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.