Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (NES) Soundtrack - 8BitStereo

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

The 8BS Revamp continues once more to another staple classic of NES soundtracks, the follow up to an already classic NES title, here comes Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest! We all know the jokes, we know the history of this game being different from the others of the classic series, but it's still a great and fun title despite its cryptic flaws that made it tough to play back in the day. Beaming with that classic Konami look and feel, Castlevania 2 also boasts some of the best music on the console with one of the most well known tracks, "Bloody Tears". As has been discovered over the years, this title consists of 4 names attached to the project, Kenichi Matsubara & Satoe Terashima being the well known main composers of the OST, with Yoshiaki Hatano contributing SFX's, and all apparently being arranged and put into the Sound Driver of Kouji Murata. A wonderful tidbit of information to discover about this title, as also the previous games composer, Kinuyo Yamashita, was supposed to come back and compose on this title but was moved to other projects, and even was the one that provided the info about who was involved, such as saying Matsubara only composed and was never involved in coding the music onto the NES, leaving the likelihood of Murata arranging very likely. Regardless of what you think of this game, it's still a classic and its OST will remain in the hearts of many who love this game and series!

[@ManiacalForeigner]

Makes me wonder about the Haunted Castle OST, which Matsubara also worked on with Masahiro Ikariko and "T". We know Matsubara rearranged Bloody Tears, but how much of that OST is his? I know this channel is dedicated to NES soundtracks, just figured I'd mention it in case you happen to have any info.

[@-snek.]

This game wasn't appreciated nearly as widely as it deserved to be. For all its flaws, it had HUGE scope for an NES game and laid one half of the foundation for what would later become the Metroidvania (search action) genre. Simon's Quest walked so Symphony of the Night could backdash. I hold both Simon's Quest and The Adventure of Link close to my heart as diamonds in the rough. Flawed, but never the less precious. Oh, and this upload sounds wonderful, but that's always a given.

[@jdaywork2693]

The game play in the background is a nice touch! Great work!

[@Lustrum0005]

Thanks so much for all your work and for sharing all this great music with us

[@rocko7711]

❤️🕹️🎮👾❤️

[@Chadius]

I love this soundtrack. This game crawled so Symphony of the Night could run.

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

Absolutely what can be considered the original building blocks to the Metroidvania style, if CV2 included an in-game map, this would be the first of it. But thankfully its soundtrack has really kept its legacy alive and to be recognized as a classic NES title! :)

[@PaulJarrett]

I concur, loved this on NES, then when SOTN came out, game and soundtrack AMAZING

[@UltraCollagenBooster]

Yup, agreed, must respect the OGs... 👍

[@thesparxeffect9734]

Dwelling of Doom. Still to this day my favorite music track in Castlevania II.

[@TemperedMedia]

I think I agree, but it is a tough call all around with so many great tracks!

[@thesparxeffect9734]

@@TemperedMedia Bloody Tears, Within these castle walls, The Silence of Daylight & Monster Dance. The whole soundtrack is amazing, then again that's Konami for you in their early years. WANT TO BUY A WHITE CRYSTAL? 50 ❤️ > YES NO

[@ParaiusPau]

I love how your powerglove avatar is growing up! Have been listening to your channel for around 8 years now, thank you for all your hard work!

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

Holy damn, that's a long while! Good to still have you around, the avatar definitely has a bit of representing the new (and frankly better) era of 8BitStereo, you're welcome for the good times, hope you look forward to many more years of even better sounding versions of these soundtracks! ;)

[@FitzMastaflex]

One of my all time favorite games of the entire series. Thank you for restoring this! Sounds amazing. :)

[@willardwilson1127]

This is THE game that got me into Gaming, I am playing it again now on my PS5!! Love how the music is playing while the scenes are!!

[@elvisrobotbeta3299]

I love the way it sounds this time Niko. Good resonance👌🏻

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

Thanks! I'm so much prouder of these versions and hope the revamps eventually overtake the old mix in views, highly unlikely considering the older uploads have nearly 10 years of time on them, but still, would love seeing these become the version people see! :D

[@Metal-Maniac-Forever]

Sweet I'm Impressed Thanks Niko You Rock... Stay Neat

[@RavenCap0807]

Don't care what anyone says, the day time town music is lit!

[@TwilightRO1]

Oh man it sounds sexy. Thanks for working on it. And thank you for always supplying us links to download it : )

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

You're most welcome, happy to always supply the links to both the MP3's & NSFe of the soundtracks! It's an effort I'm happy to do for free as well, and those that support my Patreon to give that little extra thanks makes me feel good for doing this for 10+ years!

[@AnimusInvidious]

One of my favorite OSTs of all-time. Nice treatment of the stereo field.

