Ghouls 'n Ghosts

"Hellishly difficult and amazingly addictive at the same time"

The "Ghouls´n´Ghosts" series might not be Capcom´s most renowned or popular game franchise, compared to "heavyweights" like Street Fighter or Mega Man, but it´s definitely a hit among fans of challenging and frustratingly difficult titles, be it the arcade original "Ghosts´n´Goblins", the SNES installment "Super Ghouls´n´Ghosts" or the more recent and critically acclaimed PSP 2D beauty "Ultimate Ghosts´n´Goblins", and of course, the early Sega Genesis arcade port of "Ghouls´n´Ghosts" is no exception.

Originating in the arcades, it´s no surprise that the gameplay in the Genesis version more than lives up to that in more than one regard, with the overly simple premise being the most notable one. It´s your typical 2D Jump & Run/Action mix, with you taking the role of noble knight Arthur on a quest to save his beloved princess from the clutches of the evil demon Loki. In order to do so, you fight your way through 6 levels with the help of several weapons like a sword, daggers, axes or of course the famous lances, fencing of countless enemies. There´s nothing too special about it, except for the ability to get a golden armor, which provides you with some magical abilities. Speaking of armors, this leads me to another arcade related aspect of "Ghouls´n´Ghosts": the difficulty level. This game sure is insanely tough, and it´s more than likely that you will have to spend several tries in order to beat some of the levels. For one, this might be because of the fact that you can only take two hits before you die: you get hit once, and you lose your armor, forcing you to continue with your boxers alone, and another hit is enough to kill you. This is made even more problematic by the considerable amount of enemies that are storming at you in each level, giving you almost no second to rest - with a special example being the bouncing turtles at the beginning of level 2 already. And let´s not forget the controls. They´re shoddy, wooden and simply flawed at times, with the jumps being the biggest issue. You simply have no proper control over where you´re jumping and where you´re going to land, making it quite often a try-or-die experience. But amidst all this, "Ghouls´n´Ghosts" shows its biggest advantage as well: since you have to re-try quite a lot of the passages, it somehow gives you the feeling that you have to succeed, that you must go on. Even at the most frustrating points in the game, I found myself trying over and over again until I was finally lucky enough to succeed. And this feeling of accomplishment is not to be underestimated for sure...heck, it´s most of the times a hell lot of fun to figure out how to proceed through certain passages in the most appropriate and safe way. Whether you´re going to love "Ghouls´n´Ghosts" or despise it to the max will most likely depend on this aspect, whether you can appreciate a highly frustrating, albeit challenging and ultimately addictive gaming experience - it´s worth the trouble, though, since you´re being provided with some neat level designs, i.e. the elevator like passage at the beginning of level 3, as well as the usual and sometimes creative monster designs like the metal-turtles or of course the red demon - let alone the big and unique boss enemies.

For an early Genesis title, "Ghouls´n´Ghosts" holds up exceptionally well in terms of graphics and can be considered to be a first generation showcase of what Sega´s 16-Bit console is capable of despite its shortcomings compared to the Super Nintendo. Unlike a lot of other first gen Genesis games like "Altered Beast", "Ghouls´n´Ghosts" comes off as a surprisingly colorful title, which is quite a feat by Capcom, seeing the Genesis hardware did not exactly as many and beautiful colors as, of course, Nintendo´s 16-Bit machine, and in combination with the character and enemy models, the game is pleasant to look at. Also worth mentioning are some boss enemies due to their sheer size and design, showing us yet again why Capcom deserves so much praise as a developer in terms of visuals as well. The graphics are not flawless, though. Arthur´s animations, for example, seem wooden and stiff these days, especially his jumps, but seeing that it has been released near the end of the 80s, one can easily overlook this minor flaw, especially in comparison to the majority of games at that time.

The Sega Genesis is not exactly well known for its amazing sound capabilities, and "Ghouls´n`Ghosts" bears a few of these disadvantages. While the music, for example, is well composed per se and quite catchy, the audio quality is merely mediocre and can become quite unpleasant to listen to at times, but once again, for a Genesis game, "Ghouls´n´Ghosts" still does a pretty decent job. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the sound effects. No matter whether you´re hitting your enemy or whether it´s another sound FX, it always seems more than odd to the ears, sometimes even bizarre, and it must be said that the sound quality of later Genesis games is vastly improved over early titles like this. Nevertheless, for its time, "Ghouls´n´Ghosts" doesn´t disappoint.

As I mentioned earlier, it all depends on whether you can take a challenge or not. "Ghouls´n´Ghosts" definitely remains true to the roots of the series by providing you with the same high difficulty level as always, but getting past the many obstacles in this game is a satisfying and addictive experience, and whoever is searching for a rock solid 2D side scroll game on the Sega Genesis should try this one.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/06