Capcom Generation 2

"Knight Arthur's greatest hits...and misses..."

The second installment of Capcom's Generation collection includes Ghosts n' Goblins, Ghouls n' Ghosts, and Super Ghouls n' Ghosts. From what I can tell, Ghosts n' Goblins is an arcade perfect port. I really don't know if Ghouls n' Ghosts is the arcade version or not, and I'll go over this later. But Super Ghouls n' Ghosts it DEFINITELY a port of the Super NES game. It has the same ''cropped'' look that Rockman X3 had on Saturn, with a black bar running down the left and right edges of the TV screen. The GnG series has been a favorite of players for as long as I can remember. I spent a lot of cash on the arcade original, and when I saw this disc in a certain electronics store for a mere $20, I nabbed it. Ghosts n' Goblins is just like you remember it, but if you don’t remember it, it’s action platforming in a medieval setting. You’ve got a jump button, an attack button to toss your weapons, you can crouch, climb ladders, and you’ll be battling the clock on a few levels, since time seems to be scarce here and there. This trip isn’t going to be easy, kiddies, so strap on your seatbelts and hang on. Princess Prin Prin (ooh la la) has been snatched from your loving arms by a demon during your moonlight picnic in the...graveyard? Yeah, that’s where I’D take a date…a moonlit picnic in a sea of tombstones. Sure. Anyway, Arthur hops into his bargain-basement armor (it pops off after only one hit-did he pay $3 for it or what?), grabs his trusty throwing lance, and takes off in search of his honeybunny. Blocking his way are zombies, bats, crows, skeletons, cyclopses, brutemen, small demons, and everybody's favorite, the good ol' Red Aremer Ace. When you finally beat the pair of Lucifers, then beat down Satan in the final battle, this horrible message appears-''This room was illusion by Satan. Hurry back for real battle!''. Great grammar, huh? You then must start over in the graveyard from scratch and battle your way through the game a second time. MADDENING!!! This diabolical turn of events made many a gamer flee in terror, including me. When I was a youngun', it took me forever to finish the game ONCE, let alone twice! I had other games to play, and play them I did. It wasn't until I got Capcom Generation 2 that I actually played through both times. In his first outing, Arthur is armed with his Lance, Daggers, blue Fire Torches, an Axe, and the powerful Cross. The Cross is strong, but it has no range, so you must get up close and personal to nail enemies with it. And that’s dangerous in this world. You must also use it to get to Satan-if you don't beat the two Lucifers guarding his door with it, the game says something like ''Try again with another weapon!'' and you get to redo the level...grrrr... ''How can we make people play our game 5,000 times? Oh yeah-we can screw 'em this way! And that way! Ha ha ha ha! Foolish mortals!'' When you take a hit, Arthur's armor disappears, and he's left to run around in his underwear. Tighty whiteies! Take another hit, and he's toast, and will turn into a pile of bones on the ground. There are extra suits of armor hidden in a select few places throughout the game, but they're too few and far between, and never seem to be around when you’re in your undies. Weapons are all over the place, as are point items. It's a perfect version of an arcade classis, and it'll test your skills thoroughly. The gameplay is pretty tight, but for some reason Arthur can’t turn around while he’s crouching. This can be a pain. The difficulty level of this game is up there, and it’s a tough haul to plow through. Some of the bosses are pure evil to fight with regular weapons, let alone that no-range Cross, but it’s possible to finish the quest. The sound will probably annoy some, because the classic Ghosts n’ Goblins theme song is reused in too many levels (even though it’s a good little tune). The effects are nothing special, but are adequate for the game. It’s a fun game, but can definitely be frustrating! You’ll have to replay at least twice, because you are required to…

