| Ghouls'n Ghosts | |
|---|---|
Promotional flyer for the original arcade iteration of Ghouls'n Ghosts |
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| Developer(s) | Capcom |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Designer(s) | Tokuro Fujiwara Shinichi Yoshimoto Hisashi Yamamoto |
| Composer(s) | Tamayo Kawamoto |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, CP System, Commodore 64, Sharp X68000, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Playstation 2, SuperGrafx, Sega Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis, Virtual Console, ZX Spectrum |
| Release date(s) | Arcade December 1988 Amiga Mega Drive/Genesis Sega Master System March 1989 |
| Genre(s) | Hack and slash, Platform game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Cabinet | Upright |
| Arcade system | CPS-1 |
| Display | Raster, standard resolution, horizontal orientation |
Ghouls'n Ghosts (Japanese: 大魔界村 Hepburn: Daimakaimura, lit. "Great Hell 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 the second game in the Ghosts'n Goblins series.
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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 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 Fly 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.
| Weapon | Description | Special Attack |
|---|---|---|
| Javelin | Arthur's default weapon | A lightning bolt strikes all enemies right, left and above of Arthur |
| Dagger | Faster than javelin, it is thrown at slightly different heights between throws. It is the fastest-paced weapon in the game. | A twin-Arthur, who is invulnerable, appears for a brief time and mimicks Arthur's moves - including attacks, which hence are doubled in intensity |
| Axe | Very powerful, it goes through all enemy characters. Ascending trajectory of awkward use. | A fire bomb wraps Arthur in two rapid shots, with great destructive effect. Such bomb protects Arthur from enemy projectiles. |
| Shield | Slightly more powerful than javelin. Once thrown, the shield bends its trajectory keeping at low height from the terrain | A magic wall appears at short distance from Arthur protecting him from projectiles and low-level enemies for a while. |
| Fire ball | Short and rapid trajectory, falling down in front of Arthur. Once fallen, the ball causes a small fire which damages enemies who get into it. | Two big fire balls wander through the screen spinning rapidly, thus hitting most of the enemies |
| Sword | The only non-projectile weapon. Sword inflicts double damage with respect to the other conventional weapons. | Two lightning bolts go diagonally through the screen, inflicting damage to the enemies |
| Psycho Cannon | The most powerful weapon, it can be obtained only if the game has been completed once and only if wearing the magic armour - even though, after losing the armor, the Psycho Cannon is still available. | Wearing the magic armor does not allow any special attack, but the power and reach of the Psycho Cannon is greatly enhanced, and it also protects from enemy projectiles. |
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 gained appreciation from reviewers when the game was published.
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