Im not sure if this is a controversial opinion or not but I don't think single player bomberman usually is good. At all. Usually its a slog and this game, despite Wario getting slapped on top of it, is no exception.

Sure theres a little bit of fun here and its a game that does get better as the game progresses thanks to some pretty fun upgrades (its really quite fun to shoulderbarge enemies into the path of bombs) but its mostly a pretty joyless affair as incredibly dumb AI enemies repeatedly bomb themselves before you tackle unfair and gimmicky bosses.

Multiplayer is where its at but because its the game boy, its still very limited even in the thing the series usually does well in. I'd rather play one of the others or the excellent power bomberman fangame than this any day.

A lot of my Castlevania review is applicable here. Super Ghouls n' Ghosts is a punishing game with a great loop that never makes death feel discouraging.

Levels have specific rhythms that are a lot of fun to learn, and maybe I'm a sicko (spoilers: I am) but the mandatory second loop is my favorite part of the game because you get to apply all you've learned into a "new" run. I'd liken this not only to repeat playthroughs of Castlevania, but to search-action games, or titles like Resident Evil, where executing more efficient runs just feels good. It helps, of course, the Arthur is a lot of fun to control. Jumps are very tight, impacts on enemies feel great, and powerups have good utility and are fun to use. Getting knocked out of and building up armor is also a really charming way to track health, and is just as iconic to me as Mario shrinking down or Sonic spewing rings.

Super Ghouls n' Ghosts is easily accessible today through Switch Online's SNES library, but it doesn't take much resourcefulness to find it by... other means. Whatever your choice of platform may be, if you're looking for a solid, challenging game, you can't go wrong with this one.

I just love the way this game looks and sounds and feels like a Super Nintendo game. The SNES is by far my favorite console, and I love it the way old film nerds like Golden Age Hollywood movies, you know? Those kinds of graphics and that kind of midi score just evokes something in me the same as a grainy black and white image of two beautiful middle-aged people bickering in Mid-Atlantic accents.

It’s common knowledge by now that I almost always play with save states or rewind so I don’t really care about the difficulty, but even with those I’ve played this game enough times where I actually think I got better with practice, something that will never happen with the NES original no matter how often I play that one. And also it’s common knowledge by now that you have to play any GnG game twice. You get to maybe be mad about that for the first one on the NES, but not for this one. Just get the bracelet and go back to the real boss and stop bitching. I mean, you also have to wait a really long time at the DMV, but if you don’t know that by now then what are you going to do, write them an angry yelp review about it?

All three Ghost and Goblins games I've finished have tightly designed set pieces even though the difficulty is through the roof, which lends it a bit of personality and diversity which wouldn't be found in traditionally segmented levels. However they all suffer the same problem: you have to beat them twice to reach the ending. These old games and their need of unnecesary padding, my god.

Also give me back the multidirectional aiming of the previous entry instead of the double jump feature, thank you very much.

Vibed with it but not enough to do the 2nd loop, sorry gang

The double-jump is a vehicle to more platformer-focused design and I don't prefer it to the more action-y approach of Ghouls. Dying and retrying is the name of Arthur's game, but what makes retrying addicting in Ghouls is the higher priority on dense enemy waves with fluctuating behavioral patterns. Everything is the same each run but the way some things react becomes variable, making replays still feel fresh. Didn't get that same feeling here.

Super also has a decent lot of auto-ish sections, and while they weren't bad, they don't let you demonstrate what you learned from the 1st loop the same way you could in an action-focused excursion.

On the flipside, the platforming is well-integrated into Capcom's environmental direction. There's a ton of terraforming and shifting biomes that both demonstrate the SNES' background control capabilities and add a breathing pulse to the world. I ascertain Ghosts 'n' Goblins is a comedy of errors where you're a weakling at the wits of a sinister power, and that feeling is doubly reinforced when the environment is equally hostile as the enemies terrorizing you - a sordid stageplay you've been dragged to against your whims. Reminds me of the early Bimbo cartoons like 'Swing You Sinners'.

Good launch era shit and meaningfully-distinct from Ghouls, even if I didn't like it as much.

i wanted to rate this game 5 stars, but in my heart of hearts i knew i was being biased so i subtracted points for the bugs. that being said: this game made me everything i am today. it has dinosaurs, a really cool hellenistic mash-up world of ancient egypt, greece, and rome, pirates, medieval castles, really dumb and cheesy humor, a plus-size librarian lady, 50's-era aesthetic sci-fi, dogs, an unfathomably ahead of its time soundtrack, a ridiculously addictive marketplace area (iyky),and overall just a really earnest affection for everything 'b movie'. yes, it's clunky and unpolished (none of the people involved had ever made a game before this), yes, there are tons of bugs, some of which are utterly game-breaking (the amount of save files i've had to erase/record over because some bug utterly wrecked everything and made it unplayable is staggering), but consider this point in this game's favor: i love it

This is a very hit-or-miss game for most people. Personally, I enjoyed the settings of each area, the combat had a satisfying rhythm to it, the concept of having multiple currencies was neat, and collecting materials to use spells was cool. However, some of the areas can prove an unfair challenge, and there's a specific rat boss that will make you pull your hair out if you fight it unprepared. I think it's worth playing today, despite that.

Also, there's a mod that enables co-op play if you want to tackle this one with a friend!