Genre: Action platformer
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami

The bright colors and brick-laden tilesets of the first game return, but this time adapted to Castlevania II's free-roaming, non-linear ethos. Nothing here will knock Belomont's socks off or the whip out of his hand: water isn't animated, and there's no parallax scrolling. But the world's fairly large skeletons, floating eyeballs, and zombies are interesting to look at. The functioning day-night cycle gives the game palette some variety. The hooded old men and female floozy townspeople designs give the game character.

There was a bit of a cast change-up in the aural department since the first game, with Kenichi Matsubara taking the music reins this time. The songs are programmatically a little more complex than in the first game, and the compositions fit the action superbly. The cut from the Engrish evening-time transition text to the walloping bass-laden night song is unforgettable, and quite humorous as well. The neoclassical Yngwie Malmsteen-inspired dungeon tune is spectacular.

Castlevania II's core player movement is lifted straight from the first game. But where the original's levels were designed to be as challenging as possible, this sequel's are meant to grind the careless player down, as the gamer traverses between areas in the game world. There is a full inventory system, and a limited set of items to buy in the towns. The game's item-based puzzles are esoteric to say the least, making the game almost impossible to beat without some kind of a guide.

Anyone who has played the much-later game "Ys III", or the slightly-earlier game "Zelda II", will be immediately comfortable here. Some of the game's systems-- like its leveling mechanic-- are pretty opaque in how they work, so the player will need to be ok with that. The NES had a lot of adventure-style games in the late 80s, from "Metroid" to "The Legend of Zelda" to "Rygar"-- and this game fits right in with that group. With the benefit of modern guides and emulator save state support, this sometimes-maligned sequel is a lot of fun, overflowing with Engrish and goofy personality.