Welcome to a new edition of Retro Arena and this time we have two gothic style games going head to head. Even though Halloween is over and the Christmas season is coming to a close, that still isn't going to stop me from doing a ghoulish face off. The first game is called Super Ghouls N Ghosts, an action platformer developed by Capcom for the Super NES. The second contender is Super Castlevania IV, and it got developed by Konami on the same console. During the Golden Age, when this came to action side scrollers, both Castlevania and Ghosts N Goblins were the front-runners. However, it was mostly Konami's gothic adventure that got looked at the most in this regard for many reasons. GNG was always seen as the series that frustrated players on several occasions. While Castlevania games despite being challenging were never stuck with such a stigma to its series. So will SGNG reign supreme? Or will Super Castlevania IV strike the killing blow? Gameplay Super Ghouls N Ghosts Like any action platformer has the basics and you go from one end of the level to the last fighting hordes of enemies. However, unlike SGNG's predecessors, the third entry had some updates to the gameplay. The double jump was the biggest life saver half the time, and this gave the players enough time to avoid many situations. To add more to Arthur’s arsenal, a new green magic armor (which acts like first level spell casting) got included. I always found this as a nice addition to the magic armor set since the players didn’t need to find the Gold suit to make powerful attacks. The weapons are as typical as any GNG game with the lancers, daggers, torches and axes. The green armor gives an extra boost to these while gold suit charges a powerful attack. Capcom went the extra mile as the attacks were more impactful compared to Ghouls N Ghosts. The difficulty is about the same as its predecessor but not to the point of being cheap level design If anyone knows Capcom there is one major flaw with them and they never changed anything. It might work for Street Fighter or Mega Man, but this doesn’t work for GNG. Yes, Capcom tweaked the formula even for SGNG; however, they left the exact idea of beating the same levels to complete the game. As I have said before, it was to pad the game up when all they had to do was be creative and develop more levels. Of course, that leads me to the lousy weapons of the torch, scythe and axe. These are downright the worst versions I have ever used in any Ghosts N Goblins title yet. The scythe shoots straight forward slowly while the axe moves at the same speed but with a circular angle. The axe in the previous entry at least had a wide range but the developers thought this slow circular motion had a "better" design. Super Castlevania IV Before the series became Metriodvania in the mid 90s, the games were your classic action platformer. Except for the second title, Castlevania continued the traditional gameplay most fans came to enjoy. SCIV nearly perfected the NES controls as Simons moves more fluently than ever before. The player just has more control especially with both the Vampire Killer and the secondary weapons. In fact, I would even say most of the secondary weapons were better than half of blades in SGNG. The jumping mechanics were finally improved as each one you make is spot on instead of missing half the time. The level design is the only thing that hasn't change since the first entry, but I'm not complaining. I honestly much prefer the Metriodvania style from CVII then the traditional way it began with. There weren't that many issues for this area as Konami got the level design completely right with no cheap ideas. A new feature comes from using Mode 7 graphics to change the level's challenge in certain stages. In one area, a room would rotate, and the player would have to use the Vampire Killer to latch on to a hook. They needed to hold on until the room completed its rotation to progress. Even large chandeliers swing back and forth forcing you to time the jumping between them. Perhaps the best thing Konami got right once again is the secondary weapons Simon obtains. Every secondary weapon I got might have different ways to attack enemies; however, there wasn't one I hated. That is the complete opposite compared to the way Capcom designed the scythe and axe. The enemies have that same Castlevania challenge they always had but nothing ground breaking by any means. Even the bosses' larger sprite designs added to challenge as not only were they big enough to hit but also cause the same damage. Conclusion: SGNG takes the win for the gameplay as it had better mechanics. Arthur moved less like a tank when you consider his double jump ability. Of course, there are also the magic armors which helped in making a powerful attack. The level design for both games is basically the same as the difficulty relies on patterns for its challenges. The problem with SCIV's gameplay comes from Simon still moving like a tank and had limited abilities. Even though the secondary weapons were a little better compared to the opposition however, they didn't give enough damage. Author's lancer, dagger and bow went further especially when equipped with the magic armor. The dagger had efficiency and shot like lasers while the bow would shoot arrows that honed on to the enemies. Graphics/Presentation Super Ghouls N Ghosts We already saw GNG get brought into 16-bit with the second game for both the Arcade and the Genesis. The question was how far they could take this ghoulish platformer with hardware closer to the CPS-1 system. The answer is they did take it further and the graphics showcase what the Super NES is capable of doing. It was especially true for a launch game with more detail going on in this title compared to the Final Fight port. Since SGNG got developed on the Super NES from the ground up allows Capcom to not scale back due to limitations. Compared to the second game's Genesis port, the environments have lush detail that gives off a dark theme. There are no skeletons nailed to crosses or demonic symbolism within the backgrounds, but there's enough to showcase dark themed places. The sprites looked really good for a launch game and despite being a little cartoonish the enemies still felt like they belonged. Probably, SGNG's best feature comes from the music and it just sounds better compared to the second game. No longer did the soundtrack have that grainy sound for each song (it