My Gamer Perspective on Capcom's Ghosts 'n Goblins Trilogy
"Nintendo hard" is an understatement...
"Congraturation. This story is happy end. Thank you. Being the wise and coregeour knight you are, you feel strongeth welling in your body. Return to starting point, challenge again!" - Capcom Staff, Ghosts 'n Goblins
To get into the Halloween spirit this year, I finally got around to playing, and completing, Capcom's Ghosts 'n Goblins trilogy via Nintendo Switch Online. What follows are my thoughts on this notoriously difficult series. While each title was released on a different home console, with 1986's Ghosts 'n Goblins on the NES, 1989's Ghouls 'n Ghosts on the Sega Genesis, and 1991's Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts on the Super NES, all three games remain quite similar in terms of their overall design and mechanics. The objective of each installment is to guide "coregeour" knight, Arthur, on three separate quests to rescue his princess bride-to-be, Prin Prin (or, in one instance, her ghost), from the titular ghouls 'n ghosts 'n goblins, oh, my! Arthur's travails require him to traverse terrifying terrain, such as long-forgotten cemeteries, medieval villages, subterranean caverns, literal ghost ships, raging seas, snow-capped mountains, and creepy castles.
Each macabre locale is infested with all manner of things that go bump in the night, including spry zombies, rabid ravens, carnivorous plants, tiny flying imps, ravenous werewolves, leaping skeletons, rock-shelled turtles, voracious vultures, tattooed ogres, scythe-wielding Grim Reapers, flying pigs in a blanket, stereotypical ghosts, fishy merpeople, the handsy Hamburger Helper mascot, those pig men from Return of the Jedi, and, worst of all, frustrating flying red gargoyles that anticipate and dodge Arthur's every move, pelt him with fireballs, and divebomb him at supersonic speeds. Should any of the things that go bump in the night bump themselves into the armour-clad Arthur, he'll be stripped down to his skivvies. If the now naked knight receives a second bump from the things, he'll be further stripped down to his skeleton, costing players a life. You'd best get used to seeing Arthur unclothed and deskinned, as replacement armour is rare, and the ghouls 'n ghosts 'n goblins (oh, my!) are abundant.
Thankfully, Arthur can go medieval on the children of the night with a vast arsenal of projectile weapons, such as lances, daggers, sickles, crossbows, and Greek fire. These literal life savers are hidden within treasure chests or dropped by slain basket carrying brutes. As some of these weapons are notably weaker than others, it's important for players to choose wisely, as Arthur becomes saddled with his current weapon until encountering a new one. Also, be aware that some treasure chests conceal evil magicians who will try to transform Arthur into alternative forms, like a duck, old man, or young maiden. In such forms, Arthur is unarmed and must evade incoming attacks until the transformation spell wears off...or until he gets hit and loses his armour or skin, which also breaks the spell, though in a most unfavourable way. On top of all these supernatural threats, Arthur must also contend with an unwanted ticking timer that kills him as well if he fails to reach a time-replenishing checkpoint or clear a level before the timer reaches zero (oh, brother).
Should players successfully guide Arthur through all the levels in the game, their "reward" is...a forced encore performance of all the levels in the game, coupled with the mandatory rule of reaching the end of the final level with a specific underpowered weapon; a shield emblazoned with a Cross in the first game, and Prin Prin's goddess bracelet in both sequels. The penalty for failing to adhere to this strict rule is...being denied access to the final boss, and being forced to replay even more levels, until the required weapon is acquired. Thus, saith the CAPCOM. As both sequels introduced upgradable armour and weapons to Arthur's repertoire that are capable of unleashing devasting special attacks on the children of the night, it would be advisable to hold off on picking up Prin Prin's goddess bracelet for as long as possible during the sequels' respective final levels, as her bracelet cannot be upgraded nor unleash special attacks. There are plenty of opportunities to find the goddess bracelet throughout the final level, so if you remember to switch to it before reaching the end of the game, you're golden and won't face the wrath of the vengeful, Old Testament CAPCOM.
