Game review: ‘Ghosts n’ Goblins’
Game updates every facet of its mechanics except for the event that launches it: A damsel in distress
When I first played Ghosts ‘n Goblins as a kid in the mid1980s, little me enjoyed the digital squeaks that accompanied every throw of a spear, the zombies that pop out of the cemetery in the first level and, well, I’m not sure if I got much further than that in the game.
My nostalgia for the franchise pretty much stopped there too. I feel no shame for failing to advance. The game itself would essentially express annoyance if players managed to reach the ending, throwing them back to the beginning to do everything all over again. Satan wasn’t actually defeated.
But as a child of the 80s, whose first vision of all-things-spooky was more or less the video for Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the fairy tale-meets-horror mash-up of the early levels of Ghosts ‘n Goblins was enough to make a visual impression — and make me excited to explore its return.
The original Ghosts ‘n Goblins was instrumental in its early video game exploration of fantasy horror and Western myths, putting players in control of a character who is more or less King Arthur with colourful underpants.
The game is also notorious for being difficult. Creator Tokuro Fujiwara, who has returned to the series with the February 25 release of Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection for the Nintendo Switch, wears difficulty like a badge of pride.
Ghosts ‘n Goblins was an early leader in a school of video game design that can sometimes shudder at tweaks that impact challenge. It lives on today in a lighthearted manner in games such as
Cuphead and in the more serious approach of the Dark Souls franchise, a series whose intricate medieval horror art style has Ghosts ‘n Goblins in its DNA.
Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection more self-assuredly leans into its storybook influences, with boldly colourful art that looks as appealing as today’s strongest TV animation. The strawberry details in Arthur’s underpants are more visible, and the game now makes clear that they can wield magic.
Concessions to modern audiences have been made, even if the game’s options menu prods you away from playing on the easiest mode by joking, “You’re content with only a taste?”
Yes, yes, I am. Competitiveness isn’t what draws me to a game. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed since I was 8. Only today I’m far more curious about exploring the colourfully cartoony demons and Fujiwara’s sadistically humorous approach to game design.
Those looking for a challenge will be pleased that some things never change. What is considered the game’s “normal” difficulty level is more or less impossible for me. Sadly, one other thing that hasn’t changed is the game’s sexist, out-of-date design stereotypes. The story launches once again with a damsel-in-distress plotline: A princess is kidnapped, and Arthur must spring into side-scrolling action.
This plot choice is often an indication of stubbornness, a staunch belief that the story is just an excuse for gameplay. That seems to be true for the run-andjump approach of Ghosts ‘n Goblins. But why bother to update pretty much every other facet of the game except the event that launches it? Especially when that event carries so little relevance to the actual adventure?
Of course, this has been a standard trope in games for years. But we’ve at long last seen some attempts to subvert it, such as the flip ending of Super Mario Odyssey where Princess Peach rejects Mario’s hand to go off and have her own adventures.