Ghosts N' Goblins is a tough challenge. No doubt. If you are not using save states or some kind of way to backtrack before disaster, its definitely one of the hardest games the NES offers. Before getting a rep for lightweight and kiddie games, games being 'Nintendo hard' used to be fact. What makes its legacy so known?
1) interface - the hero, Arthur the knight, moves a bit stiff. His jump is a commitment, he cannot change direction once he takes the plunge (though you can face the other direction). There are not a lot of death pits in this game, but you will often use a jump as a dodge, and often land right onto another foe or bullet. If you do happen to toe a ledge, he drops like a stone.
2) interface-again! The hero gets a few weapons on his quest, but can only hold one at a time. Some that are great for certain parts (the slow ax destroys the dragon in just a few hits) is terrible in other stages. And you cannot switch until you find a new one, which is very infrequent. To make it more difficult, the game has 'trap' weapons placed that can block the path, forcing you to take it, and basically lose as its not for this section.
3) Enemy placement- The bad guys tend to not take many hits, but are haphazardly always in your way. Chaotic birds that dip in every 10 seconds in, a red devil that dive bombs you at angles you can barely counter from, and the worst - the big guys siting at the top of the ladders who are just waiting for you with their weird blue orbs. These guys take so many hits, and can rain fire on you from another platform, they are probably the hardest foes in the game due to where they are put.
4) Timer - There is a short clock for each leg of the stages. There is only 6 stages fortunately, but waiting for a big guy at the top of the ladder to move out of the way or a moving platform to come back around just eats your time. Even worse, you can be weapon farming and waste all your time trying to get one of the random drops. At least you get unlimited continues.
5) Fake ending- If you don't have a certain weapon for the final boss, you have to repeat the entire game over. Yeah. Its not any different, and just pads the game.
6) No life bar. You get one safe hit, which you lose your armor, then you spend the stage in your underwear. One more hit and you are dead. At least he gets invincibility frames, but against guys like the red demon or the big guys, thats a small comfort.
Graphics: 8 - This score may seem generous, but this tough game could have been made even more challenging with a typical dark palette. Imagine this game with gloomy colors. At least the bright graphics stand out, and you can't really blame a death on 'not' seeing something. Its a game about scary monsters and spooky things, and it delivers.
Sound: 4 - The music for the first stage is pretty good, but its downhill after that. The sound effects are very loud and tinny, and the 'ghost' noise is grating. Its not the strong point.
Addictive: 7 - One of the best selling points of the NES is how queued up the games are to get back in. You are gonna die a lot, but its always ready to give you more continues and keep going. Sometimes though, you hit a wall and just are fed up. There is no save/password for this, so they wanted you to do it all in one go. It can be done in about 40 minutes if you're good.
Story: 7 - So the knight is hanging out with the princess in ... a... graveyard.. lol.. just having a picnic, when all of a sudden a big red demon guy with bat wings comes and swoops the princess off! He looked evil, but happy! Better get her back. One cool feature is you see a map of the whole game before you start, so you know how close or far you are to victory.
Depth: 5 - There isn't alternate paths, or anything very different, even if you do the dreaded second run. You have to get creative with dodging foes, and making the most of the weapons. The bosses have fairly predictable movesets and few projectiles, making the basic red devil usually harder than they are.
Difficulty: 10 - If you are playing this on the NES console, this game deserved to be in the top 10 of hard games. Its just made to be unforgiving and punish you for the slightest mistakes. There are a handful of areas where you can tell the programmers are being unfair.
If you think Elden Ring is easy, and have an hour to kill, try this game. It doesn't look like anything special, but the cruelty is baked in.
Ghosts N' Goblins is a tough challenge. No doubt. If you are not using save states or some kind of way to backtrack before disaster, its definitely one of the hardest games the NES offers. Before getting a rep for lightweight and kiddie games, games being 'Nintendo hard' used to be fact. What makes its legacy so known?
1) interface - the hero, Arthur the knight, moves a bit stiff. His jump is a commitment, he cannot change direction once he takes the plunge (though you can face the other direction). There are not a lot of death pits in this game, but you will often use a jump as a dodge, and often land right onto another foe or bullet. If you do happen to toe a ledge, he drops like a stone.
2) interface-again! The hero gets a few weapons on his quest, but can only hold one at a time. Some that are great for certain parts (the slow ax destroys the dragon in just a few hits) is terrible in other stages. And you cannot switch until you find a new one, which is very infrequent. To make it more difficult, the game has 'trap' weapons placed that can block the path, forcing you to take it, and basically lose as its not for this section.
3) Enemy placement- The bad guys tend to not take many hits, but are haphazardly always in your way. Chaotic birds that dip in every 10 seconds in, a red devil that dive bombs you at angles you can barely counter from, and the worst - the big guys siting at the top of the ladders who are just waiting for you with their weird blue orbs. These guys take so many hits, and can rain fire on you from another platform, they are probably the hardest foes in the game due to where they are put.
4) Timer - There is a short clock for each leg of the stages. There is only 6 stages fortunately, but waiting for a big guy at the top of the ladder to move out of the way or a moving platform to come back around just eats your time. Even worse, you can be weapon farming and waste all your time trying to get one of the random drops. At least you get unlimited continues.
5) Fake ending- If you don't have a certain weapon for the final boss, you have to repeat the entire game over. Yeah. Its not any different, and just pads the game.
6) No life bar. You get one safe hit, which you lose your armor, then you spend the stage in your underwear. One more hit and you are dead. At least he gets invincibility frames, but against guys like the red demon or the big guys, thats a small comfort.
Graphics: 8 - This score may seem generous, but this tough game could have been made even more challenging with a typical dark palette. Imagine this game with gloomy colors. At least the bright graphics stand out, and you can't really blame a death on 'not' seeing something. Its a game about scary monsters and spooky things, and it delivers.
Sound: 4 - The music for the first stage is pretty good, but its downhill after that. The sound effects are very loud and tinny, and the 'ghost' noise is grating. Its not the strong point.
Addictive: 7 - One of the best selling points of the NES is how queued up the games are to get back in. You are gonna die a lot, but its always ready to give you more continues and keep going. Sometimes though, you hit a wall and just are fed up. There is no save/password for this, so they wanted you to do it all in one go. It can be done in about 40 minutes if you're good.
Story: 7 - So the knight is hanging out with the princess in ... a... graveyard.. lol.. just having a picnic, when all of a sudden a big red demon guy with bat wings comes and swoops the princess off! He looked evil, but happy! Better get her back. One cool feature is you see a map of the whole game before you start, so you know how close or far you are to victory.
Depth: 5 - There isn't alternate paths, or anything very different, even if you do the dreaded second run. You have to get creative with dodging foes, and making the most of the weapons. The bosses have fairly predictable movesets and few projectiles, making the basic red devil usually harder than they are.
Difficulty: 10 - If you are playing this on the NES console, this game deserved to be in the top 10 of hard games. Its just made to be unforgiving and punish you for the slightest mistakes. There are a handful of areas where you can tell the programmers are being unfair.
If you think Elden Ring is easy, and have an hour to kill, try this game. It doesn't look like anything special, but the cruelty is baked in.
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