Ghosts 'n Goblins is Capcom's infamously Nintendo Hardactionplatformer from the 8-bit era that pits intrepid Knight In (and occasionally Out Of) Shining Armor Arthur against endless hordes of undead, demons, Goddamned Bats, and the titular ghosts and goblins in a quest to save his sweetie, Princess Prin-Prin, with only two Hit Points to his name. As with a great many games of its time, its first appearance was in arcades, followed by ports to home platforms, including the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, and NES. Later on, it appeared in updated form on the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation, and in 2007 was released on the Wii Virtual Console.The game received sequels in Ghouls 'n Ghosts for arcades and the Sega Genesis, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts for the SNES, and Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins for the PSP. Collectively, the series is known as in Japan as Makaimura (Demon World Village). Also inspired a separate series comprised of Gargoyle's Quest for the Game Boy, Gargoyle's Quest II for the NES, and Demon's Crest for the SNES.Compare the Maximo series, which is a spiritual successor/spin-off.Arthur himself has made an out-series appearances in Namco X Capcom, as well as the Marvel vs. Capcom series (Assist Character in the first game, then full-blown playable in the third) The Red Arremer is also a Bonus Boss (AND HOW!) in SNK Vs Capcom SVC Chaos. Red Arremer (Firebrand From Gargoyle's quest) was added in the Updated Rerelease, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, where he has special dialogue with Arthur.
This series provides examples of:
Advancing Wall of Doom: In Stage 3 of Ghouls and Ghosts, the screen scrolls hazards downward, eventually coming to a ceiling that crushes everything (unless you escape to the right.)
Bottomless Pits: Not nearly as common as in most other platformers that use them, but they're definitely there.
Bowdlerise: Lucifer and Samael, the final bosses in Ghouls 'n Ghosts and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts respectively, were renamed Loki and Sardius respectively (except in the arcade version of the former, where he was still called Lucifer).
Cap: In the original game, there can be no more than three zombies on the screen at a time. Other enemies have similar caps.
Check Point: Only works on death or when you insert 25 cents within 10 seconds.
Clean Dub Name: In the console ports of Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Lucifer was renamed Loki in the localized versions, while Samael became Sardius in Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts.
Clown Car Grave: The zombies just keep... on... coming. Forever. And they're not the only ones.
Crazy Prepared: According to the ending of Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Arthur had spent three years improving his weapons because he knew the demon world would be restored eventually.
Degraded Boss: In the sixth stage of Ghosts 'n Goblins, the bosses from stages 1-4 show up again as regular enemies. They're no weaker than they were earlier, though.
In the second game, Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Astaroth, the Final Boss of the first game, comes back in the penultimate level several times as a King Mook. Later games put him as the penultimate boss fight.
Double Jump: Arthur gets the ability to do this in Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts. It does not make the game any easier.
Dual Boss: In the first game, the boss of the second stage is identical to that of the first, except that there are two of it. The same is true of the sixth boss, which is two of the fifth boss.
Expy: Knight Arthur is technically not King Arthur, but just some knight who happens to be named Arthur. And the princess he's saving is officially called "Prin-Prin", but has undergone a few name changes between different localizations.
Fake Longevity: You'll have to play through the game twice to see the true ending. This applies to every installment of the series.
Goofy Print Underwear: If Arthur takes a hit while armored, his armor falls off, revealing heart-print undies. If Arthur takes a hit while in this state, he gets Stripped to the Bone.
Arthur instead has vertical stripes in the Wonderswan game and strawberries in Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins (and Marvel vs.Capcom 3).
Goomba Stomp: Mostly absent from the series, but Lancelot can do it in Gold Knights.
Hitbox Dissonance: Your player collision area in the first games is rather small compared to the player sprite.
Hyperspace Arsenal: Arthur's basic attack is to fling an endless number of lances from nowhere. Other weapons have similarly plucked-from-thin-air projectiles.
