Holy crap this game is hard. I'm shocked I even beat it. Super Ghouls'n Ghosts is a sidescrolling action game devised by Capcom, like many SNES greats are. You play through 7 levels to save the princess. Super original plot, I know. But, Super Ghouls'n Ghosts really shines with its meticulously tuned levels and difficulty. The theming of each level is pretty cool, The spritework is goregeous for an early snes game, and the music is unique and memorable.
From the very beginning, this game isnt afraid to show how difficult the journey will be. You can take 2 hits before you die, and your weapon can be swapped out for a different one through random drops. You've got a double jump, but it takes some getting used to as you have zero air control. It asks for constant spacial awareness and focus so that you don't get hit after a bad jump, or from a poorly telegraphed enemy attack. But... there is just enough leeway in the control scheme to get good at handling the stiff movement.
Once you've gotten used to the controls, found a decent weapon and have memorized most of the levels, the game tells you that you need to beat it again. As if it wasn't difficult enough to make it to the end once, you also need to find a new weapon exclusive to the second playthrough to beat the final boss. Doing the second runthrough was much more challenging, as the weapon you need drops randomly only when you have gold armor. Yeah, you can't get hit at all, you've gotta get two random drop armor upgrades, and THEN you can get the randomly dropped weapon to beat the game.
Plenty of people havent been able to beat level 1, let alone all 7, and hearing the news of a second playthrough is enough to make anyone stop playing. It cannot be understated how challenging this game is and how much focus it requires. The boss at the end of level 7 is notoriously difficult to beat with the required weapon too, so you might run out of time and die before you can get the boss's health low enough.
I haven't even mentioned that Super Ghouls'n Ghosts doesn't have a save or password system, so you need to do two playthroughs in one sitting to have a chance of beating it. Capcom, would it have killed you to put in a password system like some of your other snes titles!?
So... yeah. It's a great game if you like challenging titles, but it firmly sticks in the "NES hard" category of games. It is unfair at times and can be pretty BS too. I will admit I used NSO's rewind feature sparingly to be able to finally beat it. On original hardware, I only ever made it through the first playthrough.
I'd love to hear what others think of Super Ghouls'n Ghosts in the comments and any tricks you might have to beat the game without rewind!
From the very beginning, this game isnt afraid to show how difficult the journey will be. You can take 2 hits before you die, and your weapon can be swapped out for a different one through random drops. You've got a double jump, but it takes some getting used to as you have zero air control. It asks for constant spacial awareness and focus so that you don't get hit after a bad jump, or from a poorly telegraphed enemy attack. But... there is just enough leeway in the control scheme to get good at handling the stiff movement.
Once you've gotten used to the controls, found a decent weapon and have memorized most of the levels, the game tells you that you need to beat it again. As if it wasn't difficult enough to make it to the end once, you also need to find a new weapon exclusive to the second playthrough to beat the final boss. Doing the second runthrough was much more challenging, as the weapon you need drops randomly only when you have gold armor. Yeah, you can't get hit at all, you've gotta get two random drop armor upgrades, and THEN you can get the randomly dropped weapon to beat the game.
Plenty of people havent been able to beat level 1, let alone all 7, and hearing the news of a second playthrough is enough to make anyone stop playing. It cannot be understated how challenging this game is and how much focus it requires. The boss at the end of level 7 is notoriously difficult to beat with the required weapon too, so you might run out of time and die before you can get the boss's health low enough.
I haven't even mentioned that Super Ghouls'n Ghosts doesn't have a save or password system, so you need to do two playthroughs in one sitting to have a chance of beating it. Capcom, would it have killed you to put in a password system like some of your other snes titles!?
So... yeah. It's a great game if you like challenging titles, but it firmly sticks in the "NES hard" category of games. It is unfair at times and can be pretty BS too. I will admit I used NSO's rewind feature sparingly to be able to finally beat it. On original hardware, I only ever made it through the first playthrough.
I'd love to hear what others think of Super Ghouls'n Ghosts in the comments and any tricks you might have to beat the game without rewind!