Super FamiComplete #36: Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (Redux)

Title: Super Ghouls and Ghosts (NA), ChouMakaiMura (JP)

Release Date: October 4th, 1991

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

So one day will I have to review this game again for Capcom A to Z? Haha, just kidding...I will probably never make it past M for Mega Man with that blog. Anyway, when I originally wrote this piece, I had been dreading playing through this game. I have had this game in my collection since I was a a lil'un, but I was barely able to get past the second level. Frankly, my fears were justified, as this game was a SOB to complete for review. Full disclosure: I did not use cheats, but I resorted to save scumming with this one. In essence, still cheating as it breaks the spirit of the game, but I want to actually, you know, beat this so I can properly review it. 

Background

First of all, I love this games Japanese name: when translated, it means Ultra Demon World Village. The Super Famicom boxart is pretty stellar for this one as well. The title is pretty darn accurate for the backstory of this game. The game is about a poor soul named Arthur, a Knight who is tasked with saving his beloved Princess (known to fans as Prin Prin) from the evil demon king Sardius. The game starts with the two lovebirds about to embrace, when the red Demon Firebrand (who went on to star in his own Gargoyle series of games) swoops through the window and grabs Prin Prin. Between Arthur and the Princess is a whole army of demons, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and monsters, all of whom are ready to tear poor Arthur to tatters. 

Now this game is actually the third installment in Capcom's MakaiMura  series, the first being Ghosts and Goblins, and the second being Ghouls and Ghosts.  Both were incredibly popular arcade games, and each received ports to most of the systems and consoles at the time. Super Ghouls and Ghosts, though, is pretty unique as, until recently when ports were made as part of a Capcom Compilation for the PS2, it was only available on the SNES. It apparently sold quite well, making it one of Capcom's most popular SNES titles.

The series was created by renowned Capcom producer/director Tokuro Fujiwara, who made some other of Capcom's seminal series, such as Bionic Commando and the standalone hit Sweet Home (which later inspired Resident Evil). The music, which I will talk more about later, was composed by Mari Yamaguchi, who also did the music for several other Capcom hits, like Breath of Fire and some of the Mega Man games.

Finally, the thing this series is known for is its crushing difficulty, which has been emblemized in a couple of key ways (and which this title maintains)...

• little to no checkpointing throughout each level.
• Punishing upgrade system where all upgrades are stripped upon taking damage.
• An enforced slow and methodical pace made into effect by limited range of attack, a jump that can't be altered once committed to, and a complex system of RNG based enemy patterns and upgrades based on player input. 
• In order to "beat/complete" the game, it must be completed twice in a row with a very specific weapon maintained on the second playthrough. 

Aesthetic
The visual design of this game is great: it is sufficiently creepy and horror filled while maintaining a cartoony air of levity sprinkled throughout. The monsters are creepy and frightening, but are just cutesy enough to want a plushy of them. The world of this game is fully realized; It maintains the Medieval horror atmosphere perfectly. Case in point: the first level is a foreboding graveyard that is slowly being overrun with demonic flora and undead monsters. The land beneath you literally transforms and quakes as it is upended by the monstrous invasion. It feels like you are slowly straying from civilization into the monster's territory. 

Yet at the same time, everything has that cutesy-cartoony deformed quality. Arthur is tiny and the epitome of a cartoon underdog. Arthur even, when struck, is reduced to his heart patterned underpants. One more strike, after that, will cause Arthur to be melted to a skeleton. The music as well helps add to the atmosphere of this game. The SNES music chip can't replicate the quality of an actual church organ, so the electric organ sound of the SNES chip fits the motif of its tongue in cheek horror. This isn't to say the music is bad at all; actually the composition is incredibly strong (see the samples below). 

 The game does a great job of making this quest feel like a true "epic" (used in the literary sense not the gamer boy "epic") journey. Poor Arthur has so many different areas and vistas to travel through, each with a unique feel. It feels like you are venturing further into those areas "off the map": the early graveyard moves to a ghost pirate ship/coral reef, to demonic lava filled towers populated by demons and the dead, to the inside of a great monstrous beast, to snow capped mountains and ice palaces, and the final fortress and dungeons of the monstrous Lord Sardius. 

