Retro Review Tuesday: Super Ghouls N Ghosts
-Introduction-
With the play station coming out in the mid to late nineties, the aspect of unsaveable, unforgiving games was beginning to fade away. During the days of the SNES, the early end of the decade was reserved only for those with serious will, and plenty of time on their hands. Some games will just never be forgotten long after their time, and in the case of Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, the struggle and pain that it put its players through will resonate with them until the end of time.
-Overview-
Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, equal to Ghosts 'n' Goblins in the NES, is an interesting blend of genres,
side-scrolling and shooter, considering its medieval-horror theme. You run through the levels and hurl your projectile-only weapons at zombies, demons, and of course, Ghouls and Ghosts, having nothing but a rather unreliable suit of armor and in special cases, a shield to protect you. Neither item with protect you for long, and your only true tool for survival would be the amazing maneuverability and more specifically, jumping and double-jumping capabilities of Sir Arthur, the protagonist. His quest is to save the princess he loves from the clutches of the demons. He will do this by trudging and toiling through 7 long, extremely difficult levels, a journey which can only continue as for as long as you keep your Super Nintendo powered on. And one more thing - you'll have to do it twice.
Graphics, Controls and Music:
Graphically, it's a pretty nice looking game with highly detailed backgrounds, vibrant colors, smooth animations, and complex level designs. However, during heavy sprite activity, the games
will slow down, often times considerably. Sprites and characters are well rendered with clear actions. The controls are smooth and easy to use, with a simple jump and shoot premise, which is good as the game requires sometimes insane amounts of maneuverability to survive. The music is well composed, well executed, and quite distinctive, making it hard to forget even years after you play. Although to be fair, that could also be because of how much time you'll spend in each level before progressing.
-Gameplay-
Start up:
When you begin, you can decide to plunge with in with "Game Start" or check out the options, and see what it has for you. You can choose how many lives you get per continue, ranging from one to nine. You can also change controls and the difficulty of the game.
Playing the Game:
As stated above, the gameplay is relatively simple in light of the infamous difficulty of the game. You start the game, and you're ready to go. Start running, and throw your weapon at the enemies as they come at you. Normal enemies can take anywhere from one hit to far too many to count. You can collect new weapons as you go, each with different strengths and uses. There are also pickups that award points which can help you to retain lives/continues (although it's actually rather hard to run out of continues).
Most levels have two areas, with a check point at the beginning of the second. Usually, both areas are vastly different from each other, exhibiting two very different styles of gameplay or enemies or both. There is a timer on the game, giving you just five minutes to reach the next checkpoint or to beat the level. At the end of each level there is a boss character, always huge compared to your character, and withstanding any barrage you can throw at them for a good long while. If you can manage to defeat the boss, you will be given a key to the next level. Once you've completed level seven, you will have to go back and do it all again, this time collected the Goddess Bracelet that will grant you the power to defeat the main fiend, Sardius. If you were playing on Beginner, the difficulty will be bumped up to Normal.
-Equipment-
Armor: A big part of this game would be Sir Arthur's suit of armor. Much of what makes it a big
part of the game is how little it protects against attacks. As soon as an enemy or enemy projectile strikes you, Arthur will be thrown back from the impact, and his armor will crumble, leaving him in just his boxers. Yes, it's wonderfully absurd, but it also serves as a very effective feeling of powerlessness. You can still do all your same basic maneuvers, but in a game like this, it's rather a rather uneasy feeling knowing that you've got nothing protecting you from enemies, their fireballs, or just simple dangerous parts of the level, such as spikes. If Arthur suffers a hit when his armor is gone, he is instantly reduced to bones, and not surprisingly, you've lost a life.
However, you can upgrade your armor by finding better suits in hidden treasure chests. While upgrading your armor doesn't make it any more apt to withstand attack, it does significantly boost your attack abilities, turning your ordinary weapons into powerful relics of mass destruction.
Armor Levels:
Normal (Gray) - It protects you for one hit and...that's about it. Still, you feel tons safer with even this armor on then none at all. If you defeat a boss while suitless, you'll gain this one back upon collecting the key to the next level.