was a problem even on the CPS-1). I also love how adventurous but dark each song came off as the traditional graveyard theme plays within the first stage. The Towers and Sardius' Castle also had the perfect menacing tones out of the three games. It's like Arthur was truly head deep in the enemies' territory but knew he had to fight hard to save the princess. The only issues I found came from not using a parallax effect along the backgrounds. The Super NES can render this effect easily, and the fact Capcom had experience with the CPS-1 should have allowed them to make parallaxing. There also were a few features that weren't animated as seen from the Haunted Sea stage at the beginning. Even the worm boss on the Towers stage also lacked animation except for vibrating and opening its mouth. Super Castlevania IV A new system meant a fresh start for any series that continued, and SCIV truly excelled at such a thing. Unlike Ghosts N Goblins that already had a 16-bit title before its third game, SCIV getting a graphical upgrade was a new frontier. The way this game starts with its logo on a stone wall before going into a dark intro really captures the mood. The detail in most of these environments did a better job bringing them to life than the original could ever do. From the courts yards to inside the castle and its towers, Dracula's Castle never looked so amazing. The sprites appeared even fiercer compared to the previous cartoonish 8-bit graphics. The large size also adds to their menacing appearance as it something you would expect. The bosses were really broad and huge in size and like Dracula subordinates; they also came across menacing like no other times. One of the better features comes from the soundtrack and it absolutely sounds beautiful. On NES the soundtrack for all three games did have catchy music in them, but here it's on a whole new level. These studios can take any style of music and turn it into gold thanks to the Super NES's quality sound chip. Conclusion: SGNG and SCIV looked amazing for launch titles and did a better job than most studios did in 1991 (yes even compared to Nintendo). However, this goes to a tie and both titles matched each other out due to having similar efforts put into them. SGNG had broad visuals more so than most of Capcom's other Super NES games. The dark environments despite using a cartoonish art style really gave this game the look it needed over its predecessors. Even though some macabre features weren't added to the scenery it still captured the mood from demonic places with ease. SCIV used a much darker art style and went for realism thanks to the new hardware. You can't go wrong with an ancient castle filled with all sorts of horror trope monsters. Konami did a better job making these environments and characters come to life compared to their efforts from the NES trilogy. When there is Mode 7 graphics combined with detailed sprites and a near amazing soundtrack then Konami did something right. Features/Content Super Ghouls N Ghosts Ever since the Genesis port of GNG came out, the series saw content finally get added. A couple features return from the last game which includes level select and sound test. The same way it’s done in GNG on Genesis is also emulated here as you can pick any parts of the stages. However, there is one major issue and to enable the level select or sound test we would need the second gamepad. I always hated how these studios would pull this crap when all you needed was one controller. That’s like taking the Konami code from Contra on NES and you could only enable the cheat by using controller 2. Why Capcom didn’t use Sega’s example is truly beyond me? If that wasn’t bad enough, Capcom would add the same style from the Original Ghosts N Goblins. That means you have to beat the game twice to really finish it. There was no reason to use such an outdated idea that only worked in the 80s for the Arcades. The consoles are a much different market then the Arcades and this is a sad attempt at padding the game up. Super Castlevania IV Unlike SGNG, Castlevania IV has many levels to play through and has several sections to clear. A password system got included as it's a feature that's has been present since the first game. It really helps to have these especially when SCIV is a difficult game already. Perhaps a password system would've benefitted SGNG like it has for Castlevania. Similar to its adversary, SCIV also gives you a difficult setting which can please the most hardcore of gamers. It's no secret how difficult the NES trilogy was too many during the Golden Age. When you have cryptic hints, Medusa heads and poor stiff jump mechanics were the many reasons it was really hard. The only thing truly missing here is the cheats that could've made this game a lot of fun. There wasn't anything stopping Konami from using Nintendo's example to create unique passwords as cheats. I mean, Castlevania did go on to become the next Metroid considering it started with the second title. Conclusion: For this round, it goes to SCIV when you factor in its many levels and hidden areas. SCIV literally dwarfs SGNG's six stages by having twice that amount. With Capcom's latest ghoul adventure, they would pad the game up by having the players go through the same six stages twice to finish it. There was no reason for Capcom to use such an old design from 1985 within a console game. The whole "developers verses players" don't work for console gamers when the point is to make gaming assessable. Final Conclusion SCIV is the clear winner here for this battle. The remake did many things right to improve from the original NES game. The level design and challenges hasn't changed much but the gameplay mechanics saw some improvements. When jumping the player would land properly without any missed chances and even the whip is a lot more controllable than ever. When it came to content SCIV had SGNG beat considering Konami didn't pad this up like Capcom did. SGNG might've had improved mechanics from its predecessors and offered the same quality visuals, this came down to who had the better content. It's terrible to force the players to go through the same stages again on a higher difficulty to complete the game. Capcom should've developed more levels since this tells me they couldn't think of anything creative. In the end Super Ghouls N Ghosts got put to rest. Winner: Super Castlevania IV
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