Welcome to a new edition of Retro Corner as it is that time of the year again and Halloween is upon us. As you can tell Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year and what a great way to celebrate it by reviewing the Ghosts N Goblins series. The first game was released in 1985 in the Arcades as it was the standard platformer that came out around the time. Ghosts N Goblins is one of my favorite niche series next to .hack// as the theme was being based a little on grimdark fantasy. The reason this series is a niche is from its infamous difficulty which at times can be cheap. Anyway, the theme is about a knight named Arthur that must go on a quest through the land that now has been taken over by monsters and demons from the Ghoul Realm. They have taken Princess Prin Prin (yes that's her actual name) and must stop the demon King Satan (would be renamed Astaroth in the later games) from his reign of terror across the land.
Gameplay The essential features of a platformer are present with jumping, attacking, and avoiding obstacles. Unlike in Super Mario Bros, you deal with waves of enemies that always re-spawn through each level. The game has you go through six challenging levels fending off all sorts of monsters before facing a guardian boss to progress. Along the way you will find five different weapons which include the Lancelot (the default), dagger, torch, axes, and shield. Each weapon has its strengths and weaknesses whether it's passing through objects (axes), being stronger than the other (Lancelot), or can be used faster (dagger). The first game is obviously my least favorite for a reason being its difficulty can be very cheap. The jump mechanics are very stiff and even moving forward while jumping is a chore to do especially when the enemies keep re-spawning. It's even worse when there are enemies to avoid while jumping over pits or avoiding a projectile. The levels themselves are mostly riddled with cheap difficulty as I mentioned with the obstacles. An example of this comes from the first half of the fourth level, and here you have to memorize the pattern of four moving platforms to move on. A platformer like this shouldn't have to be made this cheap as I have died many times even when I remembered the pattern. The weapons serve their exact purpose with the Lancelot and dagger being the best to use while the axes and torch were the worst. The shield is also another good weapon as it can block projectiles, but unfortunately, you only can obtain it on the second playthrough. I have no complaints as any game will always have a crappy weapon compared to the rest. The boss battles weren't as hard as the level themselves, fortunately, and their challenges were fair. However, in level 6 Capcom got ridiculous as at the start of the area you have to deal with two Unicorns (Cyclopes) just above the player. Most of the time I could barely get up there without taking a hit, but even then you have to kill one of them quickly. Once you get to the level with Satan (he isn't that hard to defeat), they decide that you have to play the game again and this time on a harder difficulty. For the sequels, this never really bothered me that much, but for this game, it was incredibly annoying especially when it's already on a hard difficulty. At least the sequels had improved level design and controls compared to the first entry's stiff movements and cheap challenges. The reason arcade games were made this way back then was so these companies could milk you for every quarter you had. The game's problem today is that this style of design is outdated with the whole "developers versus players." Rating: 7.0/10 Graphics/Presentation When it came to the Arcades, the graphics were always better than the consoles by leaps and bounds. At the time the game was on par with the standards of most titles that were above the 8-bit systems. The design of each levels' environments was better than most arcade games in 1985, and it's easy to tell what anything was. The backgrounds matched the horror theme well in a cartoon manner between the graveyard and the forest to the cave leading to the castle. The sprites had well-rendered designs showing what they are and in fact were broad in their detail. The animation was decent on the sprites too as they moved fluently with their movements. The sound effects diffidently have that classic arcade feel to them which is probably the best part of this department. I don't know what was with that year when it came to the graphics of most arcade games. Capcom obviously could have done better than this by having better animations and detailed backgrounds. It did come off stiff whenever each sprite moved, and even some movable props and projectiles had this problem as well. Unfortunately, this part of the game is the only strongest area, but despite that, it still was pretty solid for its time. Rating: 7.5/10 Features/Content During the mid 80's not many arcade games didn't have much content compared to what was on the consoles. Most of these titles would have you either repeat the same levels in a loop or a set of stages that eventually lead to the final part. Its was interesting having a two-player mode whenever another inserted a coin into the second slot after the first went in. I can't recall ever seeing many arcade coin-op machines offer this at the time which eventually became the standard with Double Dragon and Street Fighter. The two-player function works in the same way as the original Mario Bros on the NES with each player taking turns. The only other content in the game is making you replay the entire thing all over again after supposedly beating the final boss on a harder difficulty. It was rather a pathetic attempt at padding the game up as this shouldn't be the only way to increase the lasting value. Yeah the original Mario Bros on the NES did the same thing; however, it also had many secrets and additional features. I understand that arcade games were supposed to be different, but at the same time, Capcom could have done more. Something along the lines of bonus rounds would've been nice after beating a level so then the potential to earn extra lives can be there. Rating: 6.2/10 Final Rating The first entry didn't fare so well compared to the other well-known series such as with Mario or Mega Man. The gameplay felt like a chore as the controls were very stiff and so much that it would lead the players to many game overs. The weapon selection wasn't a problem which included three good weapons to use while the others sucked. It was annoying to be forced to get a particular weapon when an enemy dropped them because of the tight areas they were left in by random occurrences. The level design was also a problem with between the waves of enemies swarming on you while avoiding certain obstacles as seen in the last three levels. I do question the designs of platforms moving in a ridiculous pattern and having two of the same bosses on a platform above the player. The graphics and animation were decent with enough detail to be better than most arcade games in 1985. However, most parts of this area could've used better designs, and I do not doubt that the hardware could be taken further. The content was lackluster to the point that Capcom needed to pad it up with the player having to go through the game again on a higher difficulty. The series diffidently didn't start right, but fortunately, any problems in this entry are freshened out in the sequel called Ghouls N Ghosts. Gameplay: 7.0/10 Graphics/Presentation: 7.5/10 Features/Content: 6.2/10 Final Rating: 7.1/10 Solid Sources Arcade Cover: hubpages.com. (October 17, 2013). Games for Halloween: Ghosts N Goblins. http://hubpages.com/games-hobbies/Games-For-Halloween-Ghosts-N-Goblins
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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