Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (often referred to simply as Simon's Quest) features Simon Belmont in a new adventure, taking place in 1698, seven years after the events of the first Castlevania. Simon may have defeated the evil Count Dracula, but moments before being vanquished, he cast a curse upon Simon that would end his days prematurely if Dracula was not resurrected. Simon once again takes up the legendary Vampire Killer whip in order to find and burn Dracula's body so that the curse can be lifted.

Simon's Quest has significantly different gameplay than the original, and is much more like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link or Faxanadu. You will be exploring towns, talking to people for clues, finding and purchasing new weapons and items, and so on. You also have free movement around the world, rather than progressing through each level, one at a time, never looking back. The game also introduces a day/night system, where ever couple of minutes it changes from one to the other. At night the enemies are twice as strong, but give twice as many hearts (your "money"), and while town streets are crowded with people during the day, at night the shops are closed and zombies roam the streets.

As a result of poor handling of certain gameplay elements and excessively vague hints, the game had a poor reception among critics and Castlevania fans alike. Because of that, future Castlevania games would revert to the traditional style, at least until Symphony of the Night, when the series would become a full RPG-Action/Adventure hybrid.