When asked if Metroid influenced the "exploration action" nature of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, director Hitoshi Akamatsu instead cited The Maze of Galious: Knightmare II, another platform-adventure game by Konami that features puzzle solving, as having influenced the game's development.

The zombies that appear in the towns during night were originally going to be 'Chinese Jiangshi' that could hop, due to their popularity at the time. The hopping move was removed after complaints that the enemies were too strong.

In Japan, the game was originally called 'Dracula 2', but the game's creator and director, Hitoshi Akamatsu, thought of the title 'Simon's Quest' for the game's release in Western regions.

The line "DON'T LOOK INTO THE DEATH STAR, OR YOU WILL DIE." is a reference to the manga Hokuto no Ken. In the manga, if two warriors engaged in a fight see the Star of Death, one of them will die soon. This reference was lost in the English translation, as Hokuto no Ken was not popular in America.

Dracula's grave reads "1431-76." This is a reference to Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), a major inspiration for Bram Stoker's original Dracula character. Vlad Tepes was born in 1431 and died in 1476.

The box art bears a striking resemblance to the Dungeons & Dragons Ravenloft module. The background art of Dracula was removed from the later released European version of the game, possibly for legal reasons.