Ghosts 'N Goblins

The Good
In Ghosts 'n Goblins, you are the legendary King Arthur who is having a picnic with your beloved Princess Prin-Prin. Suddenly, a huge demon emerges from his castle and, for no reason, decides to steal her from you. You put on your shining armor and go after him. This will not be an easy task as Arthur needs to slay zombies and other legions of hell that get in your way using a series of weapons, including the lance, dagger, flaming torch, axe, and shield (or crucifix). Depending on what weapon you use, some of these weapons can take more damage to enemies. You start the game with a crap weapon, but you can get better weapons along the way, if you destroy the sack that some enemies carry.

There is one feature that is missing from other early games. GNG gives you a second chance at trying to complete all six levels without touching any enemy. You normally wear your suit all the time unless you touch an enemy or you are shot at. You don't die, but instead, lose your suit. If you get touched a second time, you turn into a skeleton. This feature means that unless you are bad at playing games, it is likely that you get to the restart point – the point where the game lets you continue from where you died.

The Amiga version looks and plays exactly like the coin-op version. You see, besides the fact that you can use the five weapons available in the original game, you have to go through graveyards, forests, ice palaces, villages, and castles. Get through all these locations and you get to fight the final boss and save the princess. The graphics are about as clear as the original version, although they look a bit brighter. Also, when you die, the game presents you with a map, indicating the distance you must travel in order to complete the game. The bosses that you defeat at the end of the levels are drawn nicely. I especially liked the flying demon at the end of level five.

The music is a real pleasure to listen to, especially in the later levels. I have played the coin-op version two years ago, and I remembered it quite well. It had you playing all six levels twice before you can actually rescue your girlfriend. The Amiga version, though, has you completing all the levels just once before you are declared victorious.

The Bad
For an eighties game, GNG is a bit difficult. Every now and then, you will find yourself falling down into hazards like fire or off the edge of the screen if you mis-time your jumps. In the first level, zombies have the tenancy to rise up from the ground at the spot where you are at, making sure that you lose your suit immediately. The only way not to let this happen is if you keep moving and don't stop.

The Bottom Line
Ghosts 'n Goblins is a classic game where you go through six levels in order to rescue the princess. Zombies and other enemies get in your way, but you can use up to five weapons, although only one can be carried at a time. However, the less effective the weapon, the more damage that enemies can take. As I mentioned above, the Amiga version looks and plays exactly like the coin-op version, including the game's interface, graphics, and sound. Unlike other games, GNG gives you a second chance at completing the level without taking damage. If you are looking for a decent coin-op conversion of GNG, then check out the Amiga version.

The Good
This port of the game has almost everything the Arcade game had to offer. The sounds are spot on. The graphics are not too bad. There's less colour variety but better use of colour and smoother textures. And there's no censorship, seeing as the developers chose to keep the Crucifix from the Japanese version. The instrumentation of the music is pretty different yet very eerie sounding to add to that hellish atmosphere Arthur goes through.

Gameplay carries a similar yet slightly less difficulty than the arcade version does. It is reassuring that you can get the Crucifix halfway through the game. If you don't have it, you automatically get it upon reaching the final stage. The biggest advantage is that you only need to beat the six stages once. Better yet, there is a proper ending to the game and no infinite looping. Huzzah!

The Bad
This game does carry the same clunky jumping as the arcade game, but that is to be expected. The only problem with the music is that it is lacking the boss themes. Also for some weird reason, the music track from the 3rd and 4th stage is also in the 5th one. Lastly despite the game having a proper ending, we never actually see Princess Guinevere reunited with Arthur, so it is a little anticlimactic. At least the text has correct spelling.

The Bottom Line
This conversion almost captures the look and features of the original arcade, so you can almost think of it as your own home-from-arcade game. I'd like to think that some of the proper ending and easiness of the game was made to compensate for the unfair difficulty of the arcade version, but it's more likely that those adjustments were due to software limitations. Anyhow, great port, great game and one of the very few fantastic Capcom Amiga games available.