To help add to the feel of a journey, they include a world map. I really like the presentation of the stage select screen. Similar to Castlevania and the maps of the Dracula's Castle being given to you at the beginning of the level, Arthur is shown his progress on a world map between stages. It gives a nice feeling of Arthur inching closer and closer to his eventual goal. 

Gameplay

The game is a basic action platformer, more akin to Castlevania in its difficulty and design. The goal of the stage is to move from one end to the other, and defeat the boss at the end. This is easier said than done, as the game demands memorization and mastering of its mechanics. Arthur has a very limited set of verbs at his disposal, and even one slip up with either cost him his precious armor, or kill him outright. The game is not afraid to litter a screen with enemies and obstacles, and instant kill states are frequent. 

The controls in this game, while adding to the difficulty, are quite ingenious. Arthur can only throw weapons in one direction according to the weapon he is using. As well, once Arthur has jumped, he must commit to the direction that he has jumped in. The trick is that Arthur can change direction by performing a double jump, but Arthur commits in that direction as well. Arthur's jumps, as well, are a lazy and slow jump, with a quiet slow falling arc. Thus, the game wants to you play patiently: plan out your jumps, study the layout of stages and enemy placements, and gear your arsenal according to the weapon that is best suited for each part of a stage. The game has a particular vision for how you are going to play the game, and it wants the player to embody that vision if they are going to succeed. 

The base weapon for Arthur is his lance. This thing, for a base weapon, is mediocre. It only is thrown horizontally in a straight line, and the range is limited. This means for flying enemies or enemies traveling at a diagonal, it becomes a delicate dance of retreating and double jumping in order to slay them (if that is at all possible). Other games in this franchise (even one before this game) allowed Arthur to aim upwards, but here it is impossible. Now there are other options of weapons available to Arthur via chests, but one must be careful with these pickups. Arthur is stuck with whatever weapon he picks up until he takes damage. This weapon might be incredibly useful for his situation, while others might make the current level almost impossible to complete. The torch, for example, is thrown in a lazy arc, and then causes flames which travel across the ground a short distance. This is a good weapon for the first level; makes the second level's section where you are stuck on a raft almost impossible. As a side note, one of the most interesting speed runs of this game is known as "weapon %" where the speedrunner must pick up and use any weapons they find at any time. It is fascinating to see the strategies and skills at play using, often, subpar weapons. 

These upgrades are hidden in chests. The game uses chests to reward skilled play, as everything stacks on one another as upgrades are attained. In the chests might be a weapon, followed by armor, which can upgrade Arthur's armor from steel to bronze to gold. Upon reaching gold armor, Arthur can then cast magic, and he has a "moon shield" which protects Arthur from three hits when standing still. These chests, though, can also be hazards, as they can be filled with either a bear trap (which kills Arthur instantly) or a jester, who will turn Arthur into a baby, seal, bee, or girl depending on his level of armor. 

I know this has been stated before, but it bears repeating: this game is hard. Punishingly and brutally hard. The learning curve for this game is so steep: it is immediately challenging. The first level alone has enemies crawling after you and flying at you from all angles. It then goes into a insta-kill section where Arthur must hide on stones while tidal waves try to knock him off the rocks and wash him away. Your platforming in this section has to be perfect or your are done. Every level is the same sort of story: insta-kill death traps, hordes of enemies, enemies who are out of reach of your weapons, etc. I made it through this game by abusing save states, as I don't see how I could have done otherwise unless I sunk a ton of time into it. 

The game notoriously pulls a fast one on the player, and like the original Ghosts and Goblins, forces you to replay the game over again in order to get the true ending. As well, you must have golden armor AND the rare weapon, the goddess bracelet, when you reach the final boss, which means you can't get hit at all during the last two levels. Not an easy feat at all. The final boss is challenging, but nothing compared to the rest of the game. As well, most of the bosses, in general, are not too challenging. They have simple patterns, easy to avoid attacks with careful jumps, and are mainly there to just cap off the stage with some neat sprite designs. The real challenge in each stage is always going to be the stage itself. 

 

Let's hear that Electronic Organ go to town!

Ads, Art, Commercials

The commercial is very 90's, but at least they gave some good old stock footage some use.

Final Verdict

This is undoubtedly a classic, and it is fun to play. I think everyone should give it a try at some point, but the challenge alone really hurts the enjoyment after a while. For a quick 30-60 minutes, sure! Is it worth banging your head against for hours to learn? That is the real question. Worth adding to a collection? Yes.