Green: - A ridiculously complex looking armor, it changes the functions of your weapons and makes them more powerful.
Gold - The best suit in the game, this does the same thing as the green suit and more - by charging the attack button, you can build up your power and unleash a devastating Special Attack, unique to the weapon you're wielding. It also comes with an upgradable shield which will block certain attacks just once before it too will crumble, just like your suit.
Treasure Chests: A very important part of the game, treasure chests can hold weapons,
armor, shields, enemies, bear trap, or even an enemy who can change Arthur's form. Once you get used to the game, you can have a slight idea about what might be in a chest before you open it, as its usually the same order, depending on the circumstances. Chests are usually found by jumping in certain areas, or sometimes they're just given to you. You can also try to explore a corner that seems otherwise useless. Whatever it takes, once you've done the secret action, the chest will pop up out of the ground. The only way to open a chest is to strike it with your weapon until it breaks open. It seems annoying, but honestly it makes sense. After all, treasure chests are usually locked. Even if most games wish to ignore that fact.
Weapons:
Each weapon boasts different attack power and different uses. If you know what you're coming up on, it may be pertinent to change your weapon (if you can find a new one) to what you think would be better.
Lance (Default) - The weapon you start the game with, you can
throw two in a row. It's rather slow and not considered too useful in any situation. And with its length, it's also rather difficult to avoid picking it up if you don't want it.
Upgrade: Flaming Lance - More power, but less function
Special Attack: Bolt - A bolt of lightning will strike Arthur, which he then shoots outward in both directions. Very powerful.
Torch - A weapon of great power, these will fall to the ground soon after you throw them and burn, allowing you two different methods of attack. Straight-on attacks will highly damage the enemy it hits, or you can throw the torch to the ground and burn the enemy with the burning fire, which will lightly damage them many times at once. The only downfall to this weapon would be its lack of range, but that is usually made up for in its functions. Not always, however.
Upgrade: Fire Ball - Now featuring amazing power, this works just like the normal Torch, with a much large burn when it hits the ground.
Special Attack: Orbs of Protection - Three orbs will revolve around Arthur, killing weaker enemies as they touch them, and damaging strong ones. It's not complete protection however, so you shouldn't get over-confident when you use it.
Arrows - These are a little hard to use, as they always shoot at an upward angle. They have a decent rate of fire, and speed. They are thrown two at a time, with is good because an individual arrow is very weak.
Upgrade: Homing Bolts - Three of these are shot at once, and will home it on enemies for you. It's useful but sometimes one of the bolts can continuously circle an enemy for a long time without actually landing an attack, disabling you from throwing any more until it finally disappears.
Special Attack: Chest Finder - This will cause any chests in the area to appear, without having to find them, yourself.
Dagger - These are weak but have great rapid-fire capabilities, allowing you to partially immobilize stronger enemies as you bombard them with these. Since they still kill weak enemies
in one hit, they are plenty useful in areas very populated with these enemies.
Upgrade: Energy Beam - These first fire as a normal dagger and then are magically turned into a long, white beam with a nice sharp point on the end. They boast an even better rate of fire than the old ones, and are more powerful. They also pass through enemies, allowing you to hit targets in a line. A rather nice weapon for all situations.
Special Attack: Fire Dragon - Charge this up to unleash a blue-flaming dragon that will shoot out of Arthur, himself, and whip around the screen. It's a very powerful attack but the Dragon's path makes it a little hard to hit a lot of enemies with it.
Scythe - This is a very interesting weapon, and the only one that can change directions. These can be thrown straight or downward at the player's discretion. Also, if they come into contact with an incline, they will actually travel up the hill. When they hit an enemy, they will actually strike the enemy twice.
Upgrade: Twisted Blade - Similar function to the normal Scythe, these are basically just more powerful
Special Attack: Whirlwinds - Power this up to unleash a very effective attack where two large cyclones will attack the entire screen's worth of enemies. Pretty good for clearing out hostiles.
