Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts

"Old-School Fun with Solid Replay Value"

Last night, while I slept, I dreamt that I purchased copies of Battlefield: 1942 and some strange version of the cel-animated Zelda for the Gamecube from the local Fred Meyer superstore. I believe that my mind, through my subconscious, tried to tell me how much it misses the endless hours that we used to spend together, playing long-winded RPGs, horrifying survival-horror titles, and mindless shoot-em-ups. Now that I am attending college, both my free time and my wallet have come under extreme constraints: I no longer possess the infinite well of finances that was my parent’s credit card and, with no job, have little outside funds to purchase new games. Thus, while dreaming dreams of grandeur, I have managed to purchase only one title since my arrival at college almost two months ago: Super Ghouls and Ghosts for the Game Boy Advance.

For the not-so-average college student, Super Ghouls and Ghosts (Capcom) is the ideal game to purchase. Since it is for the Game Boy Advance, the packaging itself it rather small and the game fits conveniently into the pocket of any pair of pants, allowing for easy transport; more importantly, however, is the sticker price of the game: thirty dollars. Considering that the average game costs between fifty and sixty dollars, the twenty dollar price break on Super Ghouls and Ghosts opens a host of options that, after buying a more expensive game, do not present themselves. One could use the twenty dollars towards the purchase of many college-related items: alcohol, food, hygiene-products, or even more games. But, considering that you own the game and can purchase those other items on your own time, let us consider why you will enjoy playing Super Ghouls and Ghosts.

For me, who constantly remains under a pile of books and work larger than an X-Box, the issues for game-buying are simple: I want a game that will not eat too much of my free life without having it be a short and otherwise unsatisfying experience. After playing Super Ghouls and Ghosts on and off nightly for two weeks, I find that my enjoyment has not waned in the slightest.

Super Ghouls and Ghosts gallops you on a horse to the world of Arthur, a valiant knight, and his beloved Princess Guinevere. Many years ago, when Ghouls and Ghosts was first released, Arthur rescued Guinevere from the clutches of the fiendish beats of the Ghoul Realm; now he must do so again, as Guinevere once again has been stolen away to the darkness of the Ghoul Realm. Along the way, a simplistic yet rich quest will unfold in front of you, as Arthur traverses from his castle home to the deepest reaches of darkness. Through eight distinct and unique levels, Capcom presents us with a satisfying and surprisingly deep game.

The most endearing—and frustrating—quality of Super Ghouls and Ghosts is the sheer difficulty of the game. Although there are adjustable difficult settings and modes with which you can weaken—or even augment—the challenge, Capcom, holding true to the origins of the Ghosts and Goblins series, has still made their latest endeavor rather difficult; and it is the difficulty which keeps the game fresh and keeps you on your toes: you only rest when you are dead, for everything will be attempting to kill you until you are.

To aid you in your journey, Capcom provides you with numerous weapons—eight in total—containing different strengths and weaknesses; for example, certain weapons like the axe and the scythe will dispatch enemies more quickly than the dagger or crossbow, but they also will fire at a slower rate of speed and at fewer angles (the crossbow fires multiple bolts). Beyond the weapons, armor—and the respective armor upgrades—exists to cover your frail body (which only takes one hit without armor before dying) and to even enhance the abilities of your weapons.

Another redeeming quality of Super Ghouls and Ghosts is that a man without most of his fingers could play it: the controls simplistically revolve around the two buttons of the Game Boy Advance. The idea behind the controls is not difficult: one button throws your weapon while the other makes Arthur jump. If you factor in the minimal movement that the control pad provides, a decent—but not great—control scheme is brought to completion; it gets the job done, but in a sloppy manner. Often times you’ll end up dying in a situation where you shouldn’t have to due to the difficulty of jumps caused by the simplicity of the control scheme and the impossibility to gauge when one should double jump.

Not as much can be said for the sound quality of Super Ghouls and Ghosts. Capcom, in putting together Super Ghouls and Ghosts, must have had the volume control knob turned to zero, since it seems they didn’t put much thought into how the gamer would enjoy their midi music. Throughout the game, an anemic yet generous total of ten minutes of music is churned through the mini-speakers of the Game Boy Advance. Each portion of a level contains a solid loop of around twenty to thirty seconds of music with some slight variations. Some levels even repeat the music of previous levels. At one point I gave up listening to Capcom’s music and turned on my own—a recommendation that I would hope that you would take. To compliment the music, the sound effects are mediocre: not spectacular, but serviceable.

Graphically, Super Ghouls and Ghosts is a more colorful and detailed throwback to the graphics of the old Ghouls and Ghosts games. Being a throwback is a genius move on Capcom’s part for two reasons: it allows them to work on coloring and pixel detail over trying to generate a false third dimension and it allows them to please the gaming purists who bought Super Ghouls and Ghosts out of nostalgia.

However, in light of the aforementioned faults, Super Ghouls and Ghosts is an excellent choice as a purchase as it contains the two aspects of gaming that I value over flash: good gameplay and replay value. Super Ghouls and Ghosts contains two different modes—normal and arranged—along with three difficulty settings—easy, normal, and hard—that present the gamer with a world of options. With new difficulty settings and new modes come new monsters and new levels, so there will almost always be something new to see. Combined with a handy save feature which did not exist in prior games of the series, Capcom, in Super Ghouls and Ghosts, provides unadulterated, old-school fun without strapping your wallet or your free time.

Reviewer Score: 8.3/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/28/02, Updated 06/23/03