OVERVIEW
 
Ghosts N Goblins is another one of Capcom's cult classics that was very difficult to play and the first game in the series. It stars Sir Authur as the hero. He is a knight on a mission to rescue his girlfriend, Princess Prin Prin from the evil Astaroth. You go through 6 levels then face off against the final boss then do it all over again to see the true ending.
 
GRAPHICS - A 
 
This part of the review pertains to the arcade version of the game. The NES version's graphics are little bit watered down but that more to do with the color palette limitations of the ending. The selling point of the graphics are the level design with the backgrounds being well colored and clear to see as other ports being hard to distinguish between the background and the platforms. That makes it easier to get killed that way. The weapons look even better on the arcade. The fire although sometimes a useless weapon has much more vibrant flames when used. Another thing that graphics play a better role in the arcade than the ports is towards the end of the game when there are a lot of skulls on the ground that will pop up into full sized skeleton enemies when you get to close. If you don't pay attention then you might get caught by surprise.
 
SOUND/MUSIC - A+
 
The music is excellent, no matter what platform you play it on in this case. The very first level's theme is a staple for the entire series as you are more likely to hear it whenever anything pertaining to Arthur is involved. To be honest, this is one of those cases where I think the home version of said theme song sounds better than the arcade version slightly because the arcade version just tries too hard. Other tunes you will hear throughout the whole series are the pre-stage map tune, game over tune and the end of level tune.
 
GAMEPLAY - B+
 
This is one of the hardest games you will probably play in your life and the sequels to this game are even harder even with their added features. There are enemies everywhere ready to snipe you at every angle. The jumps are difficult to make as you can jump to your doom easily by landing in a pit or worse yet an enemy. This only the first level I am talking about. You cannot afford to laze around either as there are time limits in every level that vary. While each enemy can be dealt with easily, the one enemy that will give you bouts and bouts of hell is the Red Gargoyle. The Red Gargoyle deserves a difficulty scale all by itself as it is damn near impossible to hit this guy as he is extremely good at dodging your attacks. Even though the game is difficult, without the Red Gargoyle, the game is relatively a breeze. The bosses are not really that tough to deal with. The first boss is best handled from a distance. The second boss is two copies of the first boss so deal with them one at a time by keeping the first one on the screen then don't advance further to the right till it is dead. One boss that might prove to be difficult, is the dragon that loses parts as it gets damaged. This is because, if you have the wrong weapon then it will not take any real damage to the head. You need the Shield Cross to face the final boss. The game will not let you face the final boss without it. Asaroth is not that difficult to defeat but prepare to be pissed off after you beat him the first time because you got to play through the whole game all over again. You will go through this type of things in the sequels but at least you still got to fight the final boss on the first playthrough in this game. The other games would send you back to the beginning before facing the final boss to retrieve an important item available on the second go around to defeat the final boss.
 
REPLAYABILITY - A
 
This is a good game for testing your reflexes and memory with each time you play it. It is a quarter muncher when you start playing it and it will take a while to get everything down packed. Having to beat it twice is the bigger challenge.
 
OVERALL - A-
 
Capcom had a habit of making high difficulty Arcade games during this year such as Trojan which to be honest, makes this game look easy and that is saying a lot. I admit that Ghosts N' Goblins will be sure to give you a run for your money as it will totally have you on your toes especially that blasted Red Gargoyle that everyone hates with a passion.

Oh Ghosts and Goblins...You and Zelda 2 are the hardest gamess I've ever played.

Very nice review, Azul. I see very few people brave enough to play, let alone review Ghosts 'n Goblins. The red goblin actually got his own spinoff series, apparently. I want to play it sometime, but I would hate to end up liking him.

It is a fun game for sure. But it's also a very hard game as well. Thank the Good Lord for unlimited continues.