[@MaverickMario85]

What horrible night to have a curse but and awesome night to listen to this revamped 8 bit remix

[@JamesDziezynski]

Wow, that thick bass line from The Silence of Daylight really shines in this mix - great work as always!

[@geizamarcelino1830]

E tão bom ❤️ amo Castlevania 2 songs❤️❤️❤️

[@Arthursantana3437]

Eu também muito bom combina com a atmosfera do game

[@hawkeng2007]

Eu também!

[@nnse1]

I feel like I just upgraded to the premium version of your channel with high quality audio

[@TemperedMedia]

I didn't enjoy the game overly much, but I still played the heck out of it so I could hear the music. Over and over.

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

Definitely a perfect combination of these tracks being catchy enough but never overstay there welcome, since of course their are a shorter amount of overall songs to this OST, but I think that's what plays to the strengths of this game, you cycle enough through the Town, Daytime, Nighttime and Mansion themes to never be sick of them.

[@TemperedMedia]

@@Nikos8BitStereo Exactly. I kept playing because it was the only way to hear more

[@jinderbreadman]

Mega-underrated OST. It gets better with age. "The Silence Of Daylight" is probably my favorite track, and that's saying something, considering the entire playlist is excellent.

[@lazylaziness1352]

Hey Niko I know you might not see this but I have been a channel supporter ever since kindergarten and that I am now in the 8th grade about to go to 9th grade and still watching your videos your channel made me realize I really LOVE chiptune and srsly hope your channel doesn’t get taken down for no reason other than a corporate video game company crying like a baby cuz you use their music like their crying for no reason anyways I’m gonna keep on supporting your channel love your content peace out.

[@0Fyrebrand0]

The first "Metroidvania" in the series, long before we ever called it that. While it has its flaws, you have to respect the ambition and what it was trying to do. Also, as far as I know, it's the first video game to feature a day/night cycle that actually affected gameplay. And of course, it's the debut of the now legendary "Bloody Tears."

[@Dongled]

Best soundtrack is BEST.

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

More like Castlevania 2: Simon's Best 😎

[@Satsui_No_Hado]

This soundtrack sounds legendary by your prowess , thank you 👊🔥

[@Mchenrygames]

Another great enhanced soundtrack, thanks man.

[@midimusicforever]

These are so smooth somehow.

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

Smooth for the ears, smooth for the mind, smooth for the soul. Glad you think so! :)

[@mr.g4990]

Superb soundtrack. Petition for Roller Games next!

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

It will certainly have its time to shine, I am going down the general line of OST's I uploaded from the beginning to when I then did this revamp. But Rollergames was definitely an early upload, and sometimes I'll put up stuff way earlier then when it was originally done as can be seen in the Old Mix playlist of Oldest to Newest, here's hoping sooner than later! :D

[@mr.g4990]

Heh don't worry mate, I actually like how you are proceeding with the uploads. Those European composers really make the NES shine.

[@wolfofcaladrien3827]

AMAZING!!! 🌟

[@tolvis77]

Beautiful. Thank you! Bloody tears should be covered by a metal band. ⚘

[@Gregimus]

WITHIN THESE CASTLE WALLS 🤘

[@TechGuyBeau]

Town theme from this game is the best song in the series. fight me

[@Warffles]

Bloody Tears yaaaaas! Nice upload Niko thanks!

[@Teddysabritas6379]

4:19 1:29 7:26

[@bunnybismuth]

In before 7 million "what a horrible night" comments and comments about how great Bloody Tears is.

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

I'm sure my old version had plenty of those, but I feel there is good amount of love nowadays being spread to all other tracks in the OST, personally I've always been a fan of "The Silence of Daylight", but the Bloody Tears shall always remain a classic.

[@bunnybismuth]

@@Nikos8BitStereo It's just too bad that tracks like Silence of Daylight don't get as much love from Konami when they are putting retro tracks into newer games. Of course, it's all moot until Konami actually makes games again instead of slot machines...

[@fallingblackstar4553]

I still love this game, with your video I love it even more! Amazing~~~

[@retrovgmmix6701]

The only castlevania i never play, but the soundtrack is a classic, good work

[@SpirituallyAscending81]

Well what are you waiting for brother. Start playing asap. It was one of my favorite CV games

[@HylianFox3]

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR A GOOD LOOKING GUY LIKE YOU.

[@VitalikNerdChannel]

Music awesome on NES, better NES Cartridge that Famicom Disk System Japanese version

[@michelleschlossman9637]

I don't care what anyone says, this game does not suck! I played the heck out of this one on my OG Nintendo.

