2011/3/27: NES: Ghosts 'N Goblins, Tiger-Heli

[VideoGameCritic]

Here are some revised reviews for two oldies that deserved more attention.

Comments?

[steer]

Ghosts and Goblins was the first game I ever 'bought'  (well, I got to pick one out one day, and this turned out to be the one)

I also got it for the VC for old times sake. It is fun, but as you said it the controls (read: jumping) is from the old skool. So you have to plan things out and be meticulous. But - you can make progress, it is not terrible impossible.

Thanks for the NES reviews Critic!

[0-Storm]

Really loved Ghosts N Goblins on the Capcom Collection Volume 1 for the PS2. Never played the NES version. Wondering if the controls are much different. Know graphics are, but what about controls? Thought controls on PS2 version was very good, but the game was still very difficult.

"C" seems right for Tiger Heli. Fun, but ugly & not really awesome gameplay.

[feilong801]

Ugh, seeing Tiger Heli, one of my favorites from that period, get a lowered grade makes me a sad panda indeed

I havne't played it in eons though, so maybe it is indeed just an average overhead shooter.

-Rob

[Adamant1]

Ouch, massive downgrade to GnG, I see. How come? 

[QUOTE=0-Storm]Really loved Ghosts N Goblins on the Capcom Collection Volume 1 for the PS2. Never played the NES version. Wondering if the controls are much different. Know graphics are, but what about controls? Thought controls on PS2 version was very good, but the game was still very difficult.[/QUOTE]

The controls are the same. The NES game feels a lot more managable to me, and I think it's a lot more fun to play, though that might be more because I'm far more used to that than the arcade original. 

[VideoGameCritic]

[QUOTE=Adamant]

Ouch, massive downgrade to GnG, I see. How come? 

[/QUOTE]

In my original review (written back in 2000) I was more impressionable and knew that the Ghouls and Goblins name carried a lot of weight.  Most recently I put it through its paces with a group of friends (including many who played it back in the day), and we discovered a lot of frustration and minor control issues.  This knocked it down from A to B territory.

[Orion1]

That's odd, these two reviews are missing from the front page when I'm using Google Chrome.  IE works fine though.

Ghosts n Goblins is a series I've been enamored with since it first hit the NES.  I remember walking into an arcade once and saw someone playing a game where zombies were coming out of the ground.  I wanted to play it so badly, but I had to leave.  I actually never bothered to check the name.  Later on, I saw a Toys R US print ad, and it showed the box for what I believed to be the same game, but I wasn't sure.  I bought it, and luckily it was the game I saw at the arcade (with some differences of course).

As I played the graveyard stage for the first time, I remember thinking how cool it was to have zombies coming out of the ground.  That part of Poltergeist always facsinated me as a kid.  I also remember how enthalled I was with all the bright colors in Ghosts n Goblins.  This was the time when the NES was starting to hit its graphical stride.

Anyway, it never was a perfect game, and I see that now more than ever.  One thing I always notice is that the scrolling isn't very smooth.  I'm talking about when you are just walking from left to right.  Also, there's a boss that used to always kick my butt; I think it was the dragon.   I always played up to that point, and then had to stop.  Luckily a stage select code came out in the magazines so I was able to explore the rest of the game.

[Paul C]

I always assumed that the NES Ghosts n' Goblins was Capcom's NES version of the arcade Ghouls n' Ghosts, but everyone seems to be talking as if Ghosts n' Goblins on the NES was the original.  Have I been mistaken?

[Orion1]

[QUOTE=Paul C]I always assumed that the NES Ghosts n' Goblins was Capcom's NES version of the arcade Ghouls n' Ghosts, but everyone seems to be talking as if Ghosts n' Goblins on the NES was the original.  Have I been mistaken?[/QUOTE]

The NES Ghosts n Goblins was a port of the arcade Ghosts n Goblins (1985).  Ghouls n Ghosts (1988) was the arcade sequel, which late came to the Genesis.

[VideoGameCritic]

Did I go too low on Ghosts and Goblins?  Should it be bumped up to a B?