Ghosts 'n Goblins
Nintendo Entertainment System
I have a love/hate relationship with this game that goes back a long long time. I was born in 1982. Ghosts 'n Goblins was released for the NES back in 1986. That would have put me at the age of four years old at the time this game came out. It varies for everyone, but for me this was the age I began to start remembering things and retaining information. So in a way, my real life journey began around the time Ghosts 'n Goblins was released. It's like this game and I have grown up together side by side.
I was just four years old, so I only have the slightest memories of this game's release. But I do recall playing it at my grandparents' house because one of my uncles had gotten the game brand-new. I also remember everyone taking turns and giving it a go, but no one could get past the first level. I was super excited because I was the one who made it to the part where you have to jump over the gaps in the water and avoid the flying heads. Did I make it through that part? No. Still, the youngest kid in the room did the best out of anyone. You got to give him that.
Such a stiff challenge probably would have turned most small kids away from the game, but not me. I took it as a personal challenge. I didn't own the game myself, but I added it to my wish list. I had only seen one level of the game and I had been amazed by it. Who knows what wonders the rest of the game would hold? I remember being obsessed with the box art (just look at it and tell me that it is not something a four year old would be fascinated with) and dreaming that some day I would find out for myself.
Which I did.
I ended up getting this game as a gift. I don't recall if I got it immediately or if I had to wait a year or two first. But I got it. I wasn't very good at the game, but I tried. Just making it past stage two was an accomplishment for me. I am pretty sure I gave up on the game because it was too hard. I thought I would never be good enough to beat it. I started playing other things, but the fascination with Ghosts 'n Goblin never truly went away for me.
This was the late 80s. Around this time, my dad had a friend named James who stayed with us for a few months. He was out of work, down on his luck. Nice enough guy, but he was very lazy. Instead of going out and looking for work he would sit on the couch all day playing our NES games. He moved so infrequently that he actually made a permanent indentation in the couch with his body that our family still jokes about to this day. My point is that he loved Ghosts 'n Goblins and would play it a lot. I don't think he ever actually beat the game, but he made it farther than I ever did. I remember watching him in amazement as he moved on to new levels I had never seen before.
I began playing the game again. I was a little older, maybe a little better equipped to deal with things. My mom had just moved into a new place, so this would put me at third grade when I was about seven or eight years old. Several years had passed since I'd originally gotten this game. Still, I hadn't actually beaten it. Well gosh darn it, I made it my mission to beat this game. No more messing around. I have memories of long, frustrating, marathon sessions with Ghosts 'n Goblins in my mom's basement at the new place. I pulled out every trick in the book (shooting the red demons on the edge of the screen and then moving away so they'd disappear, using only the knife, etc.), and I really dedicated my time to conquering this game.
The hard work paid off, and after years and years of Ghosts 'n Goblins in my life, I finally finished the game. I did what no one I knew had been able to do. Success!!
But wait. Hold the fuck up. The game's end boss isn't actually the game's end boss. Turns out you have been getting tricked by an illusion from Satan this whole time. In order to properly beat the game, you had to play it again from the beginning and finish it one more time. Oh my god. whaaaaat? I can only imagine my rage.
But I kept playing. It wasn't easy, but I beat the game again. Only to once again find out I wasn't done. I had to go back and collect the shield (the lamest weapon in the whole game) and defeat the final boss with that. Only then would I truly be a champion of Ghosts n Goblins.
I hated every second of it, but I did eventually finish the game the "proper way." It went down as one of the major accomplishments of my young gaming life. Of all my friends and family members who had had this game, I became the first to complete it.
Over the years I would play and beat the game a small handful of times. I always got frustrated. You could never say I was truly having a good time with the game. It's hard and it is unfair. I always liked the idea of the game and I recognized that it was an iconic title. But to say that I truly liked it would be a lie. It was a very love/hate relationship.
Eventually as I moved into my teens and my twenties I stopped playing this game completely. There may have been one random time somewhere in there that I played it, but that had to have been at least ten years ago. All I know is that it has been a really long time since I last played this game. Now here I am at thirty five and I am ready to give it one possible last go.
I have to admit, I have been putting off this game for a long time because I remember how much of a challenge it is. I really dreaded the thought of struggling through it again. But the time just suddenly seemed right. I was up to that challenge. I was confident I could beat the game in a few hours. Initially there was bit of a learning curve for me but once I got going I began to remember all the little tricks you can utilize to advance in the game.
If you have never played this game before I will break down the basics for you. If you have played the game before I don't care what you do next. But you should listen to some of this game's music as you read the rest of this review because it is very iconic and will bring back a ton of memories.
