Ghouls 'N Ghosts

The Good
Since the NES days of Ghosts & Goblins, it was only natural that there would have to be a 16-bit upgrade. Sega answered with this masterpiece. Big sprites (heh, sprites...), action, tons of enemies. This, my friends, is what classic gaming is all about. I mean, tell me you don't miss 2D?! I love the gold armor upgrade, the weapon charge, and the new and wierd-ass weapons (that green thing?) They kept another gem from the NES version. Having to play through twice is gonna make you mad and glad at the same time. Cheers.

The Bad
Alright. I know it's all part of the challenge, but the unavoidable damage is aggravating! I'm talking mid-jump, im-already-backed-into-a-corner, attacking a stronger enemy and being hurt by a bat, unavoidable damage. And it's a real peeve when you just get the gold armor, too. You will be using MANY continues which are unlimited (thanx, sega!). Get the codes for a good time.

The Bottom Line
A perfect game. I told my girlfriend while playing it the other day, "I've never had so much fun getting the sludge beaten out of me by a machine,". And I'll never retract that statement. 5 Starz!

The Good
Back in the day this was the greatest game around (the day being sometime in 1989). It was a great translation of the arcade without too many compromises or losses. Ghouls was the new standard in the side scrolling platform game. It controlled great, had a variety of weapons, and was extremely challenging. At the time the next best thing was Legendary Axe on the ill-fated Turbo Graphics 16.

Ghouls was actually better as a home console game than an arcade game because it was so immensely challenging that you needed to be able to play for a long time to get the tactics right. Unlike many arcade games of the day, most people hadn't gotten very far in this one in the arcade so when they bought the cartridge they were still likely to have a lot of the game left to explore.

This game also pushed the Genesis color display to the edge and you wouldn't have known that it could only display 64 colors at a time. This was true of most of the early Genesis games, but not of most of the titles released after 1990, which tended to be washed-out looking.

The Bad
In some places the control was quite unforgiving. Especially, for a pre-teenager or a child. Only an adult mind could really get the timing down on a lot of the jumps and strategies you needed to use to get farther than the first 3 levels of the game.

The game was also exactly the same length as the arcade game and could have used a few more levels. Unfortunately, at the time it was pushing the limits for how much memory a cart could use. It was a 5 or 6 megabit game when most games were 1 or 2 megabit.

The Genesis motorolla 68000 processor was not capable of duplicating the Capcom CPS1 games such as Ghouls'N Ghosts (especially not at under 8 megabits). However, Sega still managed to pull off some amazing translations with Ghouls'N'Ghosts, Strider, Forgotten Worlds, and later Street Fighter 2 and Final Fight. However, when I played these titles I was keenly aware that they were graphically inferior to the arcade (with the exception of Strider).

The Bottom Line
Its a great game that can be a little too frustrating for younger players. Ghosts'N Goblins, Super Ghouls'N Ghosts, and Demon's Crest will also interest fans of this title. If you want the original arcade it is available on the Playstation 2 in the "Capcom Classics Collection".

The Good
They put a lot of work, porting the game into the Genesis. The graphics aren't as good as the arcade but still top-notch for the early days. The game still have the hard-challenging addicting gameplay that the series is known for. Also, though the beginning intro is gone from the port, but the ending is there, at least. And finally, even when I beat the game, I still come back to it.

The Bad
The music, just like most games of the Genesis back in 1989, just has that tingly feel in the music and it's annoying. The backgrounds are ridiculously messed up. There's barely any detail in the backgrounds and I come to think of it, "Where is the background?"...Also, the lack of the beginning intro from the arcade (so what?) and the difficulty even on "Professional" is below the difficulty of the arcade, which makes it easy (I beat this game a few times without using a continue).

The Bottom Line
Despite it's downgrades from the arcade, it's still a pretty good port and this is the game back then, I played this a lot in my days and I still do it, today. This game, I love it even with it's negatives. I love it so, much...this game, is my favorite game of the GNG series. This port proves the Genesis still has it's power from the port. This game is exactly Strider-material, but it's still one of my favorite games ever on the Genesis.