Ghouls N Ghosts (Arcade) Review

              Welcome to another edition of Retro Corner as I continue this series with the sequel. Ghouls N Ghosts got released in 1988 for the Arcade and fixed many problems the first entry had. The infamous sequel also uses 16-bit hardware which enabled Capcom to produced good visuals that were above most arcade games in 1988. The theme has Arthur return to the kingdom again after three years when the Ghoul Realm returned. Upon his arrival at the forest entrance leading up to the castle town, he sees many villagers fleeing as Arthur storms through on his horse. Upon reaching the castle town, he sees Princess Prin Prin's soul getting taken away. A demon known as Lucifer looks down on him and giving the hero a sadistic smile while the knight looked on in shock. It's up to Arthur to save the souls of the land and to rescue Princess Prin Prin as well as stop Lucifer's reign of terror. ​

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Gameplay
                 Many features of the gameplay which includes shooting weapons at the enemies, avoiding obstacles and mowing through waves of monsters returns. Remember those annoying and outdated level designs from the last game? Capcom finally addresses these here as there are no cheap designs placed around the levels. The level design is the biggest improvement here as each stage is not only diverse but has more depth to it. Designing the elemental effects like strong gusts or fire blowing provided the right number of challenges. The enemy placement was much better this time as they at least give you a chance than swarming the player. They still come out in droves across the screen, but it's nothing like the original where they never gave you a chance to proceed better. There are also more diverse enemies that have different challenges from the others. Whether they were flying towards you, came at you from the ground or would shoot projectiles across the screen would benefit these challenges. Another thing I loved about the stages is having different levels to climb or descend to a different area. The original had this too but only in a couple of stages which we all know got riddled with too many enemies and bosses. It made each level come off organically with places like a prairie or a cavern that had these types of terrains. It really would create an organic challenge that anyone would find them in if they were in these areas. ​

Performing the spells with the magic armor (a lightning blast above) on the bosses really helped clean house quickly.

​                   The controls were really smooth and would make this easier to move Arthur through any action without feeling stiff. It was better navigating through each stage even when the difficulty was very high or against a hard boss. The boss battles were the same as in the original, but now each one was different and would have their unique challenges. The only time you ever go against two bosses of the same kind at once is before the last stage of Lucifer's room. However, their challenges weren't cheap this time either, and thanks to the smooth controls made for a better experience. It's still challenging, but because of these elements, I can quickly take them out. Another great addition is the magic armor that lets the player charge up their weapons to perform strong magic attacks. The magic armor was a great addition because this made it easier to take out a screen full of enemies. My favorite magic attacks were the sword that created a lightning strike in three directions and the dagger that made a doppelganger to help shoot more projectiles. These even helped during the boss battles in many ways because of the efficiency in killing them faster. These improvements and additional features are what the sequel needed.

Rating: 8.8/10
 
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​Graphics/Presentation
                The CPS-1 system uses 16-bit graphics for this game, and Capcom would develop their other titles around it during the late 80's. One thing you will notice is unlike the first entry; the sequel had nice effects that added to the environments of each stage. The use of elemental effects helped capture the mood at times as seen in the first two stages. The lightning in the first area of level 1 gave the feeling that this was a prelude to what has yet to come later from the Ghoul Realm. I also love the detail that went into the second half with the wind blowing as rain down poured which caused the trees to sway a little. The environments had better designs to them as Capcom went the extra mile with creating these unique levels. Even the backgrounds showcased an excellent use of parallax for its time. Not even Double Dragon or its sequel use this type of effect, and it shows how far Capcom wanted their game to succeed. I'm even surprised they would design skeletons that got nailed to crosses or have a village being burn to the ground by a fire creature.

The best part of this area is the multiple effects happening at once between the parallaxing background and the storm effects of wind and rain. It truly created an environment of a dark and stormy night where all sorts of demons come out.

​               Capcom was certainly going for shock value which sort of worked as it created environments that would appear in a story of its type. The animation also saw an improvement and no longer was the sprites stiff in their movements. Some had limited movement as seen with Astaroth and Lucifer but aside them every other character had fluid motion. The Intro was a little better than in the first entry and would give you the gist of what was going on. I did find it a lot more animated that depicted the villagers fleeing from the town as demons attacked the castle. The soundtrack was another thing that came off great as each track matched the environment it represented. The only tracks I didn't like were from the third level and the boss battles with Beelzebub and Lucifer. Even then it truly surpassed the first game's soundtrack in so many ways. In a year with famous arcade games, Capcom certainly should pat themselves on the back with so many things they have designed.

Rating: 8.7/10

​Features/Content
        The content is about the same as the original with the two-player function and forcing player(s) to replay the same stages to beat the game finally. Once again, Capcom just copied and pasted the same concept with no changes. At least the level design and controls saw an improvement in this infamous series that sorely needed it. The two-player feature was a little nice to have, however, the problem comes from no one wanting to try the game alongside me. As you can tell these types of games are truly meant for the single-player experience so in a sense this is a meaningless feature. I say this because the extra content doesn't benefit the experience like it does in Double Dragon II or Street Fighter. I still find the content disappointing that Capcom didn't design more features to help add things. As explained in the original review, they should've made bonus rounds where you kill a number of enemies or get through obstacles in a small time frame. It would have helped the player try to earn a higher score or extra lives so to make the gameplay easier for them. 

Rating: 6.5/10
 
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Final Rating
               The second entry saw several improvements not only in the gameplay but in its graphics as well. The level design no longer had cheap difficulty and the enemies re-spawned at a good pace. The levels also felt more organic which would add to the challenge like avoiding enemies attacking from below and above. The use of the new magic armor helped in many ways when navigating the levels and facing the bosses. The graphics saw a huge jump thanks to the 16-bit hardware of the CPS-1 that Capcom used to render the game. With a parallax effect for the backgrounds and special effects along the terrain would make the environments have great atmosphere. Even the intro and soundtrack saw a healthy amount of improvement from the original. Aside a couple of flat tracks, the music was better here especially from the remix of the first level's theme that has become iconic. Despite all the new features and improvements, the content was left unchanged with no new additions. Replaying the game twice to beat it wasn't the issue this time considering the level design and controls are better. However, the fact they didn't add anything new like the bonuses rounds I mentioned was the weakest thing about this game.
 
Gameplay: 8.8/10
Graphics/Presentation: 8.7/10
Features/Content: 6.5/10
 
Final Rating: 8.2/10 Very Good