Ghosts 'n' Goblins - Series Review and Retrospective | Kim Justice
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- A look at the story, the making and the importance of Capcom's Ghosts 'n' Goblins, paying special attention to the original and its sequel Ghouls 'n' Ghosts. There's a lot of interesting facts behind one of the most important arcade and console platformers of all-time, as it happens. Enjoy!
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#retrogaming #capcom #ghostsngoblins #arcade
brilliant video as always Kim
Ghost and goblins on the Zx spectrum holds a special place in my heart. It was Halloween and my mum came back from the shops and surprised me with a copy of it. She literally just went by the cover art and thought it would be fun for me and my friend to play. Ended up playing it all Halloween night such a good memory.
sounds like the perfect setting for the game
Yuo should check out Capcom's Trojan as well, that has very similar beats to GnG.
One of my earliest gaming memories (circa 86 when I was about 6) was watching my older brother play the original Ghost n Goblins on his C64. Blimey, has it really been 30+ years?
I loved super ghouls and ghosts on the Snes, I used to find the intro unsettling playing late at night!...what a wimp I was!
9:30
So the Famicom port of this game came out a month after the Disk System add on, on the very first cartridge that was larger in memory than the disk format Nintendo had decided to go all in on. It's essentially the game that kept the Japanese from moving off carts altogether and at the time of release was maybe the second most impressive game on the platform (besides SMB, which had been intended as the "final" cart game). Micronix weren't Capcom but for a channel that's usually so good about context...this was an absolute cutting edge banger when it was released.
Ghost´n Goblins is my favourite arcade series ever. I´ve beated all of them multiple times with one credit. In my channel you can see a one credit score attack playthrough of Ghouls´n Ghost scoring 937.900 points.
From best to worst:
Ghouls´n Ghosts (Arcade) > Ghosts´n Goblins (Arcade) > Gokumakaimura Kai (PSP) > Ultimate ghosts´n Goblins (PSP) > Super Ghouls´n Ghosts (Snes)
From easiest to hardest:
Ghouls´n Ghosts (Arcade) > Gokumakaimura Kai (PSP) > Super Ghouls´n Ghosts (Snes)
> Ultimate ghosts´n Goblins (PSP) > Ghosts´n Goblins (Arcade)
Excellent review! I have the arcade board of Ghosts n Goblins, *never* completed it. I do have a tip though: push the way you are facing at the same time you fire and you can fire faster. (i.e.hammer fire and right on the joystick together)
These games are tough! The only one I've been able to make it through is the Master System port of Ghouls 'n Ghosts because they hand you so many more conveniences in that version. This was a great video!
Interesting bit of trivia: "Prin-Prin" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of a tight pair of pert buttocks. Make of that what you will.
And while the slowdown in Super Ghouls and Ghosts COULD be a bit of an ordeal at times, considering how hard the game is I prefer to think of it as more of a bullet time mechanic.
I think it just means bouncy or jelly-like. I doubt it refers specifically to buttocks although I can see the link between the two.
I suspect he used to watch gegege no ketarō when he was a kid as that's still going and was around in the late sixties. It's all about demons and ghosts and funny enough it's a bit like scooby doo where the kids solve demon problems. Best episode I saw was where a load of kappa go on a rampage and start sucking people's souls out there ass and this was meant for kids.
Great vid, I loved ghouls n ghosts and the snes one was my favorite. When I finally beat it as a kid I didn't understand what the numbers under Princess Prin Prin in the credits were and I thought it was some kind of password or something for a secret haha.
"Because Ghouls n Ghosts still very much remains a bastard..."....BRILLIANT!!!! I can't agree enough...never completed either of them after years of trying!
Digital Eclipse's Gameboy Color port of GnG has probably got to be the best one seeing as it's basically the NES version with smooth scrolling, proper English and much better music (by Allister Brimble no less, it's also quite a bit easier due to the zoomed-in screen and password feature). Didn't really grow up with the main series much aside from Ultimate (pissed me off too much to really enjoy it plus it's better when patched to run at 60fps) but Maximo Ghosts to Glory's one of my all-time favorite games, that is absolutely how you do Ghost 'n Goblins in 3D, I've even got the soundtrack on CD. Other tidbits, the slowdown in Super GnG was fixed in the Japan-only PS1 port and the layout of the NES port is actually based more on the arcade proto.