Axe - A reasonably powerful weapon which spins in a wide circle. This allows it to hit enemies slightly above or below you. However, in tight, tunnel-like areas or inclines, this becomes a very ineffectual weapon.
Upgrade - Discus Blade - The axe turns into a huge, round object that, when thrown, flies straight up, and then forward in a very shaky motion. Very powerful, and passed through enemies so you can hit many targets with just one throw, but even more prone to ineffectiveness in even not-so-tight areas. Also, the rate of fire is slow.
Special Attack: Beam Burst - This will shoot off beams in all directions, hitting anything around you.
...Thing - Not quite sure what this is. Makes its debut in level 5, which is reasonably far into the game. These very strange items move extremely erratically, shooting straight up, going forward for a quick second, falling downward, and coming back towards Arthur.
Upgrade - Basically a stronger version of the above, but it will pass through enemies.
Special Attack: Aerial Bomb - This causes a series of explosions of energy which can effect the enemies in the area, even if they don't actually touch the blasts.
Goddess Bracelet - A very important weapon, you can only get this on your second play-through
of the game. You need it to defeat Sardius, but you can collect it as early as level one. It allows you to obliterate enemies with a very, very powerful magical blast. From point-blank range this will destroy most enemies and open chests with just one throw. But it loses strength as it flies through the air, so at it's weakest state, it will prove less effective than anything when hitting targets from afar.
Upgrade: The weapon is always the same no matter what suit you wear, but it does change in deceptively significant ways. It gains more strength and range as you collect better armor for example, it can snuff out some fireballs right out of the air.
-Conclusion-
There's a strange amount of amusement offered in this Capcom classic despite its abusive difficulty. If you can muster up an admirable amount of patience, this is a game that will give you challenges to last for as long as you're willing to take them. So go ahead. Close this window. Find this game. Put in in your SNES. Turn it on. And see if you can accomplish something truly worth a lifetime of pride and boasting.
But make sure a friend is there with you, or nobody will ever believe you.
~RM
With the play station coming out in the mid to late nineties, the aspect of unsaveable, unforgiving games was beginning to fade away. During the days of the SNES, the early end of the decade was reserved only for those with serious will, and plenty of time on their hands. Some games will just never be forgotten long after their time, and in the case of Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, the struggle and pain that it put its players through will resonate with them until the end of time.
-Overview-
Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, equal to Ghosts 'n' Goblins in the NES, is an interesting blend of genres,
side-scrolling and shooter, considering its medieval-horror theme. You run through the levels and hurl your projectile-only weapons at zombies, demons, and of course, Ghouls and Ghosts, having nothing but a rather unreliable suit of armor and in special cases, a shield to protect you. Neither item with protect you for long, and your only true tool for survival would be the amazing maneuverability and more specifically, jumping and double-jumping capabilities of Sir Arthur, the protagonist. His quest is to save the princess he loves from the clutches of the demons. He will do this by trudging and toiling through 7 long, extremely difficult levels, a journey which can only continue as for as long as you keep your Super Nintendo powered on. And one more thing - you'll have to do it twice.
Graphics, Controls and Music:
Graphically, it's a pretty nice looking game with highly detailed backgrounds, vibrant colors, smooth animations, and complex level designs. However, during heavy sprite activity, the games
will slow down, often times considerably. Sprites and characters are well rendered with clear actions. The controls are smooth and easy to use, with a simple jump and shoot premise, which is good as the game requires sometimes insane amounts of maneuverability to survive. The music is well composed, well executed, and quite distinctive, making it hard to forget even years after you play. Although to be fair, that could also be because of how much time you'll spend in each level before progressing.
-Gameplay-
Start up:
When you begin, you can decide to plunge with in with "Game Start" or check out the options, and see what it has for you. You can choose how many lives you get per continue, ranging from one to nine. You can also change controls and the difficulty of the game.
