Ghosts 'n Goblins (video game)

This article is about the first game in the Ghosts'n Goblins franchise. For information on the game series, see Ghosts'n Goblins (series).

Ghosts'n Goblins
Promotional flyer for the original arcade version of Ghosts'n Goblins
Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Designer(s)	Tokuro Fujiwara
Composer(s)	Ayako Mori
Platform(s)	Arcade Various home computer ports
Release	Arcade: September 19, 1985 Ports: From 1986
Genre(s)	Platform game
Mode(s)	Up to 1 or 2 players, alternating turns

Ghosts'n Goblins (Japanese: 魔界村, Hepburn: Makaimura, lit. "Hell Village") is a 1985 platform game developed by Capcom for video arcades and has since been released on several other platforms. It is the first game in the Ghosts'n Goblins franchise.

Gameplay

Ghosts'n Goblins is a platform game where the player controls a knight, named Sir Arthur, who must defeat zombies, ogres, demons, cyclopes, dragons, and other monsters in order to rescue Princess Prin Prin, who has been kidnapped by Satan, King of Demon World. Along the way the player can pick up new weapons, bonuses and extra suits of armor that can help in this task.

The game is often considered very difficult by arcade standards and is commonly regarded as one of the most difficult games ever released. The game is considered by Gametrailers.com to be the world's second most difficult game ever made. The player can only be hit twice before losing a life (the first hit takes away Arthur's armor, and the player must continue on in his underwear until completing the level, or finding replacement armor). If the player loses a life, he is returned to the start of the level, or the halfway point if he has managed to get that far. Furthermore, each life can only last a certain length of time (generally around three minutes), the clock being reset at the start of a level. If the clock does run out, the player instantly loses that life.

After defeating the final boss, but only with the cross weapon (if the player does not have the cross weapon, they will be prompted that it is needed to defeat the boss and restart at the beginning of level 5 and must repeat round 5 and 6 again regardless if the weapon is obtained immediately or not) for the first time the player is informed that the battle was "a trap devised by Satan". The player is then forced to replay the entire game on a higher difficulty level before finally reaching the genuine final battle.

Ports

Many conversions to home computers were produced by Elite Systems.

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 version, released in 1986, is known for its music by Mark Cooksey, which borrows from Frédéric Chopin's Prelude No. 20. Due to the limited resources on the Commodore 64, it was somewhat different than the arcade version. It only features the Graveyard and Forest, The Ice Palace, The Floating Platforms and Firebridge and The Caves in that order. The player also starts the game with five lives. The demon that kidnapped the princess replaces Astaroth in the title screen. Additionally, the cyclops (or "Unicorn") is the boss of levels one to three, and the dragon is the final boss.

Commodore Amiga

A version for the Commodore Amiga was released in 1990. While the advanced hardware of the Amiga allowed an almost perfect conversion of the arcade game, it failed to emulate the success of the Commodore 64 version. The player starts the game with six lives and no music is played unless the Amiga was equipped with at least 1 Megabyte of RAM. The standard configuration of an Amiga 500 was 512 Kilobytes.

Other platforms

Ghosts'n Goblins was also ported to the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, IBM PC compatibles, Commodore 16, Sharp X68000, Nintendo Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and NES.

The NES version was developed by Micronics. This also serves as the basis for the Game Boy Color version, which uses passwords to allow the player to jump to certain levels. The NES version was also re-released for download for Wii's Virtual Console service in North America on December 10, 2007 and in the PAL region on October 31, 2008. The arcade version was released on the Virtual Console Arcade in Japan on November 16, 2010, the PAL region on January 7, 2011 and in North America on January 10, 2011.

The original arcade version of the game was also included in the compilation Capcom Generations Vol.2: Chronicles of Arthur for the PlayStation (in Japan and Europe) and Sega Saturn (in Japan only), which also contained Ghouls'n Ghosts and Super Ghouls'n Ghosts. The three games (based on their Capcom Generation versions) were later collected as part of Capcom Classics Collection.

Reception

The NES version of Ghosts'n Goblins was rated the 129th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list. It was also a best seller for the NES, selling more than 1 million units. Ghosts n' Goblins is often cited as an example of one of the hardest games of all time to beat, due to its high level of difficulty and the fact you must play through the game twice in order to fight the final boss.

Legacy

Main article: Ghosts'n Goblins (series)

Ghosts'n Goblins was followed by a series of sequels and spin-offs eventually becoming Capcom's 8th best selling game franchise, selling over 4.4 million units. Its sequels include Ghouls'n Ghosts, Super Ghouls'n Ghosts, and Ultimate Ghosts'n Goblins in addition to producing the Gargoyle's Quest and Maximo spin-off series. Though originating as an arcade title, the franchise has been featured on a variety of PC and video game consoles with the latest entries in the series, Ghosts'n Goblins: Gold Knights I & II, released on the iOS. Additionally, the franchise frequently makes cameo appearances—the character of Arthur in particular—in other Capcom titles, the latest of which being Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.

External links

• Ghosts 'n Goblins at the Killer List of Videogames
• Ghosts'n Goblins at MobyGames
• Ghosts 'n Goblins on the Amiga at The Hall of Light (HOL)
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• Ghosts'n Goblins at Arcade-History