I never knew they actually rearranged the music for GBC
Very good review, but you failed to mention the two exclusive games in the series that were released for iOS...
Great work, as always, Kim! Ghouls 'n Ghosts is one of my all-timers. Cheers.
First time I played Ghouls n’ Ghosts was in Spain, on a campsite called Blanes, around 1989. I was nine years of age, and couldn’t get anywhere, but I still pumped my pesetas into it. I never got off the first level, and I’ve only played the game again recently on my modded Xbox. I’m still as shit at it now, as I was back then.
I got so good at ghouls and ghosts that I could do the whole game of 1 credit. I played it that much. I never finished ghosts and goblins. Spent the WHOLE day playing it...spent literally £50 trying to finish it and had to end when the arcade closed....gutted but loved it. I discovered later that the arcade where I played it had it set on a harder setting which meant that I could never get the cannon to fight the final boss from the chests. It would not give the weapon no matter what I did. Great days...lol
The slowdown in Super GNG wasn't caused by the SNES, it was caused by a programming bug in a single line of code, as a few others have already stated there is a rom hack available called Super GNG Restoration that fixes the bug.
I think the Supergraphx was the superior port at the time. Sadly almost nobody owned the system...
I saw an arcade cabinet with it last week at the Mikado game center in Takadanobaba (Tokyo). Played once, control were not as responsive as I remembered and died almost immediately. Then a local guy came and cleared the game with one coin... 😅
The Amiga soundtrack for Ghouls 'n' Ghosts was so damn good.
I like this game and your content but I don't feel this video did anything for me. It mostly just seemed like a 'this game existed and I liked it' video, which, while not inherently bad, seem like mostly a waste of time to me. Idk. Good luck.
You jumped over the sega master system version Ghouls and Ghosts which added some other interesting changes like shops. Also no mention of the Wonder Swan exclusive Makaimura or the mobile phone games Ghost and Goblin's Gold Knights I and II? Or how the GBA got an interesting version of Super Ghouls and Ghosts with a new arranged mode. Also Ultimate Ghost and Goblins also got a Japanese exclusive rerelease for the psp with some extra modes.
Instant thumbs up!
I love your retrospectives and the Makaimura series
Except maybe a random play in an arcade or with Sega Channel, I don't think I played these until I saw the AVGN episode. Now I play them fairly regularly, heh. I still can't get past the first stage XD
The best version of Daimakaimura/Ghouls N` Ghost is on the Sharp X68000 in my opinion.
Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins on PSP is insanely difficult. Makes Super G&G seem easy.
The sound design in the PSP one is amazing.
I have it, the graphics are amazing, just wish I could get somewhere in it.......just a little
@@ctbullett300 Set it to easy mode and you'll have a lot more fun, it's still challenging but also fairer. I could only beat it that way without going crazy.
Didnt know it had settings...lol. I'll give it another go, good to break the old PSP out again, mine still works great and it is an old fat one.
Thx B.E
@@ctbullett300 I use CFW on my PSP. I hated those UMDs! Too noisy and the load times are awful.
I hate the slowdown in Super Ghouls and Ghosts too. Luckily, the version released on the capcom collections for ps2 fixed the slowdown. Try it out on the collection - it's way more fun.
Holy Cow Thank you!! Ikari Warriors. I have been going nuts for Months and months trying to figure out the name of the game I played as a kid on my amiga. I was searching though old amiga game videos etc with no luck. But you mentioned it in this video and I was like OH YEAAHHH!! thanks again : )
Yeah, it's one of those series that's very interesting historically, but boy does it not fit in well with modern ideas about gaming.
Even with that whole 'dark souls' thing...
This is more on the level of 'I wanna be the guy' hard.
As in, frequently highly unfair. XD
Still, Super Ghouls and Ghosts... Certainly has a degree of charm.