Inexplicable Treasure Chests: In Ghouls 'n Ghosts, random treasure chests can somehow materialize from thin air.
Jump Physics: Present but not highly distinguishable. Jumping from foothold to precarious foothold isn't as big a part of gameplay in Ghosts 'n Goblins as it is in someotherplatformers, and Arthur's jump isn't all that much higher or more controllable than a real-life jump.
Commodore 64 wouldn't allow jumping over a tombstone if you were right against it; you needed a single pace back before jumping over. The "good" versions don't have this quirk.
Nintendo Hard: THE VERY DEFINITION OF NINTENDO HARD. Only the Ninja Gaiden series and Battletoads come anywhere near in difficulty to this series. And unlike other series, this game has continued to be this hard in all its incarnations. The last game of the series (for the PSP) actually has a life bar and you start right where you died and it's STILL hard as hell.
This applies more to the NES port, where you're fighting low framerate and poor collision detection. The arcade original is significantly easier.
The NES port is also glitchy as hell - in the last level, if a red demon flies off the screen, do not thank your lucky stars. It will soon SPAWN OUT OF THE WALL and destroy your face.
C64 port as well. While the Red Arremer is much easier to dodge, some other enemies are much more difficult to make up this loss.
No Name Given / Dub Name Change / Take a Third Option: It seems Capcom just can't decide on Arthur's beloved definite name, Prin-Prin for the sake of tradition in older games or Guinevere in true King Arthur fashion and how it appeared in the SNES game manual. They decided to keep as just Princess on the PSP remake, it also sticks for Marvel Vs Capcom 3.
One Bullet at a Time: Varies depending on the weapon. e.g. you can only have two lances on screen at a time, but up to three daggers.
Power-Up Letdown: The torch and the axe in the first game. Made more insidious because the Power-Ups appear in a specific order — you have to pick up the worthless torch before the (very, very good) sword will appear. Later games made all Power-Ups random, although they include many more let downs, too.
Recurring Boss: The original game has significantly fewer distinct boss types than there are levels.
Also Astaroth comes back in every game, even when he's not the Big Bad anymore.
Satan: The recurring Big Bad of the series is Astaroth, and Satan is his lackey. In Ghouls 'n Ghosts, the Big Bad is Lucifer (Loki in the American Genesis version). In Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, the final boss Sardius is called Samael in Japan. These are all separate entities. And in Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins, Astaroth is still there as the Final Boss, but there's a True Final Boss after him: Hades.
There's also a demon bee boss named Beelzebub, which is sometimes another name for Satan.
Save the Princess: Every game is about Arthur rescuing Princess Prin Prin. Even in the second game, where she's killed by Lucifer, it's Arthur's goal to rescue her soul and bring her back to life.
Spin-Off: The main series spawned the Gargoyle's Quest trilogy, a spinoff series starring Red Arremer/Firebrand, one of the enemies from Ghosts 'n Goblins. And in those games, Lucifer from Ghouls 'N Ghosts (cleverly renamed to Rushifell in English) is your Worthy Opponent, but not actually your enemy.
Spiritual Successor: Maximo: Ghosts To Glory is technically not part of the series, but was very obviously inspired by it. MediEvil too.
Theme Naming: Some of the members of the Red Arremer family are themed after playing cards, with Red Arremer King in Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Red Arremer Ace in Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and Red Arremer Joker in Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts Advance. Now where's Queen and Jack?
Unwinnable: The NES version had some bosses immune to some attacks. If you got the wrong item, you can't even get the screen saying you didn't get the shield.
The forth boss in Ghouls 'n Ghosts is a stationary slug. It can become this if Arthur happens to be carrying the short-range broadsword.
Updated Rerelease: Goku Makaimura Kai for Goku Makaimura (Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins), which includes the original game and a revised mode that drops the RPG elements for a more Arcade-like experience. (Sadly, it's Japan-only.)
Wallmaster: Some enemies appear uncomfortably close.
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