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Castlevania II - Simon's Quest (NES)
Ending fix, (C) 2024 noisecross
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DESCRIPTION
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This game has the premise that the protagonist, Simon, is cursed and will die very soon if he does not bring Dracula
back to life. Thus, the game has three endings, depending on how quickly you beat it. Specifically, there is an ending
that occurs when it takes 15 days or more to beat the game, another that occurs when it takes less than 8 days, and
another when it takes between 8 and 15 days.
However, it is widely known that endings are confusing because the text does not correspond to what is shown on the
screen, and the degree of success does not seem to correspond to either the text or the cutscene itself.
This patch varies the endings and the texts they contain to make them consistent. The choice is completely personal
because I have not found any official source that confirms what Konami's expected result was.

***SPOILERS ALERT***

Game cleared in 15 days or more: BAD ENDING.
Neither Simon nor Dracula survived their last battle. The screen is black and white and Simon is not
present. The text says "Although the confrontation between Simon and Dracula has concluded, Simon couldn't survive his
fatal wounds."

Game cleared in 8 to 14 days: CANONICAL ENDING.
Simon survives but Dracula will be back in the future. The screen is a sunset and Simon is kneeling
there. The text says "Simon Belmont has put an end to the eternal darkness in Transylvania." but after the text is
displayed, the same screen shows the night after Simon has gone and Dracula's hand pushes through the dirt.

Game cleared in 7 days or less: BEST ENDING.
Simon is the real deal an put an end to Dracula forever and ever. The screen present a bright daylight and
Simon is kneeling again. The text says "[...] the people are free of Dracula's curse forever." and after the text is
displayed the game ends.

***END OF THE SPOILERS ALERT***


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PATCH INSTRUCTIONS
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The patch files are in format IPS. Use LunarIPS or Floating IPS to apply the patch.
There are two patches. One is meant to be used with the USA version of the game.
The other one should be applied to the EUR version.
The rom files which admit the patches are the next ones:

USA VERSION
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Name: Castlevania II - Simon's Quest (U) [!].nes
Size: 262160 bytes (256 KiB)
CRC32: A9C2C503
CRC64: 870D94D7D336E02A
SHA256: f045d72683d3156555eccbb56090888f03a15e5b25e59db49dca7a87330472d3
SHA1: d6b96fd98ae480c694a103fe9a5d7d84eeafb6f7
BLAKE2sp: d7c5e2f388f480c460b8ff45693b734bcac7d7660ca25949cd0933bbb1051c2e

EUR VERSION
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Name: Castlevania II - Simon's Quest (E) [!].nes
Size: 262160 bytes (256 KiB)
CRC32: BB441910
CRC64: F7095CC22AEAA521
SHA256: 6f30c272b3c81c5950cc7354748ed69d77c1532eeced9ea9dd90eba3dbb24d4a
SHA1: 609129abf15cab23f456eb51009b8e592528299f
BLAKE2sp: 8a796db944bd2a30b627f721785308073ce5118b8745f80352ed481313f27df4


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MEMO (TECHNICAL STUFF)
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C9 08 B0 01    => C9 08 90 01    ; Ending choosing logic
  $A185  C9 08:       cmp #$08   ;
  $A187  B0 01:       bcs +      ; This "bcs" (B0) should be a "bcc" (90)
[...]
00 10 20 A9 30 => 10 00 20 A9 30 ; Ending texts pointers