You play as Arthur, a brave little knight who is out with the Princess when she is kidnapped by a red demon. What's important here is that Arthur is half naked and that he and the Princess are hanging out in a graveyard alone together when this happens. Scandalous! Arthur gathers his armor and runs off to save the day.
This is a 2D side scrolling platformer. Generally you start on the left of the screen and must run to the right to advance. Left moves you left, right moves you right. You can jump, you can duck, you can climb ladders, and you can attack with your equipped weapon. You start out with a standard javelin, which is a pretty effective but slow weapon. When you hit enemies that are holding baskets, they drop items. Items include jewels that add to your point total in addition to different kinds of weapons. Weapons include a fireball, an axe, a shield, and my personal favorite: the rapid firing knife. One of my tricks in this game is to hang out in the first level and killing the endlessly spawning enemies until I get the knife. Then I try to keep it for the entire game. It doesn't make the game easier necessarily because it is still very hard. But it is an essential weapon in my books.
A game map shows you your destination and your progress as you make it further into the game. There are six areas and one final boss you must defeat to beat the game. The first time, anyway. As I mentioned before you have to beat the game again and defeat the final boss with the shield to truly complete the game. Levels are pretty iconic and memorable. I love the first and second stages. That house with all the "Big Men" really gave me troubles as a kid. And then after that you have to make it through all those tough jumps in the city.
I find the blue cave area to be very memorable as well. And that last section with the white tiles and all the red demons to defeat. Yikes. It is memorable solely because of its daunting difficulty level. A reason this game is so difficult is because you can only get hit twice before you die. You start out with a suit of armor. If you get hit you lose the armor. Get hit again and you are toast. There are spots in the game where you can get armor back after you have lost it, but they are few and far between. Undeniably helpful, however, if you know where to look for them.
Another reason the game is difficult is because your character sometimes gets flung back when he is hit. When you are trying to navigate a difficult jumping section, this can be a huge problem. Also, your character won't move at all if you are accidentally hitting up or down at the same time you are trying to move to the side. So if you are hitting diagonal up-right, your character won't move right. Often times he will get stuck crouching too if you are hitting down and the direction you want to move. This can be really, really annoying if you are in the heat of battle. It killed me many times while playing this game and will probably kill you too.
What really makes the game difficult for me is the enemy known as the red demon. These things require multiple hits to kill. They fly around from right to left on the screen, swooping in AND shooting things at you. They are nearly impossible to defeat without getting hit. And as it takes only two hits to kill you, these things become a huge problem. Because I think they are so unfairly difficult, I have resorted to cheap tricks to defeat them. Usually I am above this kind of thing, but not in this instance. If you stand on the far edge of the screen, launch your weapon at it, and move off the screen in the opposite direction as it is getting hit, it will make the demon go off the screen and disappear completely. Because I think that these enemies are so overpowered and unfair, I do not feel guilty at all about doing this.
I thought I would beat this game in about two hours but it actually took me closer to four. The game was a lot tougher than I remembered. And I remembered it being pretty darn tough. But I kept at it. Some areas I found much easier than others. It was mainly the Big Men house with the unpredictable bat pattern level that I found to be frustrating, in addition to the last stage before the final boss of the game. I hate how they have it on the second playthrough where you need the shield to beat the final boss, but they put an enemy in your way who is immune to the shield attack. That pissed me off. It must have taken me over thirty tries to beat this stage so I could get to the end of the game. It was a frustrating experience.
However, I am glad I played and beat this game again after so many years. I think it takes a relatively skilled player to beat this game, so I felt a small sense of accomplishment after finishing it. But can I really say I had a great time playing it? That is questionable for me.
Ghosts 'n Goblins brings back a lot of memories. All of the game's enemies, stages, weapons, and sound effects and music are so iconic. I look at this game and I know it is an all time great. But at the same time it is tough because I find it to be so harsh and unfair. I like to think I had fun playing this title, but the frustrating areas of the game were really frustrating. I had several moments where I felt like I wanted to chuck my controller through the TV set. Luckily I practiced restraint and didn't do that. Should I reward a game for being so unfairly difficult?
I had fun but at the same time I didn't have fun. It is a tough for me to grade this title. I recognize that this is a classic. It has sentimental value. I grew up playing this game. It has journeyed through life with me. But it is so dang frustrating and downright not fun at all at certain times.
Sentimental feeling wins. Yes, I have a love/hate relationship with this game but it is more love than hate. Much, much more love. The harsh difficulty and the touchy controls that got me killed more times than I could count do hurt the game's overall score. All in all, however, I recognize this game's impact not only on the gaming world as a whole but on my life as well. It has flaws, but it is undeniably memorable and just a pretty darn good game.
Overall:
A-
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