It's kinda crazy what designing a game for home consoles first does for overall game design, because Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts is far and away the most well designed, consistently good game in the franchise thus far. Levels are longer, more varied, and Arthur's moveset's gotten tweaked once again to accomadate. He can't fire weapons vertically anymore, but he can double jump now, and the levels feel designed around that lack of vertical firing. The bow also exists, firing two projectiles diagonally upwards, filling the void somewhat.

Playing this reminded me a lot of beating Castlevania 1 without savestates for the first time, since the player movement actually feels like a deliberate design decision and not just to make the game harder. It was genuinely fun learning level layouts and just getting better at the game, for once in this franchise. The limited continues scared me initially, but it quickly becomes apparent how quickly continues rack up. You also die a lot, but with enemy positions and spawns being mostly fixed, it serves as a learning experience as opposed to uncontrollable RNG bs.

Also yeah, there's slowdown; admittedly a lot of it, in fact, but I don't think it's enough to really mess with the core experience. If anything, it probably made certain sections a lot easier. Still an extremely solid 16-bit platformer for anyone in search of a challenge.

I don't have much experience with Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and there's an obvious reason for that. Because the series's whole point is as a masochist game. Entirely possible to master with weeks of practice, but that's assuming you have those weeks to spare and wouldn't rather save state your way through.

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, is in many ways like the NES game, but this time around, it doesn't feel like shit to play. The controls are still limited in the same ways, but at least they feel a lot smoother this time around, and wrapped around a pretty stellar presentation. The production value has seen an immense jump in quality, and is full of neat memorable setpieces to have each of the game's 8 levels stick out.

So the problem isn't the controls, or the graphics. It's everything else. At its core, it's still a very relentless and punishing game, where the brave knight Arthur with his full set of metal-plate armor feels about as fragile as my patience when I attempt this game fair and square. But perhaps wording this as a "problem" isn't quite right, it's obvious that there is a particular niche for this sort of game, and I fall heavily out of it. More than Ninja Gaiden, more than Contra, Ghouls 'n Ghosts is an extreme challenge designed for the extreme sorts.

Also, listen, this may be a hot take, but making me play the game twice to get the true ending is a serious kiss-my-ass moment. I'm not doing that. Nobody should have to do that. The series making this a staple of the franchise, no. No, don't do that. You're already asking too much as is.

Dark Souls is for pussies.

Put that quote as my gravestone’s epitaph, all 400+ of them that I amassed while playing Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts.

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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com

Despite being "Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts", it really feels like a step back. The biggest thing is not being able to shoot up and down, but a lot of other things weigh the experience down too. In previous entries you're constantly clawing forwards, not going too quickly you run straight into danger, but not hanging around in one place and getting overwhelmed. While the second level is the biggest offender, the game has a lot more sections where you're just waiting around for things to happen, it feels like it doesn't respect your time nearly as much. Also wasn't really a fan of what the double jump added to the experience. It's a shame, I really wanted to like this more with how much I enjoyed Ghouls 'n Ghosts.

A bit of a step down from the first one, Super Ghouls'n Ghosts puts too much platform in the "action platformer" genre. In fact, it's where most of the difficulty comes from, mostly from early levels, since most bosses and enemies are actually pretty easy to beat.

It's a slow game that rewards patient play and a bit of trial and error, but it still still feels like a good designed game with not a lot of unfairness. The visuals are great, but it does feels that the Super Nintendo struggles a lot to deal with some effects, so some slowdowns are expected.

Sadly, the game feels a bit too short, and the overall clunkyness may hinder the experience a bit. Still, a decent enough game.

While it may have a reputation for being one of the hardest games from the 8-bit era, the original Ghosts ‘n Goblins, especially the NES version, wasn’t too good. Yeah, there were some admirable qualities about it, and you felt completely unstoppable for conquering what the game throws at you, but it was a pretty ugly and poorly designed product at the end of the day, and only really serves to kickstart the series and lay the groundwork for what other games would do going further. The sequel Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, on the other hand, is a completely different story. That game was a wonderful way to continue the series, making sure to keep things pretty similar to what came before it, while also improving upon it in every way, such as with better graphics, better controls, more weapons, more powerups, and more options for survival. Of course, it still kept the bullshit difficulty and two-playthrough requirement, but it still managed to provide a very entertaining and incredibly satisfying experience. So, after one miss and one hit, Capcom thought it was time to make another game, one specifically for the new hot sensation sweeping the nation, the Super Nintendo. After a few years of development, they would then bring the torturous terror of GNG to this console with Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts.

