When people go looking for games known for their outright infuriating level of difficulty, certain series always spring to mind. There are people who go for older series like Ninja Gaiden or current challenges like Dark Souls. Then there is the Ghosts 'N Goblins series, the games that revolve around a knight named Arthur rescuing the Princess Prin-Prin from demons. Even among the hardest games in existence, this series is infamous, not just for the relentless hordes and Arthur's vulnerability, but also because of the cruel pranks the game plays on the players. These pranks range from tricking people into giving up their best weapons to the rage-inducing ending that forces a second playthrough. While all the games in this series can make people rip their hair out, the Genesis entry Ghouls 'N Ghosts makes the torture more enjoyable.
The plot in this sequel is very similar to the first game. Arthur needs to rescue Prin-Prin again, but there are two key differences. The first is that the villain replacing Astaroth is Lucifer or Loki (depending on which region your copy of the game comes from). Second is that Prin-Prin was killed, and Arthur has to restore her soul and bring her back to life. Those differences are very minor, but at least this game isn't a total rehash like many sequels.
The stages have much more variety than in the NES original. While the first stage here is almost a carbon copy of the first stage in the original, the other five are much more varied. The auto-scrolling third stage was particularly creative in its approach. There's a greater variety of enemies in this one, fixing a major problem the first game had. Another problem fixed is with the combat. In the first game, the knife was the only weapon worth a crap, and attacks were very limited. In this one, all of the weapons are viable (including the ones that sucked in the first like the flames), and you can even attack up or down, making the fights with the red devils MUCH easier. The weapons can even be powered up for special abilities like screen-clearing fire blasts and creating Arthur clones. The gameplay is much more rewarding than before.
There are a few issues present. The controls feel very stiff. There were too many points where my presses of the jump button seemed delayed leading to cheap deaths. While the visuals are gorgeous by Genesis standards, the audio was piss-poor. The score was way too fuzzy-sounding, and sound effects often cut out. They really tended to distract. While the premise for repeating the game this time is much better than just a big "FOOLED YOU!", it still sucks that you have to start the game over to get the weapon needed to defeat the final boss. Still, that's better than the cruel tricks played in the first game. There's also no ignoring the fact that, if you know what you're doing, the first playthrough can be completed in less than twenty minutes.
Ghouls 'N Ghosts on Genesis is a refinement of the Ghosts 'N Goblins formula, not a reinvention. It doesn't do a whole lot different from the first game, but it did improve upon the original in many fundamental ways. If you can handle the more manageable but still insane difficulty level, this is an enjoyable enough platformer for Halloween. Hope you have some spare controllers.
