Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is an action-adventure platform video game developed and published by Konami. It was originally released in Japan in 1987 for the Famicom Disk System, and in North America in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, respectively. It is the second Castlevania game released for the NES, following the original Castlevania in 1986. Set sometime after the events of the first installment, the player once again assumes the role of vampire hunter Simon Belmont, who is on a journey to undo a curse placed on him by Dracula at the end of their previous encounter. Dracula's body was split into five parts, which Simon must find and bring to the ruins of Castle Dracula in order to defeat him. The game notably deviates from the traditional platforming of its predecessor, incorporating role-playing and open world elements. Gameplay Gameplay of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest departs from the standard platforming genre of the first Castlevania for a game inspired by The Maze of Galious. It features nonlinear gameplay and role-playing elements such as a world map which the player is free to explore and revisit. Simon, controlled by the player, can talk with villagers who will offer him clues or lies. He can go to merchants who sell items, either for fighting enemies or for traversing to otherwise unreachable areas. 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 purchase new whips in a few locations. Simon's Quest introduces an Experience Rating system, also found in role-playing games, which is increased by collecting hearts. After he finds a sufficient amount, his level and maximum health will increase with his Experience Rating. The period of time in Simon's Quest cycles between daytime and nightfall, which has an effect on the game and Simon's encounters. During the day, the enemies outside villages are weaker. At nighttime, they gain strength and inflict more damage to Simon's life points; though when defeated, they drop more hearts. The villagers and merchants in their respective locations are no longer available to talk to during night time, and are replaced by zombies. Some elements from the previous game remain, including the Magic Weapons, which are secondary weapons to Simon's whip. Like most games in the series, some of these require the usage of hearts. One of them returning from Castlevania