Ghouls 'n Ghosts

Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Promotional flyer for the original arcade iteration of Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Developer(s)	Capcom, Sega (MD/GEN and MS ports)
Publisher(s)	Capcom, Sega (MD/GEN and MS ports)
Designer(s)	Tokuro Fujiwara Shinichi Yoshimoto Hisashi Yamamoto
Composer(s)	Tamayo Kawamoto
Platform(s)	Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, CP System, Commodore 64, X68000, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, SuperGrafx, Sega Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis, Virtual Console, ZX Spectrum
Release date(s)	December, 1988
Genre(s)	Hack and slash, Platform game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Input methods	8-way joystick, 2 buttons
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	CPS-1
Display	Raster, standard resolution, horizontal orientation

Ghouls 'n Ghosts (大魔界村, Dai Makaimura^?, lit. "Great Demon World Village") is a platform game/run and gun developed by Capcom and released as an arcade game in 1988, and subsequently ported to a number of other platforms. It is the sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins, and forerunner to the Super NES game Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts.

Gameplay

The gameplay for Ghouls 'n Ghosts is similar to that of Ghosts 'n Goblins. The player controls the knight Arthur, who must advance through a series of eerie levels and defeat a number of undead and demonic creatures in his quest to restore the souls stolen by Lucifer (Loki in the English-language Genesis/Mega Drive and Sega Master System versions), including the soul of his lover, Princess Prin Prin. Along the way, Arthur can pick up a variety of weapons and armor to help him in his quest.

To defeat the game, Arthur must complete the game twice. The first time completion allows a special weapon to appear in the next round of play. To enter Lucifer's chamber the player must have this special weapon equipped and must have defeated the final Bee boss from level 5. After entering the final large door, the player goes directly to Lucifer's chamber.

While the core gameplay remains the same as its predecessor, the game now allows Arthur to fire directly upward and directly downward while in mid air.

By jumping in certain spots, players can cause a treasure chest to erupt from the ground. By firing his weapon at the chest, players may uncover new weapons, gold armor or an evil magician that changes Arthur into an elderly man or a helpless duck. The gold armor allows players to charge up the weapon to release a powerful magical attack. Each weapon has its own special attack.

Music

The original soundtrack for the arcade version was composed by Tamayo Kawamoto. Many computer ports of the game include the soundtrack by Tim Follin which consists of arrangements and some new songs. Follin's soundtrack — especially Commodore 64, Atari ST (which both implement each machines' 'chiptune' synthesizers although the selection of pieces and some scoring differs slightly between computers) and Amiga versions (of which the playlist is again slightly different) - is respected among computer game music listeners and also got appreciation from reviewers when the game was published.

Ports

• Ports of Ghouls 'n Ghosts were released in Europe in 1989 for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. These ports were all handled by Software Creations and all omit a great deal of detail from the arcade version even on very capable 16-Bit machines like the Amiga (smaller sprites with chopped animation and color rendition, inferior quality background graphics with no parallax scrolling, reduced gameplay area, stuttering frame-rate, and much more).
• A Mega Drive/Genesis port of Ghouls 'n Ghosts was also released by Sega in 1989 in Japan, North America and Europe. Programmed by Yuji Naka, the Mega Drive /Genesis version omits color and background graphic detail from the arcade version, as well as the opening intro. This version was re-released as a handheld TV game with Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition in 2005 and as a downloadable Virtual Console game for the Wii in 2007 .
• Sega also released a Master System port in 1990. This 8-bit version features an exclusive power-up system that allows the player to enter secret areas and upgrade parts of their armor. This includes helmets, which give the player access to new weapons and magic spells; chest armor, which extends the player's energy points; and boots, which increases the player's speed.
• The Supergrafx port of Daimakaimura released by NEC Avenue in 1990 was one of the five games released for the short-lived system.
• A pixel perfect version of Daimakaimura was released by Capcom in 1994 for the Sharp X68000.
• In 1998, Capcom released Capcom Generation 2 for the PlayStation and Saturn in Japan, a compilation which included Ghouls 'n Ghosts along with Ghosts 'n Goblins and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts. The PlayStation version of this compilation was released as a bundle in Europe with three other volumes titled Capcom Generations (in plural) under the title of Capcom Generations: Chronicles of Arthur. Capcom later released in North America Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2005 and Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded for the PlayStation Portable in 2006, which includes all the Capcom Generations titles.

External links

• Ghouls 'n Ghosts at MobyGames
• Ghouls 'n Ghosts at the Killer List of Videogames
• Ghouls 'n Ghosts Dossier Titan (French fan page)
• The Ghosts 'n Goblins Series Online
• Ghouls 'n Ghosts at World of Spectrum