But, I didn't get on with it very well.
Part of that is the brutal amount of slowdown. (seems a lot of companies REALLY struggled with the SNES in the early days - You'd think you'd get your coders with 6502 experience to work on those projects, right? But I guess not. - sure, the 65816 has it's own quirks, but a good 6502 coder would do alright, while a 'good' 68000 coder will likely make a total mess because they're doing everything the wrong way...)
The other is that... Jump.
That is just... SO painful.
Yes, it's part of what makes the game hard, but of all the various things in it, it's the least pleasant to deal with.
It feels like you lose all agency every time you jump.
Just... No.
The slowdown though... - it does bring to mind a question of whether any homebrewers could fix it;
There's a 'fixed' version of Contra 3 that manages to remove the slowdown.
Gradius 3 as well...
It seems in many cases it really IS caused primarily by really bad programming more so than any actual performance problems of the hardware...
Go figure.
The jump control method is one of my favourite things about it. I wish more games controlled like this, but it's pretty much only this and Black Tiger. I guess I don't fit in very well with modern ideas about gaming either! Never mind, I can still play Ghosts n Goblins and it's still as fun and intense as ever.
In fact it's probably one of the top ten arcade games I still come back to on a regular basis. (Not sure what the rest of the top ten would be but would probably include DoDonPachi, Giga Wing, Black Tiger, Shinobi, Wonder Boy and Bomb Jack).
For me, what's kind of funny looking back is that when I first encountered Ghosts n Goblins in the arcades around 1986/87 (it seemed to be everywhere in Australian arcades at the time... I was actually quite surprised to learn later on that it wasn't true everywhere!), it actually didn't strike me as harder than everything else out there - I sometimes think the "impossibly hard" reputation comes a lot more from comparing it to home console games at the time, rather than the arcade contemporaries. Which kind of makes sense, given it having more of a reputation as a home game, of course, but I still somewhat think its reputation for extreme difficulty is undeserved - it's not an easy game, to be sure, but drastically harder than other arcades at the time? I really question that.
I totally agree. I still can't beat it but I can get to stage five on one credit and that's a good 20 minutes worth of play from one coin.
What?!? No! The C64 version trashed the Speccy version - In all ways!
C64 version was the one I played a lot on friends C128 at the time and now that I am much older, I can honestly say that Spectrum version plays better.
@@timoheinonen9570 I found the Spectrum version to be one of the worse conversions made of the game & I have both the originals on the original computers. Different strokes I guess 😉
Ghosts N Goblins is the first arcade machine I can remember playing.
There's a hack called Super Ghouls'n Ghosts Restoration that removes most of the slowdown issues.
I also recommend the PC remake of Wonderswan GnG called Ghost 'n Demons.
Ah. I was wondering if they'd done that.
Contra and Gradius got such hacks...
Makes sense.
Those coders from back then really didn't 'get' the SNES huh... XD
To think all that horrible slowdown being blamed on the hardware, when in many cases (not all perhaps, but many of them), it's the programmers just plain doing really stupid things...
Hey, that reminds me I actually have a copy of Wonderswan GnG. It's very slow and not great, but still one of the best games I have on the Wonderswan.
Play the SNES G&G through RetroArch, SNES9x core, load up the game, go into the quick menu, set overclocking to compatible, save the configuration and BOOM! No more slowdown. Works for just about any SNES game that was ever beset by slowdown back in the day. If you find a game that still experiences slowdown, simply set overclocking to a more aggressive level. You're welcome.
Super G&G in particular has a special place in my heart. It wasn't something I considered 'hard' or 'brutal' back in the day, all games were brutal by today's standard back then. It was merely 'challenging' and a bit annoying with the 2nd loop. It was a game me and my first girlfriend's dad bonded over, Lemmings on the Master System was another one of those funnily enough. It's a game I associate with turning from a boy into a...well, bigger boy.
The Great Hadoken the version on Capcom Classics Collection (for PS2, Xbox, PSP/PS Vita) also removed the slowdown. So an official “fixed” version of Super Ghouls & Ghosts has existed for several years now.
