Akumajō Dracula II: Noroi no Fūin / Castlevania II (FDS · Famicom Disk System) original version🧛🏻⚰️🦇

/ @nenrikigaming
In 1698, seven years had passed since Simon Belmont’s initial victory over the malevolent Count Dracula.
Following Simon’s decisive blow to the Dark Prince, Dracula cursed him with a spell that would lead to his premature death unless Simon resurrected him. In addition, Dracula’s followers began to wreak havoc across Transylvania once more, causing chaos in numerous villages and instilling fear in the inhabitants.
Simon, armed with the famed Vampire Killer whip, embarked on a journey across the region, visiting towns such as Jova, Veros, Aljiba, Aldra, Ondol, Dione, and Yomi. His mission was to free the citizens and enlist their aid in his quest to locate the scattered parts of Dracula’s body, which were concealed in five ominous manors (Berkeley, Rover, Brahm’s, Badley, and Laruba).
After gathering all of Dracula’s body parts, Simon transported them to the remnants of Dracula’s Castle and incinerated them. Unexpectedly, Dracula’s spirit emerged, powered by a sixth relic, Dracula’s Fang, hidden within the ruins. Simon engaged in combat with Dracula once more, seemingly defeating him permanently. However, the populace remained skeptical, anticipating Dracula’s return in the 18th century.
The setting of of the game is a departure from the confined castle of the first game, presenting instead a sprawling landscape dotted with towns, graveyards, manors, and dungeons. The game features a day-night cycle, with the transition from day to night and vice versa affecting gameplay. Nighttime sees a surge in enemy strength, zombies overrunning towns, and townsfolk taking refuge in their homes out of fear.
The game introduces several RPG elements to the series, including an inventory and a leveling system that boosts Simon’s health each time he gathers a certain number of Hearts. During daylight hours, townspeople provide clues (though players should be wary of misinformation or deception), and merchants trade items like whip upgrades for Hearts. The time taken to finish the game influences Simon’s endgame performance.
The game sees the return of sub-weapons from the first game. Familiar weapons include the Dagger and Holy Water, while new additions include the rebounding Ore and the invincibility-granting Laurels. Collecting Dracula’s remains also confers stat bonuses, such as poison immunity.
The game time is represented in the format of DAYS:HOURS:MINUTES.
Each cycle of night begins at 18:00 PM and continues until 6:00 AM of the following day, while each cycle of day starts at 6:00 AM and lasts for 12 hours (in-game time). The game time commences at midday on the initial day (referred to as Day 0 in the game).
The progression of game time is halted when the player is inside a town building, church, or mansion.
Upon each level up, the Hearts dropped by enemies cease to provide any EXP for a certain duration. This is likely due to a programming error, and the player will eventually resume gaining EXP after collecting more Hearts (possibly after reaching a specific quantity, or after a certain amount of time has elapsed).
The game features three distinct conclusions, which are influenced by the duration it took the player to finish the game and the number of continues utilized. Each of the three endings is a variation of the same conclusion, but with unique twists incorporated.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:25 Town of Jova
03:22 Jova Woods
08:20 Town of Jova'
08:52 Jova Woods'
09:15 South Bridge
09:36 Veros Woods
10:16 Town of Veros
12:09 Veros Woods'
17:24 Town of Veros'
18:04 Veros Woods''
18:49 Berkeley Mansion
23:19 Denis Woods
23:48 Dabi's Underpass
24:32 Aljiba Woods
25:27 Town of Aljiba
32:09 Carmilla Cemetery
32:42 Town of Aljiba'
33:11 Aljiba Woods'
33:41 Lower Road
33:59 Yuba Lake
34:24 Rover Mansion
38:23 Yuba Lake & Lower Road
38:51 Aljiba Woods & Dabi's Underpass
39:47 Denis Woods & Berkeley Mansion
40:40 Veros Woods & South Bridge
41:35 Jova Woods & Town of Jova
42:36 Belasco Marsh
43:06 Dead River
43:44 Brahm's Mansion
50:57 Dead River (East side)
51:33 Barren Land / Deborah Cliff (South side)
52:33 Dead River (East side) & Brahm's Mansion
53:26 Dead River (West side)
54:09 Town of Aldra
56:26 Sadam Woods
57:01 Strigoi Graveyard
58:27 Sadam Woods'
59:30 Town of Ondol
1:03:12 Jam Wasteland / Deborah Cliff (North side)
1:04:12 Badley Mansion
1:07:57 Wicked Ditch
1:08:16 Uta Lower Road
1:09:26 Devious Woods
1:10:00 Joma Marsh
1:10:34 Laruba Mansion
1:15:00 Joma Marsh & Devious Woods
1:15:50 Uta Lower Road & Wicked Ditch
1:17:46 Town of Doina
1:19:19 North Bridge
1:19:42 Dora Woods
1:20:17 Town of Yomi
1:21:09 Vlad Graveyard
1:21:35 West Bridge
1:22:07 Dracula's Castle
1:24:02 Ending
/ nenrikigaming

[@DigiEggz]

Thank you for another quality playthrough. The English subtitles are above and beyond! 🦇

[@SonicTheHedgehog17]

The sound quality may be worse than the NES version, but it is still enjoyable. Also, thank you for English subtitles

[@VahanNisanian]

When this game was released for the FDS in 1987, Konami was still mainly using the same sound engine that was used in the likes of the original 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢 and the NES version of 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘎𝘦𝘢𝘳 and 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢. They hadn't brought in those "drum samples" yet until 1988. I would love to hear how CV II's music sounds like using the original 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢'𝘴 sound engine.

[@seireiart]

"THIS GAME SUCKS!"
AVGN - May 16, 2004