GameOn!

Super Ghouls & Ghosts was developed by Capcom for the Super Nintendo. It was very similar to the SNES Ghosts & Goblins, only it looked and sounded a hell of a lot better, pardon the pun. I believe it was just an update, or a re-make if you will of the NES game.

The intro from the instruction manual reads:

All hail, dauntless knight Arthur! Years ago you quelled the terrifying phantoms of the Ghoul Realm who hexed the earth, and rescued Princess Guinevere. Since that time you've journeyed far over the world seeking the powerful weapons of White Magic.

But now the kingdom is shrouded under an eerie spell. Sardius, the Emperor of Evil, has snatched Princess Guinevere away to the slimy crypts of the Phantom Zone. The Ghoul Realm has revived, and the Creatures of the Undead haunt the land.

Once again, you must survive the dangerous journey into the depths of the Ghoul Realm. You'll swat at horrid ectoplasms and ghouls whose touch is deadly. Vampires will swirl around your head. Voracious plants will snap at you, hungry for bones to gnaw. The earth will crack, the seas will swell, and the fiends of darkness will engulf you.

Your courage and skill will keep you moving through overwhelming terrors. And on the path, a mighty weapon - Magic - awaits!

Buckle on your sword, Arthur. It's time to begin your quest!

The game is a very solid side scroller that handles alot of enemies on the screen at one time. Arthur has a double-jump where you can jump a second time out of mid-air to reach high or far places, as well as dodge some enemy attacks. Arthurs' jumps cannot be controlled once you have decided on his direction like Mario. You know how when you jump with mario or sonic you can change your directory on the decend? Well Arthur can either go up, left, or right. You are allowed to change directions using the double-jump though.

The level system has you going through levels, with one check point (nothing alerts you when you pass it) and a boss. A quick pan across the over world tells you where you are in relation to the entire game. The game is HARD, it is Super Hard! I have NEVER once in my entire life as a youngster or young-manster made it to the last level. I made it very very far, but never to the end. If there is any game that you can beat to call yourself the god of old-school, this is it. They should make shirts that read "I Beat Super Ghousl & Ghosts" as prizes.

You "level-up-ish" by collecting better (sometimes worse) weapons that drop from enemies, and by collecting armor that you sometimes find in treasure boxes that come out of the ground. Some of the treasure boxes hold a wizard though, the wizard will transform you into a little girl unable to do anything but hop and move, or a bee that can't do anything but go left and right. The transformation is very short-lasting though. Every upgrade of armor enhances your weapon, the first enhancment simply makes the weapon stronger or adds an effect like homing, the third advnace lets you power up the weapon for a large attack, sometimes it's a shield, another one lets you unleash tornados, another sends a dragon out, and one of them makes all the treasure boxes nearby show up with out having to find their trigger. I can't remember how many armor upgrades you get, but they always fall completely apart when you get hit, leaving you in nothing but boxers. One hit while your in your boxes turns you into a pile of bones. The last armor upgrade makes your weapons ultra-effective! you can pretty much kill everything on the screen, the only reason I never made it to the end was because of a really hard level, not the enemies in it.

The music in the first level is probably the most unforgettable music you will ever hear in a video game. The good part is that it is good .

There was a port of this game to the GBA where they added a SAVE feature that can be used at anytime in the level which saved your current score, armor, and weapon, and if you were past the level checkpoint or not. When you loaded the game back up you started at the half way point or the beginning of the level with your armor, weapon, and score intact. - I am unsure weather they added this feature to the VC download or not, but it definetly would be welcome. I may actually beat the game now!

Aside from the misspelling of "Normal" (really it should read "SUICIDE") in the difficulty selection, the game is great. I never tried easy as I never do, but you may want to if you find yourself stuck for ages.

The game is always a welcome to the collection, but you can live without it... barely. 7/10
Cost: 800 Wii Points

- Anton Espinoza