What do Game of Thrones and Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest have in common?, the answer just might surprise you

Some of you may be familiar with the hit TV show "Game of Thrones". I know I am. It's been going on quite a while now and has captured the world by storm. Linguist David J. Peterson should ring a bell for those of you who know what I'm talking about. He created the fictional language spoken by several of the cast members of the show. What does this have to do with Castlevania? Elementary my dear Watson. Peterson placed a hidden reference to none other than Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest in the language dialog. The reference pays homage to our beloved Simon Belmont, by using "belmon" as the word for "chain" in the shows fictional language, which is known as Valyrian. Who knew Peterson was a fan of the Castlevania series?, and a classic fan at that!

Here is the response that was given recently from the hidden reference for Simon's Quest:

"This one’s funny: The word for chain is belmon.” Peterson laughed. (Linguist humor!) “That’s clearly a shout-out to [the video game Castlevania II:] Simon’s Quest.” (Clearly!)"

This is from a report made by Vulture recently, which a site dedicated to movies, Tv shows, and music. They have a really long and incredible article for you Game of Throne fans if you want to pull up a chair and read all of it. It gives a far better explanation for the Valyrian language and some other info than I can post here. Now for those of you who may be rather young and unfamiliar with the classic Castlevania series for the NES 8-bit system, may I make a suggestion. Find a good NES emulator, like FCEUX, and then find the rom for Simon's Quest or whichever you want. A site for both of those can be found at RomHustler for starters. By the way, I do take requests to help people find a certain emulator or rom, so feel free to comment here asking for assistance if you need it. I just can't host there here for obvious reasons. 

Take a look at season 3 episode 4 of Game of Thrones below, which showcases the famous Valyrian language being spoken. See if you can find the hidden reference to Castlevania!

 

 

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It's time to put Dracula's body parts back together once again with Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest

Laurels in your soup enhances its flavor. Sure I'll take you to a good place, heh heh. Remember those lines? They were made famous from Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, which was released way back in 1987 in Japan, and then in 1988 in North America. We all remember what kind of storyline and game play took place within. It was a pretty neat concept, find all of Dracula's body parts, put them back together, and then destroy him. Along the way Simon Belmont actually makes use of the body parts to assist him throughout the game. You also purchase and upgrade items, exchange crystals to eventually get a red one so you can make it to Dracula's castle where the final showdown begins. It was also where the concept of day changing into night and vice versa, where you get told "What a horrible night to have a curse", and "The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night". Some fans of the Castlevania series were actually annoyed by that sort of thing, but some thought it was a bit cool.

Now comes the real blessing, if you have a Nintendo DS, or 3DS hand held system, your in luck as Konami has decided to release Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest on the Virtual Console 3DS eShop real soon, that is, in Japan for now. There is no current word as of yet if a North American release will see the light of day, but if so I'll post it here as soon as possible. The Japanese original release of Simon's Quest was on the Famicom Disk System, something a lot of folks aren't familiar with or have heard of. Think of it this way, a Nintendo 8-bit system with a disk drive, and on that format it had a save game feature, where the North American release was on cartridge format and had a standard password feature. I remember a password to get you to the end of the game you want to write this down. It's MS60 QVCW 1VKU UFBC. That should get you ever item you need and you're ready to fight Dracula well armed.

March 27th, which is just 1 week away is when Konami will release it on the eShop, and will cost 500 yen, or in dollar format that will be $5.25. Not too bad of a price for such a classic hit. Now let us step back in time a bit and enjoy a complete game play walk through for Simon's Quest below if you like. This is one of my personal favorite videos of it out there, and may just help some of you who might be stuck in a certain place in the game.

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