Playing the Game:
As stated above, the gameplay is relatively simple in light of the infamous difficulty of the game. You start the game, and you're ready to go. Start running, and throw your weapon at the enemies as they come at you. Normal enemies can take anywhere from one hit to far too many to count. You can collect new weapons as you go, each with different strengths and uses. There are also pickups that award points which can help you to retain lives/continues (although it's actually rather hard to run out of continues).
Most levels have two areas, with a check point at the beginning of the second. Usually, both areas are vastly different from each other, exhibiting two very different styles of gameplay or enemies or both. There is a timer on the game, giving you just five minutes to reach the next checkpoint or to beat the level. At the end of each level there is a boss character, always huge compared to your character, and withstanding any barrage you can throw at them for a good long while. If you can manage to defeat the boss, you will be given a key to the next level. Once you've completed level seven, you will have to go back and do it all again, this time collected the Goddess Bracelet that will grant you the power to defeat the main fiend, Sardius. If you were playing on Beginner, the difficulty will be bumped up to Normal.
-Equipment-
Armor: A big part of this game would be Sir Arthur's suit of armor. Much of what makes it a big
part of the game is how little it protects against attacks. As soon as an enemy or enemy projectile strikes you, Arthur will be thrown back from the impact, and his armor will crumble, leaving him in just his boxers. Yes, it's wonderfully absurd, but it also serves as a very effective feeling of powerlessness. You can still do all your same basic maneuvers, but in a game like this, it's rather a rather uneasy feeling knowing that you've got nothing protecting you from enemies, their fireballs, or just simple dangerous parts of the level, such as spikes. If Arthur suffers a hit when his armor is gone, he is instantly reduced to bones, and not surprisingly, you've lost a life.
However, you can upgrade your armor by finding better suits in hidden treasure chests. While upgrading your armor doesn't make it any more apt to withstand attack, it does significantly boost your attack abilities, turning your ordinary weapons into powerful relics of mass destruction.
Armor Levels:
Normal (Gray) - It protects you for one hit and...that's about it. Still, you feel tons safer with even this armor on then none at all. If you defeat a boss while suitless, you'll gain this one back upon collecting the key to the next level.
Green: - A ridiculously complex looking armor, it changes the functions of your weapons and makes them more powerful.
Gold - The best suit in the game, this does the same thing as the green suit and more - by charging the attack button, you can build up your power and unleash a devastating Special Attack, unique to the weapon you're wielding. It also comes with an upgradable shield which will block certain attacks just once before it too will crumble, just like your suit.
Treasure Chests: A very important part of the game, treasure chests can hold weapons,
armor, shields, enemies, bear trap, or even an enemy who can change Arthur's form. Once you get used to the game, you can have a slight idea about what might be in a chest before you open it, as its usually the same order, depending on the circumstances. Chests are usually found by jumping in certain areas, or sometimes they're just given to you. You can also try to explore a corner that seems otherwise useless. Whatever it takes, once you've done the secret action, the chest will pop up out of the ground. The only way to open a chest is to strike it with your weapon until it breaks open. It seems annoying, but honestly it makes sense. After all, treasure chests are usually locked. Even if most games wish to ignore that fact.
Weapons:
Each weapon boasts different attack power and different uses. If you know what you're coming up on, it may be pertinent to change your weapon (if you can find a new one) to what you think would be better.
Lance (Default) - The weapon you start the game with, you can
throw two in a row. It's rather slow and not considered too useful in any situation. And with its length, it's also rather difficult to avoid picking it up if you don't want it.
Upgrade: Flaming Lance - More power, but less function
Special Attack: Bolt - A bolt of lightning will strike Arthur, which he then shoots outward in both directions. Very powerful.
Torch - A weapon of great power, these will fall to the ground soon after you throw them and burn, allowing you two different methods of attack. Straight-on attacks will highly damage the enemy it hits, or you can throw the torch to the ground and burn the enemy with the burning fire, which will lightly damage them many times at once. The only downfall to this weapon would be its lack of range, but that is usually made up for in its functions. Not always, however.