@@samhillier9607 That's right, but the problem with Super GNG on the Capcom Classics Collection (on PS2 and XBOX at least) is the dark picture, yeah they fixed the slowdown but introduced another fault, the same problem also exists on the Capcom Generation 2 compilation for PS1
@@waynehickman8317 that is true. Still plays much better though.
" set overclocking to compatible" - aw dude, thanks so much for this advice! I have retroarch on my hacked NES Classic and while i didn't see a 'compatible' option, it allowed me to under/overclock games anywhere from (10 is standard) 5 to 100Mhz (100 seems to eliminate ALL slow down). I grew up with the slow down and didn't mind it, but having the option is so cool!
Brilliant retrospective Kim. I've had a love, hate relationship with Ghosts and Goblins throughout the years due to it's unforgiven difficulty. I love the graphics and the gameplay but the bullshit is off the richter scale with it.
Arthur and Firebrand should forge an uneasy alliance and do a crossover game.
I can never understand why there wasn’t a sequel to Pacland, what a classic platform game.
Yeah....the long water sections that you needed to wiggle the joystick to keep pac airborne was brutal...lol
@ ziggy pop. It was my favourite arcade game ever,totally under appreciated.
I can't think of a witty user name absolutely, Kim should do a review/evaluation video.
Yo Kim I know this is unrelated to the video but I am posting it here in Hope's that you read it you know you said THE NINJA was one of the best games on the master system YOU HAVE TO PLAY THE JAPANESE VERSION IT'S HAND DOWN THE BEST GAME ON THE SYSTEM THERE ARE MORE LEVELS YOU CAN FIRE DIRECTLY FORWARD AND THE ENEMIES HAVE MUCH MORE COMPLEX ATTACK PATTERNS they butchered it when they released it over here and sorry to write in caps but it really is the best
Watching your videos Kim is always a joy and very informative, you really do your research.
Played the C64 one as a kid, never finished it in fact never got off the second lvl, now I see guys finishing it in under 20mins.
If that wasn't bad enough a group when back in 2015 to it to add any missing lvl's from the arcade, therefore making it harder.
I will get round to trying to best it I suppose cause there lies the challenge.
Great vid
I remember Todd from TV show Neighbours became addicted to this game. A nasty business
So much nostalgia for this game =D Additional points:- There's an easter egg in the original Ghosts n' Goblins arcade, if you fire 10 or 20 shots at one of the gravestones on the left when you start, it turns you into something. The recent CPC remake, and the C64 "arcade version" are worth checking out! I think the CPC version is the best 8 bit version now, but the C64 arcade version by Nostalgia is also fantastic. Lovely video =D
I used to love going into arcades in the 80s and listening to find a Ghosts and Goblins machine... The music was so loud and instantly recognisable. A true classic.... SNES Super Ghouls and Ghosts is a favourite 💀
I've played this game in the Arcade and I was esthetic that it came to the Sega Master System with a great port and too bad you didn't mentioned this version as compared to the 8-bit game on the NES it's done so much better. I still have my copy today and should plug it in sometime soon again, will be a great one to play at the holidays.
I was totally hooked on the original Ghost and Goblins in my local arcade. I would skip lunch and use my lunch money to play it.
I finally beat the second level but was so desperate for the loo i had to rush out of the arcade after nearly pissinh myself. Not a life highlight but god i loved this game.
Between Commando and Ghosts 'n Goblins, Fujiwara did so much to popularize the the run-and-gun genre in both its overhead and side-scrolling flavors.
I kind of admire the original's trollish nature. The fake out ending, sending you back a level if you don't have the right weapon, etc. I would argue that it wasn't nearly as surprising or impactful in the sequels, though.
There was a version of the puzzle game The Amazing Machine that featured GnG characters released for Sega Saturn in Japan. It’s a nice little puzzle game but doesn’t make up for the lack of any future playforming sequels. Also, don’t forget the Capcom Generations series, which features the GnG trilogy on a single disc. That was released for Saturn and Playstation, although I don’t know if there are differences between the two platforms.
