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Ghosts 'n Goblins for Nintendo NES
Ghosts 'n Goblins for Nintendo NES is an action platformer in which knight Arthur tries to rescue a kidnapped princess. You travel through graveyards, ruined buildings and other monster-occupied areas towards the final confrontation. Undead creatures rise from the ground, ravens dive at you and red devils dodge your attacks. There is little room for inattention: one collision costs Arthur his armour, and the next hit costs him a life.
You run, jump, climb ladders and throw weapons at enemies. Your starting lance flies straight, while a torch follows an arc and keeps burning on the ground. Other pickups change the speed or trajectory of your attacks again. You can carry only one weapon type at a time, so picking something up is not always an improvement for the next passage. Ducking and throwing during a jump help you hit enemies without remaining directly in front of them.
You can play alone or with two players taking turns; both players use controller one. You therefore do not control Arthur together on the same screen. Bosses guard the passages to the next areas, and you must complete the journey twice for the true ending. After losing your lives, you can continue within the same session. The original cartridge uses no battery-backed saving or passwords, so switching off means starting again. Practising set jumps and enemy patterns is therefore a large part of making progress.
Region and language
Our Nintendo NES games are PAL editions, unless stated otherwise. This product contains a loose cartridge for the European market. A box is only included if explicitly stated in the product details. We note any different region in the product details. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
With Ghosts 'n Goblins for Nintendo NES, you receive a loose cartridge. A box and manual are not included unless we explicitly state otherwise in the product details. This is the standard way we supply this copy.
The history of Ghosts 'n Goblins
Ghosts 'n Goblins began in 1985 as a Capcom arcade game designed by Tokuro Fujiwara. It mixed a medieval rescue mission with monsters and the visible loss of Arthur's armour. Fujiwara was working on Commando during the same period. He later explained that developing those two very different projects side by side actually gave him room to explore different ideas. During arcade location tests, he carefully watched where players got stuck and where they did not.
A year later came the Famicom/NES adaptation, made by Micronics for Capcom. The European NES release followed later. The home version retained the knight, thrown weapons and dangerous journey, but translated the arcade game to the Nintendo console's graphics and capabilities. This cartridge is therefore the NES adaptation, not the original arcade version. The distinction is particularly noticeable in the presentation and implementation of the routes, even though the mission remains recognisable.
Arthur later returned in Ghouls 'n Ghosts and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts. Those sequels appeared on other systems and added their own movements, weapons and equipment. The original NES game keeps a regular jump and attacks to the left or right. The red demon also gained its own role: a related monster became the protagonist of Gargoyle's Quest. The world of Arthur's first rescue journey thus continued to grow, while this game retained its emphasis on repeated attempts and two consecutive rounds.
Similar games for Nintendo NES
Castlevania for Nintendo NES shares graveyards, monsters, fixed routes and difficult jumps with Ghosts 'n Goblins. Simon Belmont mainly fights with a whip and can also use a secondary weapon fuelled by collected hearts. Arthur throws his current weapon without such an ammunition supply. Both have you learn attack patterns, but Simon has a health bar; Arthur first loses his armour and is then only one hit away from losing a life.
Shadow Warriors, known in America as Ninja Gaiden, also brings dangerous platform routes and bosses to Nintendo NES. Ryu Hayabusa uses a sword, extra ninja powers and jumps that let him cling to walls. Arthur remains dependent on his thrown weapon and regular jump. Learning enemies and their respawn locations pays off in both games. Shadow Warriors tells a more detailed story through cinematic scenes between the action, while Ghosts 'n Goblins presents its rescue mission much more briefly.
Gargoyle's Quest II for Nintendo NES also uses demons and platform battles from Capcom's monster world. You play as Firebrand, however, who clings to walls and can hover briefly. Conversations, overhead exploration and growing abilities are added to that. In Ghosts 'n Goblins, Arthur follows a fixed rescue journey with found throwing weapons. Firebrand's adventure gives you more time to investigate a world and its characters, rather than mainly surviving the next series of enemies.
Wizards & Warriors on Nintendo NES also pits a knight against monsters while rescuing a princess. Kuros explores trees, caves and a castle, collects keys and uses gems to open passages. Arthur does not need to build a comparable supply for gatekeepers: he defeats the guardian and obtains the key to the next area. Both combine jumping with combat, but Wizards & Warriors places more emphasis on searching and using items in the right place.
Like Ghosts 'n Goblins, Mega Man 2 for Nintendo NES requires reading enemy patterns and choosing attacks carefully. Mega Man keeps acquired weapons and chooses the order of eight robot areas. Arthur passes through his areas in a fixed order and replaces his weapon when he picks up another. Mega Man 2 also provides Energy Tanks and passwords, while Arthur's journey has no persistent saving and must be completed within the same session.