Upgrade: Fire Ball - Now featuring amazing power, this works just like the normal Torch, with a much large burn when it hits the ground.
Special Attack: Orbs of Protection - Three orbs will revolve around Arthur, killing weaker enemies as they touch them, and damaging strong ones. It's not complete protection however, so you shouldn't get over-confident when you use it.
Arrows - These are a little hard to use, as they always shoot at an upward angle. They have a decent rate of fire, and speed. They are thrown two at a time, with is good because an individual arrow is very weak.
Upgrade: Homing Bolts - Three of these are shot at once, and will home it on enemies for you. It's useful but sometimes one of the bolts can continuously circle an enemy for a long time without actually landing an attack, disabling you from throwing any more until it finally disappears.
Special Attack: Chest Finder - This will cause any chests in the area to appear, without having to find them, yourself.
Dagger - These are weak but have great rapid-fire capabilities, allowing you to partially immobilize stronger enemies as you bombard them with these. Since they still kill weak enemies
in one hit, they are plenty useful in areas very populated with these enemies.
Upgrade: Energy Beam - These first fire as a normal dagger and then are magically turned into a long, white beam with a nice sharp point on the end. They boast an even better rate of fire than the old ones, and are more powerful. They also pass through enemies, allowing you to hit targets in a line. A rather nice weapon for all situations.
Special Attack: Fire Dragon - Charge this up to unleash a blue-flaming dragon that will shoot out of Arthur, himself, and whip around the screen. It's a very powerful attack but the Dragon's path makes it a little hard to hit a lot of enemies with it.
Scythe - This is a very interesting weapon, and the only one that can change directions. These can be thrown straight or downward at the player's discretion. Also, if they come into contact with an incline, they will actually travel up the hill. When they hit an enemy, they will actually strike the enemy twice.
Upgrade: Twisted Blade - Similar function to the normal Scythe, these are basically just more powerful
Special Attack: Whirlwinds - Power this up to unleash a very effective attack where two large cyclones will attack the entire screen's worth of enemies. Pretty good for clearing out hostiles.
Axe - A reasonably powerful weapon which spins in a wide circle. This allows it to hit enemies slightly above or below you. However, in tight, tunnel-like areas or inclines, this becomes a very ineffectual weapon.
Upgrade - Discus Blade - The axe turns into a huge, round object that, when thrown, flies straight up, and then forward in a very shaky motion. Very powerful, and passed through enemies so you can hit many targets with just one throw, but even more prone to ineffectiveness in even not-so-tight areas. Also, the rate of fire is slow.
Special Attack: Beam Burst - This will shoot off beams in all directions, hitting anything around you.
...Thing - Not quite sure what this is. Makes its debut in level 5, which is reasonably far into the game. These very strange items move extremely erratically, shooting straight up, going forward for a quick second, falling downward, and coming back towards Arthur.
Upgrade - Basically a stronger version of the above, but it will pass through enemies.
Special Attack: Aerial Bomb - This causes a series of explosions of energy which can effect the enemies in the area, even if they don't actually touch the blasts.
Goddess Bracelet - A very important weapon, you can only get this on your second play-through
of the game. You need it to defeat Sardius, but you can collect it as early as level one. It allows you to obliterate enemies with a very, very powerful magical blast. From point-blank range this will destroy most enemies and open chests with just one throw. But it loses strength as it flies through the air, so at it's weakest state, it will prove less effective than anything when hitting targets from afar.
Upgrade: The weapon is always the same no matter what suit you wear, but it does change in deceptively significant ways. It gains more strength and range as you collect better armor for example, it can snuff out some fireballs right out of the air.
-Conclusion-
There's a strange amount of amusement offered in this Capcom classic despite its abusive difficulty. If you can muster up an admirable amount of patience, this is a game that will give you challenges to last for as long as you're willing to take them. So go ahead. Close this window. Find this game. Put in in your SNES. Turn it on. And see if you can accomplish something truly worth a lifetime of pride and boasting.
But make sure a friend is there with you, or nobody will ever believe you.
~RM