Yay. Nice.
I've been watching you for years now and I still can't figure out what the song is on your intros. Please tell me. Keep up the exceptional work.
It’s the Jingle from BBC/BBC Enterprises Ltd that you would get at the start of VHS tapes in the eighties (perhaps amongst other things..); there’s a channel called The TV Museum that you can watch it on. I can’t hear it without the Fawlty Towers theme starting immediately afterwards in my memory, I must have watched it hundreds of times 😀
@@plymuff1 awesome bro. Cheers for this.
Nice overview. Such an unforgettable series of games!
For those interested, there's a beautifully done remake of Ghosts 'n' Goblins for the C64 by Nostalgia. Quite an improvement and free to play.
Funnily enough the same crew ALSO released an improved version of Commando for the C64... coincidence?
The c64 versions of GnG and Commando were both programmed by Chris Butler so probably have a lot of the same code. After doing one they probably had a good idea about how to do the other.
There are also two new versions of Ghosts 'n Goblins for the Amstrad CPC Plus, one is out now and is pretty good, one is still in development and looks even better.
@@AnthonyFlack Might help yes! Still, while both conversions were acceptable at the time, they were both missing a lot of content from the arcade (especially Commando).
Elite's deadlines were brutal apparently and so games were often rushed in development.
It's a real treat when someone makes the effort to improve something that was a bit flawed and try and make it as good as possible on the specific system.
Great to hear the Amstrad players also gets to enjoy improved versions! That Pinball Dreams conversion was sweet too!
10:28 - that Forgotten World's theme gets me in the feels every time!!!
My mind was blown and I was made so happy when the store theme from Forgotten World's was used as Ezlo/Minish Caps theme ❤️
Sorry for going off topic Kim!
It is a great Game, played it on the Commodore C64 for the first time.
On which System or do you played it in the Arcade for the first time?
Great games! Too crazy hard and having to beat it twice without being invested or a big payoff at the end sealed my fate, went to games like Resident Evil & Silent Hill instead…still obviously a landmark franchise & fantastic all the same
I also still think Ghouls n Ghosts is the best in the series as well. Unless I'm remembering wrong, looks like you missed the (underwhelming) Wonderswan game in the series.
Great video Kim 👍
4:06 Seriously?! That's like if 50 Cent's name was "Rapper Rap-Rap".
Ohh what a treat... watching now but had to comment such was my enthusiasm for one of my favourite content creators and favourite game franchises
That moment between 16:05 and 16:12...Thats pure G&G right there! 😂
Just decided to leave this comment after just buying 'G&G-Resurrection' for my PS4. Had G&G for my SEGA Genesis growing up and cant even count how many times I turned it over*. Wow..just gave myself a throwback with that one. Did any of youse in the UK happen to use that expression for beating a game back in the olden days? 'Turned Over'*.. you'd possibly think it referred to rage quitting and quite literally "turning over" the game, inside the console and all. But i remember it was a pretty common term back in the 80's .
Playing G&G-Resurrection (out on Switch, PS4 and X1). The landmark madness continues, especially on the harder Legend and Knight difficulty settings. The second run in “Shadow mode” (you once again have to beat the game twice to see the true ending) is incredibly punishing.. it took me ages to even get a the first run done.
Arthur went on a date with Prin Prin in just his pants. I would say Firebrand was making an intervention.
Congratulation for a great video
Yeah it was a painful cycle of ten pees.
Cover some other CPS1 games that also got home computer and console ports. Magic Sword came to SNES. Forgotten Worlds was on Sega Genesis.....Final Fight came to EVERYTHING lol.
These vids are mint Kim. Keep 'em coming.
Ghouls and Ghosts is the best game EVER. Although, that's because I got the Sega MD version, in my childhood prime, and I FECKING LOVE THE MUSIC.
Sad to see the marvelous and way superior PCE SGFX port of Daimakaimura was not even slightly mentioned here.
Also there was a relatively late for Home Computers (1990) but near arcade perfect port on the Amiga, but which iirc needed 1MB of RAM.