I had wanted to check out this game for a LONG time, not only because I was already a fan of the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series, but because it was the most iconic title in the series, right alongside the original, and from what I have heard, it is considered to be the best in the entire series. I do feel somewhat bad that I put it off for so long, especially after I had covered the first two games, as well as Gargoyle’s Quest, a long time ago, so to make it for it, I finally checked it out. After playing through it, I can definitely see why people would consider this to be the best in the series, but honestly, I may prefer Ghouls ‘n Ghosts just that liiiiiiiitle bit more, as that one just felt more fun and more satisfying for me. Either way, I still though that this was a pretty good way to bring this series to consoles, and while it does have its issues, both familiar and new, it still managed to deliver in all the ways you would expect it to.

The story is the exact same as the previous two games, so there is no need to go into it further then that, the graphics are pretty much the exact same as Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, but of course, it doesn’t look as good since it had to match the SNES’s limitations, but even then, it still looks pretty damn great, the music is that same ol’ menacing, yet delightful goodness you would expect from a game from this series, and the tracks do get you pumped up, while still being nervous enough, to take out any of these ghouls and ghosts that stand in your way, the control is what you would expect from a Ghosts ‘n Goblins game, so if you didn’t like it in the previous two games, you aren’t gonna like them here either, and the gameplay is pretty similar to the original two games, which in this case, I don’t really mind as much, as it still manages to be fun and satisfying.

The game is your typical 2D platformer, where you take control of Sir Arthur, go through plenty of colorful, yet deadly levels that will get in your way as much as the enemies do, defeat plenty of ghoulish creatures of all shapes and sizes that want nothing more then to see you suffer and perish, gather plenty of points, weapons, and suits of armor to help give you that slight edge over the horrors you will face, and take on several large bosses that will… not give you that much trouble in comparison to the main enemies. That seems like a recurring theme with this series as well. But anyway, it is your basic Ghosts ‘n Goblins game, which takes everything from the original game and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, combines them all, and manages to deliver another brutally challenging package for the SNES. There really aren’t that many new elements to be found here, but honestly, unlike other games like Splatterhouse 2, I actually don’t mind it too much here. No, I swear, it is not because of my undying love for Capcom. Not this time, anyway.

As I have mentioned previously, the brutal challenge these games provide, as well as the immense satisfaction you get from conquering them, is one of the biggest appealing aspects of this game. I hate to make this comparison, but I feel it has the same appeal that a game series like Dark Souls has, except it is more suited for retro gaming fans. There isn’t much versatility or variety to be found here like in Dark Souls, but it does still manage to provide extreme challenge time and time again that you must overcome, and when you do, nothing could ever come close to that feeling of triumph you get afterwards. And even then, the game itself still manages to be fun. Like with Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, it manages to provide a pretty difficult experience, yet also gives you enough help and support to where you can take on everything the game throws at you, such as with all of the powerups you get, as well as the options you get, like difficulty options and the amount of lives you can give yourself.

Of course, there are still those problems that this series carries around with it like badges of honor. Yes, the game is absolutely brutal, so if you aren’t used to hard-as-hell games, then I urge you to stay as far from this as possible, as it will show you almost no mercy. Not to mention, like with the last two games, you have to play through the game twice to get the true ending, and while you still get this new weapon that makes going through it feel like a breeze, it can still be a bit of a slog in that sense. Unrelated to those two issues however, there are several other issues with this game, such as with the continues. In the first two games, you had infinite continues, as long as you had enough credits, so that is all good, but in this game, you only get six continues. That may seem like a lot, but trust me, any fan of this series knows you need TEN TIMES that amount in order to even get close to beating the game. Aside from that though, there is one more major issue I have with the game: the slowdown. Yes, it is to be expected, not just because it’s a Capcom game, but also because it is an early SNES title, but it gets pretty obnoxious as points, and does show up much more often than you think.

Overall, despite the usual GNG problems being present, as well as the continues and slowdown not helping things, this manages to be a pretty good way to bring the series onto home consoles, and it is definitely one of the best entries in the series. I would definitely recommend it for those who are fans of the series, or for those who want another challenge to face, because this game will certainly give you that, but for those who are more casual gamers, then you should probably avoid it like the plague. But anyways, glad I finally got that taken care of. So, when’s the next mainline title gonna come out?.......... 2006? Well great, guess we gotta deal with all the weird stuff before we get there.

Game #353

the inclusion of the double jump is genius. it gives you a degree of freedom that makes the game super fun, because it's a jump that you have to commit to, but you can still modify your trajectory to the options the game gives you WHILE wrong decisions punish you for not having strategised adequately. every decision you make with the jump has future consequences with risks and rewards depending on what you choose to do.
including the typical GnG gameplay loop about showing you a challenge with minimal randomisation to maintain variety while setting on stone how you can complete it, it hooks you in... Simple- challenging fun!