GHOST 'N GOBLINS RESURRECTION
Thirty-five years after first punishing players into giving up the ghost, Capcom’s notorious spooky arcade platformer is reborn for Nintendo Switch. Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi talks to us about what to expect from the latest instalment of a hardcore cl
It’s been a while since the last Ghosts ’N Goblins so you’d be forgiven for thinking such an unforgiving series has finally been laid to rest. Yet in the past decade when modern gamers are relishing about getting good at hardcore games like Dark Souls, Nioh or Super Meat Boy, it seems amiss for this generation to skip out on one of the toughest games of all time – although Ghosts ’N Goblins and Ghouls ’N Ghosts did at least find their way onto releases of the NES Classic and Mega Drive Mini respectively. Better late than never, Ghosts ’N Goblins Resurrection is the aptly named reboot of Capcom’s arcade classic.
“We thought the 35th anniversary was a great time to revisit the series and give players a chance to enjoy it again,” explains producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi. Although a reboot, it is a new instalment – albeit still following the same old-fashioned plot of brave knight Arthur donning his armour to rescue his beloved Princess from the Demon Realm.
“Recently, a lot of gamers are enjoying classic games, especially with many new classic-style games releasing, so I think the game is a great match for Nintendo Switch,” continues Hirabayashi. Considering how classic and indie games make a comfortable fit on the Switch as a handheld, and that the last Ghosts ’N Goblins instalments were also made for portable
platforms, having Resurrection
made exclusively for Nintendo’s hybrid is unsurprising.
To continue that classic gameplay, a 2D plane remains, so that, as Hirabayashi says, “Players can improve their skills within a relatively simple ruleset, and experience the pleasure and satisfaction of overcoming the challenges in the game,” rather than say reboot it as a 3D game, which would ultimately draw more parallels with the PS2era spin-off Maximo.
To some retro gamers’ disappointment however, this new instalment doesn’t utilise pixel art, yet there’s a reason behind its handdrawn visual style, which Hirabayashi likens to a “moving picture scroll”. And though it may not look it, it’s actually running on Capcom’s in-house RE Engine so far used on detailed 3D games like Resident Evil 7 and Monster Hunter Rise.
“We approached it like making a spooky but also somehow comical horror-themed amusement park, and the picture scroll idea brings a certain analogue warmth to the game which I think is really effective,” says Hirabayashi. There certainly is a strangeness to seeing these formidable terrors, which includes familiar foes like Pigman, Skeleton Murderer and Red Arremer, back to ruin your day but also have a charming comical quality to them. Yet since the series began, it’s also the closest the visuals accurately match the original artwork, which is arguably why, despite some mixed reaction when the game was first teased at the Game Awards in 2020, Hirabayashi believes the visual concept best preserves the series’ atmosphere.
Yet with all this talk of classics and preservation, this is still meant to be a new entry to the series, with plenty of new threats and enemies likely to send players down a howling pit of despair. Hirabayashi however is keen not to spoil anything so we’ve had to make do with seeing modern reinterpretations of returning enemies from both Ghosts ’N
Goblins and Ghouls ’N Ghosts.
Of course, Arthur also has a variety of weapons and skills that he can acquire to surpass any challenge set in front of him. Apart from his trademark lance, there’s now a total of eight weapons, a mixture from across previous games, as well as a new spiked ball that crushes anything it rolls over. More powerful however are the spells and skills, of which there plenty to unlock. “Some magic spells were tied to specific weapons in previous titles in the series,” says Hirabayashi. “We’ve separated them out this time around in order to give you more flexibility and options. Personally, I love the skill that increases the number of weapons you can hold and lets you switch them out.”
If that sounds like the game has some more approachable mechanics to distinguish it from its punishing predecessors, then masochists need not fear. While Resurrection is an in-house production, Capcom has nonetheless enlisted Tokuro Fujiwara, CEO of Whoopee Camp and the original director of the series to helm Resurrection. No doubt this ensures the hardcore gameplay beloved by its fans will remain intact. Tellingly, the tradition of having to replay harder versions of cleared stages returns, this time visualised as Shadow stages and they’ll certainly test your mettle.
That isn’t to say that Resurrection is going to smash in, chew up and spit out newcomers like a merciless ogre. Indeed, we already saw some leniency 15 years ago with Ultimate Ghosts ’N Goblins on Playstation Portable, where the game featured different difficulty modes. Adding to that, the new game even has a co-op mode (a series first) and a ‘magic metronome’ that players can use to slow down or speed up the game. “We want players of all skill levels to be able to enjoy everything Ghosts ’N Goblins Resurrection has to offer,” says Hirabayashi. “With these new features and difficulty options,
Ghosts ’N Goblins Resurrection is not only a fantastic return of this classic series for existing fans, but also a great entry point for new players to experience the franchise.”
For new and returning players who can’t get enough, they’ll also be able to get their hands on the original arcade versions of Ghosts ’N Goblins and
Ghouls ’N Ghosts on Switch via Capcom Arcade Stadium.
The series looks well and truly back from the dead.