Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Sega Genesis
Nostalgia Factor:
Ghouls 'n Ghosts is one of the first games I bought for the Sega Genesis. I enjoyed its predecessor for the NES, Ghosts 'n Goblins (despite its notorious difficulty), and I really wanted to see how the series would handle the transition to 16-bit. It turns out that it would handle it quite well. I immediately considered Ghouls 'n Ghosts superior to the NES game, in large part due to its accessibility and its dramatically lower difficulty level. I played this game over and over again, eventually mastering it to the point where it wasn't even fun for me anymore
But then I stopped playing. I can't put an exact number on it, but I'd say at least 23 to 25 years have passed since I last played this game. Would it still be as good as I remembered?
Story:
This game takes place a few years after the events of Ghosts 'n Goblins. Loki (no, not THAT Loki) and his goons attack the realm, capturing the souls of everyone but our good knight Arthur. Suiting up, Arthur heads out on a quest to defeat the forces of evil and save the world. In a fashion true to the series, when you get to the end of the game you find out you don't have the proper weapon you need to defeat Loki, so you are sent back to complete the game one more time, this time collecting the powerful magic attack you need to defeat Loki once and for all.
Gameplay:
This is a 2D side scrolling platformer. You control Arthur. You start out each stage with a full suit of armor. If you take one hit, you shed your armor and go down to your underpants. Get hit again and you die. You attack enemies by throwing lances at them. The enemies constantly spawn and attack you from every angle. Some enemies drop items when they are killed. Some of these items just give you points, while others allow you to change your weapon. Other weapons you can pick up include a knife, a fireball, and an axe. There are also treasure chests that pop up. Some of these chests contain enemies that try to turn you into a duck or a chicken. You have to time your attack perfectly to hit them before they can get off an attack. Other chests give you armor. If you're in your underwear, you upgrade to your original suit. If you haven't gotten hit and you are wearing your regular armor, you upgrade to the gold armor. The gold armor allows you to hold down the attack button, which charges up an attack. What the attack is differs depending on the weapon you have. If you have the knife (my preferred way of playing the game), holding the attack button allows you to spawn a clone that mimics your moves and attacks. This is good because if you have this attack while fighting a boss character, you can make mincemeat of it in seconds. If you have the lance and you charge your weapon, it shoots lightning bolts in each direction. As I said, each weapon has its own unique special attack.
This game is five stages long. At the end of each stage, you fight a boss. For the most part, the stages operate on a "start from the left and make your way to the right" basis, but there are a few exceptions. You'll be going up and down, left and right, all over the place. One of the stages auto-scrolls, and you have to fight enemies and stay alive as the screen moves along. I always liked that level, especially the part where you have to jump around on the giant tongues coming out of the statues' mouths. This is a very challenging game. You're going to die quite a bit. There are a lot of difficult jumps - made especially difficult because if you get hit in mid-air, you get knocked backward. This leads to a lot of untimely jumping deaths. I'd say this game on the whole is much, MUCH easier than the original Ghosts 'n Goblins. For the most part, the game is pretty fair. The flying red demon things are easier to hit and dodge this time around - and to me that was the main challenge of the original game.
In true Ghosts 'n Goblins fashion, you have to beat the game a second time to see the true ending. The second time through the game, you have to collect the gold armor and then open a chest which contains a sorceress who gives you a magical blue attack. I like this attack, it is much better than the shield in the previous game. It is very powerful, goes through walls, and can hit multiple enemies at the same time. It also cancels out enemy projectiles that have been sent your way with a satisfying blue splash. You have to make it to the end of the game with this weapon in your possession and fight the true final boss: Loki. Defeat him and you've beaten the game! And you get to see its, uh, interesting ending text.
Graphics:
This game looks fantastic, especially for an early Genesis title. Bright colors, detailed stages, just an abundance of imagination was put forth into making the world of this game look really unique. Arthur looks better than ever, as do his enemies. The bosses are big and varied. The stage effects (like the fire in the second level) help add to the wonderful atmosphere of this game. I always thought the NES version of Ghosts 'n Goblins looked fine as it was, but seeing this game you can't help but notice the overwhelming graphical difference.
Sound:
This game sounds terrific too. The stage music is great, and working in tandem with the game's graphics, it helps to create a very unique and atmospheric game world. So many classic stage tunes in this game to add to my video game music playlist!
Ghouls 'n Ghosts' sound effects are no slouch either. Everything from the sound it makes when you collect an item to the sound of an enemy being destroyed to the sound of Arthur getting hit are all perfect and wonderfully add to the game's overall look and feel.
Overall:
Again, my flawed rating system comes into play here. Is this game better than Ghosts 'n Goblins for the NES? No question: absolutely. I was going to give this game a nice, solid score of a B+ when I went to go look at my Ghosts 'n Goblins review to see what I gave it. An A-. I gave that game an A-. How could I possibly give this game a B+ anymore?. It is light years better than Ghosts 'n Goblins. But I also don't feel it is worthy of an A grade. Even caving and giving it an A- is pushing it a little bit for me. But I have to give it a better score than Ghosts 'n Goblins, right? Uggghhh... What is a Dan to do?
I have to stick with my grade, with the caveat attached that I like this game much better than I did its predecessor. How could I like it more if I gave it a lower grade, you may ask? I don't have a great answer for you. There is a precedent for this. Look at X-Men 2: Clone Wars. I gave that game a lower score than the original X-Men game for the Genesis, despite me saying that Clone Wars was the better game.
Nostalgia is involved. Also my own personal state of mind at the time of my review. Oftentimes: a combination of the two. I must have really been feeling Ghosts 'n Goblins at the time I gave it that A-. Did I give the game a score that was probably way too high? Yes. Looking back at Ghosts 'n Goblins now in present day, I can't see myself giving it anything higher than a B just going off memory alone. If I could go back and change that score, I would. But I've promised myself I would never alter a game's original review score, no matter how much my thoughts on it changed after the fact.
So I am going to stick with my guns. It may be confusing, but this game gets a B+. And it is better than Ghosts 'n Goblins, which got an A-.
*sigh*
I hate myself sometimes.
Final Score:
B+
If you liked this review, check out some of my other past reviews:
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