Now, onto the differences between the three games, starting with Ghosts 'n Goblins. The NES port lacks the impressive visuals of the original 1985 arcade game, which was to be expected on contemporary home consoles of the time. Arthur lacks any sort of special abilities, and can simply pick up weapons and replacement armour, fire projectiles, jump over or duck under hazards, and ascend or descend ladders. By far, the original game is the toughest, most frustrating, unfair, and cheap entry in the series. The trilogy's overly aggressive enemies are at their absolute worst in this game, given their erratic and unpredictable nature, coupled with their extreme speed and resilience to players' attacks (you either need to rapidly tap the attack button with the speed of the Flash, or purchase a turbo controller to take them down without getting blisters on your thumbs). The extreme challenges of well crafted "Nintendo hard" games are always surmountable through patience, practice, and pattern recognition. Sadly, Ghosts 'n Goblins lacks this design philosophy, as despite my best efforts, I never could detect any discernable pattern to the enemy AI's seemingly random yet highly intelligent behaviour, which is especially true in regards to those horrid flying red gargoyles.
However, the biggest BS with Ghosts 'n Goblins is the final level, in which Arthur is expected to ascend a series of ladders, all of which are being patrolled by the tattooed ogres, who rain their grapes of wrath down said ladders. Should Arthur somehow reach the top of one, the tattooed ogres will take a page from another video game's instruction book and swiftly rush'n attack him. At the same time, an annoying fire breathing dragon, which is too big to duck under and too long to jump over, is flying across the screen, doggedly pursuing Arthur up the tower. While this is going on, leaping skeletons are bouncing all over the place, tiny flying imps are buzzing about, flying pigs in a blanket are zigzagging to-and-fro, and flocks of up to five or more of those God-awful flying red gargoyles are pelting Arthur with fireballs while divebombing him from all directions. All this while the timer is ticking down. Not to mention the boss fight against a pair of flying orange Cookie Monster wannabes at the top of the tower (good grief). It's beyond absurd that the Capcom staff expected the average gamer to complete this sadistically designed game back in the day without the aid of a Game Genie. I relied on heavy use of the Switch's save states and rewind button, yet still consider Ghosts 'n Goblins to be much harder than the 1986 Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2. At least that game is better designed and fun when played with difficulty-balancing save states and rewind buttons. For the record, I don't hate Ghosts 'n Goblins or regret playing through it, but I certainly feel it would greatly benefit from some much-needed quality of life improvements when ported to modern consoles.
Thankfully, I don't have as many notes for Ghouls 'n Ghosts or Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, as both are vastly superior experiences to Ghosts 'n Goblins, in my opinion. Both sport improved visuals that more or less match those of the arcade games. While both are also insanely tough experiences, and I still needed to use save states and the rewind button to get through them, I didn't need to spam these features nonstop just to keep Arthur alive for five seconds. Aside from the flying red gargoyles, which always suck, the enemy AI doesn't feel as random or unpredictable in either sequel. Arthur still retains the same move set from the first game, but with additional improvements. Firstly, the cool upgradeable armour, weapons, and special attacks, previously mentioned, which are present in both sequels. Secondly, each sequel also received their own exclusive additions to Arthur's original move set; Ghouls 'n Ghosts allows Arthur to fire his weapons in any direction, which is as big a game changer as Simon Belmont's multidirectional whip in Super Castlevania IV. Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts replaces Arthur's multidirectional attack with a double jump for added height. It also provides a pair of shields that preserve Arthur's armour if struck by enemy projectiles while he's stationary.
Now, in terms of difficulty, I'd say Ghouls 'n Ghosts is tougher than Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts but "easier" than Ghosts 'n Goblins. I feel Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts is the most balanced of the three, despite lacking their infinite supply of continues, and I also think it has the coolest enemies, bosses, and environments. Unfortunately, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts does suffer from the Super NES' notorious slowdown, so some gamers may prefer Ghouls 'n Ghosts' blast processing over Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts' mode 7, as well as favour the multidirectional attacks over the double jump. Honestly, you can't go wrong with either Ghouls 'n Ghosts or Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, especially with save states and the rewind button to lighten their trollish difficulty. However, I'd advise steering clear of Ghosts 'n Goblins in its current state, unless you're a gaming masochist with much thicker skin than Arthur's, ha-ha-ha!
Fun fact: During the end credits of Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, the Capcom staff reveal Prin Prin's bust, waist, and hip measurements, in centimetres, as: B.88 W.58 H.90. I'm not sure why the Capcom staff chose to disclose this random bit of trivia about Prin Prin, but now you know it, too!
Do you have any thoughts on this post? If so, feel free to reach out by leaving a comment, dropping me a line, or signing my guestbook to share your opinions on this or any other topic. Also, feel free to press the "like" button if you enjoyed this post, as "likes" help me gauge audience interest in the content I post. After all, I don't want to bore anyone, ha-ha. Until next time, love, peace, and chicken grease!
Posted in "Nerd Alert" on Thursday, October 24, 2024.