Ghouls n' Ghosts...I cannot tell if this is a port of the arcade version, or if it's the Genesis version, because, well, they ported the Super NES Super GnG, and also, this game sloooooowwwwwsssss dooooooowwwwnnnnnnnnn pretty badly in a few areas. Now, the Saturn should be able to eat this game up with a knife and fork without any slowdown troubles, but if the game is running on a Genesis emulator, that would explain the problems. Ghouls n’ Ghosts is the updated version of Ghosts n' Goblins. In the intro, demons come to the castle and...gasp...STRIKE DOWN PRIN PRIN AS SHE'S RUNNING INTO YOUR WAITING ARMS! It's payback time...Arthur style…Our old pal Arthur gathers up his weapons, puts on his bargain basement armor again (darn it, why doesn’t he shop at a better blacksmith? This junk still breaks off with only one hit), and sets out to exact revenge on the evil demons who have murdered poor Prin Prin. Way better graphics this time out, magic armor to find and use, new weapons to mangle the evil undead masses with, lots of new enemies to slay, and some bad terrain to traverse, too. On top of all his old moves from Ghosts n’ Goblins, Arthur can now toss a weapon straight upwards, as well as toss one straight down while jumping. The weapons this time around are the classic Lance, Daggers, Axes, blue Fire Torches, and new this time are green Chacram-like discs that run along the ground, as well as Excalibur, which acts as a normal sword and can't be tossed. It's strong, but this is not a game where you want to be too close to your enemies. The enemies are mostly new in this one; you've got your robe-wearing, scythe-carrying skeletons (Death impersonators?), rock-shelled turtles, vomiting pigmen (ick), tentacle-like plant roots (these cause major-league slowdown and I hate 'em), plus our old buddy the Red Aremer Ace, with new armor and the ability to throw mini-demons at you. Wasn't he annoying enough already?? Man. The bosses are, of course, a LOT bigger, and a LOT badder than any of them were in Ghosts n’ Goblins, and Loki, the final boss (at least, that's what he was called on Genesis-did they change it because Satan wasn't acceptable back then?) fills the screen. You have to go through the game twice of course, just like Ghosts n’ Goblins, and you must beat Loki/Satan with a blue energy bullet weapon this time. This game would be better if it didn't slow down so bloody much in some levels. There are also a lot of cheap deaths, but that's kind of a tradition in this series (please, end traditions like this in games…for the love of all humanity). Walk across a suspension bridge, and without warning your footing gives way, and now you're being eaten by a big ant lion. Pleasant! Grr…Let’s try that one again…jump over the weak spot we remember from last time (ha ha! I got it now!), and then you land on ANOTHER weak spot and fatten up the ant lion AGAIN. Hoo...Capcom, I’m getting steamed at this trial and error garbage. Third time’s the charm, fine, I’m over the bridge. Agh! A SECOND bridge!! Nooooooo….Trial and error makes this game a lot longer than it really should be, and playing through twice isn't a happy-happy-fun-fun-silly-willy time. I won't even get into the “tongue mountains”. Well, okay, maybe a little. You must ride through the levels on the tongues of rock monsters in order to get through the mountain range. Okay, fine. Well, the timing of the jumps can be maddening. And if you stay on a tongue too long, you’ll get…eaten…by the tongue’s owner. Of course, you won’t just be dealing with the tongues and the jumps; you’ll also have to deal with enemies trying their best to knock you off the tongues to your doom. Blaaaaagh! I hate this level with a flaming, burning passion. You'll wish Capcom Generation 2 utilized the Saturn’s internal backup or memory cartridge so you could save your progress...but we don’t get that feature. Gah! No! The graphics have a great style, there’s plenty of animation, and unfortunately, there is slowdown to deal with. The game has a nice soundtrack, and the first level tune is a remix of the classic Ghosts n’ Goblins theme song. The effects are nice too, but there aren’t many samples in there. The controls are good, but as a Super GnG veteran, I really miss Arthur’s double jump…those tongue mountains wouldn’t stand a chance against the double jump. It’s a fun, yet frustrating action game, and those with low frustration thresholds will probably be flinging a control pad or two on some parts. Again, you’ll be replaying because you HAVE to…groan…

Super Ghouls n' Ghosts rounds out the three games present on the disc. It's obviously running on a Super NES emulator, so it's letterboxed on the left and right edges, and it's a slow, slow game. You may remember the slowdown that was present in the Super NES original like I do, and it's actually SLOWER while it's running on a 32-bit system! Oh boy was I angry until I adjusted to the speed and played the game. Arthur runs into the castle as fireworks entertain the people. He comes upon Princess Prin Prin, his super-sweet babycakes, and they advance towards each other...Lightning strikes three times, and the outlines of three demons appear...You know what happens next. They nab Prin Prin, and Arthur is stuck rescuing her AGAIN! Man, I'm gonna start up a self-defense class for videogame princesses or something. They're always being nabbed like this! This is probably the longest of the three games, but I found it to be the easiest since I was most familiar with it. Arthur starts out in the graveyard for the third time, and he's still in his crappy bargain basement “one-hit-and-it's-gone” armor. I wish he'd stop being so miserly and spend the money on a suit of armor that'd withstand more than one bloody attack! He can now double-jump in place of tossing weapons up and down like he could in Ghouls n’ Ghosts. As for Arthur’s arsenal, the lance is back, as are the daggers, fire, and axes. They are joined by the sickle, which is just like the green chacram in Ghouls n' Ghosts, the bow and arrow, which shoots two arrows at 45 and 20 degree angles. Then there's “the weirdo blade”, which travels above you, then turns around and comes back down, the turns and shoots out in front of you, before turning again and returning to Arthur. All that motion inside of two seconds. As I said, weird. Arthur now gets green armor, which powers up all the weapons into sometimes great (arrows turn into homing fireballs, daggers turn into light spears), and sometimes terrible (the axe turns into a useless circular blade that travels above your head before moving forward. USELESS if you're near a ceiling! Argh!) new weapons. The gold armor now comes with a shield, which you can power up to absorb an extra hit (bullets only...if an enemy touches you, you're still headed to underwear land), plus the gold armor gives you different spells for each weapon. Hold down attack, and when the meter fills up, release for the spell. For example, the arrow spell reveals all hidden chests on the screen you're in. This game was nice (but slow) on the Super NES, and it's still good, but it's just even slower now...playing through it twice (Prin Prin tells you about a magic bracelet you're supposed to use that she lost on the way there, so you've got to go back through the levels again, find it, and return to the door again in order to finish the game) is a long haul indeed. To get the bracelet, you've got to have gold armor and the best shield, then you have to keep them until you find another chest. If it isn't a magician, a fairy will pop out and give you the sucky bracelet, which loses strength as it travels across the screen. When you finally do get it, KEEP IT NO MATTER WHAT to save yourself the hassle of picking it up again before the end of the game. And avoid all other weapons like the plague. You do NOT need to go through the hassle of recollecting the bracelet again! Uh, this is about forty pages too long, so I'll say this-if you can put up with the madness found in all three titles, a little slowdown in Ghouls n' Ghosts, and a lot of slowdown in Super GnG, Capcom Generation 2 is a safe buy. It gives you Arthur’s greatest adventures all on one disc, and if you’re into action platforming games, you’ll probably enjoy them despite their flaws. GlucoseJoe

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/28/00, Updated 05/28/00