[@amandaoutlaw1349]

Great soundtrack! Love it! 👍👍

[@marccaselle8108]

I like this game and I liked the captain N the game master version of Simon's theme on a synthesizer.

[@kopyae5617]

Bloody Tears Soundtrack is the Best 😊

[@Gigawood]

Monster Dance

[@SpirituallyAscending81]

Love your channel so much. Would you consider removing the Niko image and text over the videos so we can see more of the game itself. Thanks!

[@quadpad_music]

Is it me or are you also adding some extra EQ to these newer mixes? Might be me misremembering, but it sounds deeper and punchier than the original, specially on the low end.

[@elvenknife]

09:55 = Yngwie Malmsteen - Far Beyond The Sun

[@RyoSakazakiFans]

This game is published in Europe in 1990.

[@evenmorebetter]

0:00 Captain N Simon Belmont comic relief theme

[@Henfer37]

Fue el primer cartucho de juego que lo pasé (dos horas y media) y luego de nuevo con otro final; no sabía que tenía más finales... Me atrajo este título porque su "gameplay" se repite luego en "S.O.N" de PS1, aunque está en pañales aquí; además, las cosas (partes de Drácula) que recolecta Simón durante el juego son los mismos elementos que recoge Alucard en "S.O.N".

[@dmcmusiclover2995]

16:16 For Masayuki Uemari

[@koolandblue]

A crooked trader is offering bum deals in this town.

[@the-NightStar]

Great soundtrack, even though I always hated this game. (And no i'm not just saying that becuase of the AVGN. I always hated it before he was even around.)

1:30 - can't unhear the lyrics...

[@hypnos9336]

actually there are no lyrics in this song.

[@dmcmusiclover2995]

@@hypnos9336 NES songs don’t have lyrics in the games.

[@bunnybismuth]

Get a silk bag from the graveyard duck to live longer.

[@Spelunky-e2f]

Anyone else like Monster Dance more than Bloody Tears

[@hardxcoreloser1]

I never beat this whole game ;(

[@ff11dream]

JRPG

[@cameronrichter3449]

Still waiting on American Gladiators

[@Nikos8BitStereo]

It will sadly be bit before getting to that one, I know you got a response comment before by MrNorbert1994 (main contributing re-ripper of NES OST's, whose account got terminated sadly, copyright stuff, so comment is gone, but I remember it) on your request on that and he said the NSF of the OST wasn't fully ripped or complete yet, I'm sure by the time I actually get to it with my new 8BS Mix it will be ripped fully or to a satisfactory level. With the revamp I am going through most soundtracks that I originally uploaded in 2012 to about 2014, and what contains my most popular uploads, and I apologize that American Gladiators never got the chance to be uploaded at least during the "WiiGuy Era." Only thing to speed this up is my Patreon revenue per month goals that will incentivize me to produce the content faster, but that's more so used as a tip and thank you service then anything else with bonus of those goals if reached. I shall see anyway if the game is fully ripped, and have it be uploaded sooner then when I started getting into lots of Famicom only stuff and the whole random era in like 2015-2018. Thank you for your patience.

[@cameronrichter3449]

@@Nikos8BitStereo Hey no worries, we appreciate you going out of your way to do all of this! I listen to your soundtracks pretty often - in the car, while working, while relax, etc. Frankly I'm just grateful for everything you've provided over the years.

[@DydexdaRobit]

“This game sucks.” - The Angry Video Nintendo Nerd

[@DydexdaRobit]

(Now The Angry Video Game Nerd)

[@FallenMonk55]

The game wasn't good, but the soundtrack was legendary

[@SpirituallyAscending81]

You must not have been born when this game was released or there's something really wrong with you.

[@FallenMonk55]

​​@@SpirituallyAscending81there wasnt any internet around, so it was a difficult game to play when you're 6 years old. It wasnt your typical linear game, non existent bosses, and secrets you would only know if you had money for a strategy guide. Again, if youre 6 years old, this game wasnt good.

[@isaiperez9093]

Is good. A 4 years old child (like me) play often and later found fun with TBRPGs.

[@superharlobros]

"this game sucks" -AVGN

[@shadowmario111]

As a wise man once said, "This game sucks."

[@EntoneTori]

This game sucks.

[@hypnos9336]

it has major flaws but if you know what you're doing it can still be a fun experience, and yes, the soundtrack absolutely helps with that

[@TravelsTTG]

I have this vinyl. I feel this is the best of the nes 3. The sleeve opens with a dope map!

[@scienceguy2406]

Why does this music sound like Yngwie Malmsteen?

[@CoralCopperHead]

I love this game, but is it weird that I found it because of UniDoom's deathmatch .WADs?