If you're an aficionado of dope rhymes (and I'm most certainly THAT), check out this banger from Richie Branson and Mega Ran (aka Random), inspired by and sampling the beat.
th-cam.com/video/a2eo9P4hRpo/w-d-xo.html
Hard raps for a hard game!
Glad for the mention of Tim Follin...the c64 music for Ghouls and Ghosts was just so...how he got those sounds - did he command some strange spirit to produce them? My favourite tune was for the second level, with the delightful 'clophorse' rhythm. Interesting to see that the arcade version has a level where you slide down some icy surface - on the c64 I and a friend thought it was just frozen custard. Ah well...Excellent documentary.
I wish more people would consider Arthur for smash. His nes game sold more copies than megaman 2, but thanks to a lack of recent games and a bad showing in MvC, people brush him off as "not popular" enough.
To me, probably the most influential series I have ever played after manic miner and chuckle egg. Still love it now, although I used to be able to complete it on a credit, and now I struggle with credits!
Brings up Volgarr the Viking but then shows Battle Princess Madelyn.... But to really nit-pick, Volgarr is way more like Rastan.
I spent many a 10 pence at the arcades in Morecambe Bay playing this. I might be wrong but I'm convinced it was 1 of the first games with a double jump.
As a kid on holiday I spent all my holiday money on this in Tintagel and Kung Fu Master. Blew it all quick. I was like this is what money is for. Parents didn't understand me.
You missed the WonderSwan exclusive G'nG game. It is actually pretty good for a handheld game.
You also forgot Arthur in Super G&G for the wizards they also can turn Arthur into a defenceless village girl, got it randomly on the Snes port and the Mame it’s just rare
Very cool video. Thoroughly enjoyed watching this Kim.
Also if you have any interests you should try Ghost's n Demon's, its a fan made game heavily based on the Swan handheld console game and free to play. Definitely recommend it.
Fuck, I loved and hated this game alot. Once I was seriously considering throwing my C64 out of window.
The 2015 arcade edit of the C= 64 version makes it a much better game on that platform.
csdb.dk/release/?id=139257
Very enjoyable vid! Would it be possible to list the ‘inspired’ games seen in the end? And possibly sort them on difficulty? :D
Excellent vid Kim
micronix developed ikari warriors for NES as well...legend has it - it's just one guy
Sms version?
The NES version of Ghosts 'n' Goblins is so shit. It's not because it's hard, it's because it's stiff, ugly, and badly designed. Can't stand it.
Wouldn’t call being able to shoot up and downwards in Ghouls N Ghosts a QOL change, those are straight up new mechanics
Brilliant video 👍👍👍 The Amiga version of Ghost'n Goblins is pretty good. You forgot to mention it
CAPCOM BEST SOFTWARE HOUSE ON THE. PLANET ALONG WITH KONAMI 1980s ARCADE
I'm going to guess the "cartoons of his youth" included stuff like Devilman.
My favourite games of all time Ghosts and Goblins and Super Ghouls and Ghosts. Gives me anus spasms
Keep up the great work! Greetings from Missouri 🇺🇲
I'm surprised you didn't mention the Wonderswans Ghost N Demons, the hardest out of all of them
7:18 OH MY FUCK THIS 30-YEAR-OLD ARCADE GAME HAD BETTER SUPPORT AND QA THAN ANY MODERN BETHESDA GAME
I thought the sega genesis port of ghouls 'n ghosts was very compedent and faithful to the arcade source imho.
On the speccy I think I only ever got past that fucking flying Arima thing once on the first level!
it was recently revealed that the cartoons that influenced the game are are...
the cartoon segments of Monti Pithon!
Amazing work as usual looking forward for 2020!
One of my all-time favourite series. Hard but so wonderful too, the old knight in shining armour tale is timeless.
I just sat through a 4 minute crappy add. Only for Kim! 👍🏻
If a programmer looked like Arima I don't think I ever wanna meet that guy!
100% an arcade classic for me. Think I sunk more ten p’s in this than any other machine
The NES version sucks and I hate it