer clues
to the whereabouts of
Draculs's remains. And where
you'll purchase magic
weapons, including silver
knives and flame whips.
But beware the night. For
when the sun disappears,
Dracula's curse grows deadlier.
And your chances grow dimmer and dimmer.
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Game Staff (Copied from the game's end credits) :
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Programmed With
The Following Characteristics
Invincibility
Akamatsu
Permanence
Iwasa
Philosophy
Togakushi
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Masterpiece
Kawanishi
Sensibility
Hatano
Excellence
Terashima
Ambivalence
Kuwahara
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Flourish
Higasa
Admiration
Ohyama
Warm-Heart
Matsuoka
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Superiority
Murata
Sunchronism
Matsubara
Circumstance
Konami
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G
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Japanese guidebook
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Japanese soundtrack
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American guidebook
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American novel book
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O
M
A
K
E
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Click on picture to enlarge |
S
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Different Endings:
The game features three different endings which are all based on how
long the player takes to clear the game. The first ending requires the
player to complete the game in 8 days or less, the second one in 8 to 15
days and the third one in 16 days or more.
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
O
V
s
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The mix of action and adventure is an interesting blend but I'm
sorry to admit that Dracula II: Noroi no Fuin just doesn't
offer what it promises. It is interesting to notice that other games
at the time, such as Zelda II, went down the same route and
tried to follow the action/adventure path - but I feel they were more
successful at it. The game lacks consistency and suffers from too much
tedium to be thoroughly enjoyable. The day/night cycle is annoyingly
erratic and painfully tedious. The Famicom Disk game is actually
less annoying than the NES version which displays an incredibly
long text on screen every time the night falls - the Japanese original
text is three lines shorter. I also feel that the game is asking too much
of its player and some of the puzzles are just impossible to figure out
and are fairly random... The Famicom Disk version has a
terrible flaw though - loading sometimes occurs between screens which gets really
annoying, especially when you get hit and keep being thrown off over
the edge of the screen! It is impossible to overstate what a change
this is for the series, but I wish Dracula II: Noroi no Fuin
had stayed closer to its platform/action roots... it is a shame as
the game is overall really decent with neat graphics, responsive
controls and features a catchy and alluring soundtrack.
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