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Ghosts 'n Goblins (video game)

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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
ReleaseSeptember 19, 1985
Genre(s)Platform game
Mode(s)Up to 1 or 2 players, alternating turns

Ghosts 'n Goblins (魔界村, Makaimura, lit. "Demon World Village") is a 1985 platform game developed by Capcom for video arcades.

Gameplay

Ghosts 'n Goblins is a platform game where the player controls a knight, named Arthur, who must defeat zombies, demons and other undead creatures in order to rescue Princess Prin Prin. 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 worlds second most difficult game ever made. [1] The player can only be hit twice before losing a life. 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.

Ports

Many conversions to home computers were produced by Elite Systems.

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 version, released in 1987, featured gameplay programmed by Chris Butler. It is also 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 featured the Graveyard and Forest, The Ice Palace, The Floating Platforms and Firebridge and The Caves in that order. The player also started the game with five lives. The demon that kidnapped the princess replaces Astaroth in the title screen. Additionally, the cyclops (or "Unnicorn") 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 (for the time) of the Amiga allowed an almost arcade-perfect conversion, it failed to emulate the success of the Commodore 64 version. The player started the game with six lives and no music was present unless the Amiga was equipped with at least 1 Megabyte of RAM. The standard configuration of an Amiga 500 was 512 Kilobytes.

Other platforms

File:Gngarcade.png
Demo game screenshot

Ghosts 'n Goblins was also ported to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC 464/6128, Atari ST, IBM PC, Commodore 16, Sharp X68000, Nintendo Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and the NES.

The NES version was developed by Micronics. This version also serves as the basis for the Game Boy Color version, which features passwords. 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 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.

This game, along with its sequel, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, is available for play on GameTap.

There is a short Ghosts 'n Goblins mini-game included in SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium for the Neo Geo Pocket Color.

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.[2]

Legacy

Ghosts 'n Goblins was followed by a series of sequels which includes Ghouls 'n Ghosts for the arcades in Template:Vgy, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts for the SNES in Template:Vgy, and Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins for the PSP in Template:Vgy.

A spinoff trilogy starring the enemy character Red Arremer was produced as well. This trilogy consists of Gargoyle's Quest for the Game Boy in Template:Vgy, Gargoyle's Quest II for the NES in Template:Vgy and Demon's Crest for the SNES in Template:Vgy. In the English localization of these games, the Red Arremer character is renamed Firebrand.

A version of Sid & Al's Incredible Toons was released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in Japan titled Arthur to Astaroth no Nazomakaimura in Template:Vgy. While not exactly a game in the series, the PlayStation 2 game Maximo: Ghosts to Glory was inspired by Ghost 'n Goblins, which was followed by a single sequel titled Maximo vs. Army of Zin.

The characters of Ghosts 'n Goblins has also made cameos in other Capcom games. The shoot-em-up Cannon Spike features an alternate depiction of Arthur (dubbed King Arthur) as a playable character. Red Arremer (along with several enemy character from Ghosts n' Goblins) appears as a hidden character in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos. In We Love Golf!, Arthur appears as a hidden golfer, and in Marvel vs. Capcom, he is a partner character.

Arthur appears as a playable character in the strategy game Namco X Capcom. Other enemies also appeared as the game's enemies.

Adam Sessler has said that this is his favorite video game.[3]

Arthur appears in Sōki's ending in Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All Stars. The Gold Armor Power up appears in Knights of the Round as King Arthur's high level armor.

Grolla Seyfarth, a character from the doujin soft series developed by [erka:es], Rosenkreuzstilette, makes various allusions to Ghosts 'n Goblins in her own stage. In the sequel, Rosenkreuzstilette ~Freudenstachel~, contains enemies that resembles Arthur and Astaroth in said game.

References

  1. ^ VC Reviews - Ghosts 'n Goblins (NES)
  2. ^ "NP Top 200", Nintendo Power, vol. 200, pp. 58–66, February 2006{{citation}}: CS1 maint: year (link).
  3. ^ http://g4tv.com/xplay/hosts/adam.aspx
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