System Played: Super Nintendo
Year Released: 1991
Year Reviewed: 2018
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts is the third game in Capcom’s hard as nails, Under Pants ‘em up, again following the now familiar exploits of gallant Sir Arthur, out to rescue his princess from devils and demons who just can’t seem to keep their scaly hands off her.
Super G’nG, as the familiar naming convention implies, was developed specifically for SNES rather than arcades (like the previous two originally were). As soon as it starts up, instantly you notice the music packs more of a punch, and the colour palette is just more vibrant than its predecessor on Mega Drive.
The first level is (again) the iconic graveyard, now with towers raining down torrents of human skulls, shifting terrain and ...tidal waves, because it’s near the sea now?!
You’re mostly on familiar ground gameplay-wise with a couple of significant exceptions.
Arthur can’t throw projectiles up or down anymore, a feature which significantly lowered the difficulty of the last game, compared to the original.
This feels like something of a correction implemented by Capcom, and Super is tougher because of it, though still not a patch on the first (which is legendary for its difficulty).
The second major change is an addition, in the form of a double-jump. This has a big impact on the platforming elements, reducing the accuracy required. The second jump allows you to change direction, so you aren’t locked in (in that early Castlevania way). If you find yourself jumping into the trajectory of certain doom, you can use the second jump to correct it.
Series ass hole enemy, Red Arremer is back, and this time can generate a shield of minions which he throws at you. The rollcall during the credits says he’s now going by the name Red Arremer Ace - oooohhh fancy!
Same rules apply for these lot and bosses as in the previous games. Just pelt them the shit outta them from as far away as possible, and try not to die.
New (and yet the same) weapons include a bow+arrow, scythe and a weird boomerang-sword-thing, in addition to stalwarts like the lance, knife and useless flaming torch.
Not much has changed with the weapons at the base level, but a new bronze (green?) suit of armour has been introduced as a intermediary upgrade between the regular and golden ‘charge attack’ armour.
This suit upgrades each weapon to a more powerful version, so knives becomes lasers, the lance become a rocket! The torch ...is still useless.
Gold armour now comes with a shield, which can absorb one direct hit. There’s also another tier after this to a blue shield which lets you take a few hits, assuming you’re facing forward and not moving. Any other direct enemy hits will see you back in your pants, regardless of how upgraded you were.
Chests are still a gamble,more likely to contain traps than rewards, like the evil wizard, and more literally, an actual bear trap. This time he will temporarily changes you into a baby, a seal or a girl, none of which have any offense.
First impressions of Super, are that its not impossible as the first, nor as lax as the second. Maybe they got balance better this time? A challenge, where failure has you wanting to take another crack at it, rather than cry “bullshit!”. But as the game goes on, this first impression wares off. There is the familiar smell in the air.
Progress can feel really slow, as you’re constantly dying before reaching the next checkpoint but a ‘Beginner’ difficulty is an option. There are also harder ones...
In now familiar fashion, you pretty much have to play through it all twice, getting as far as the penultimate boss before having to go all the way back to the start to collect the now available Goddess Bracelet weapon. It’s a fireball weapon again, like the Psycho Cannon in the last game, but just not as good. Poor range means you have to get closer than you’d ideally want to enemies and bosses to hit them.
This has you relying on that old G’nG trick of jumping away whilsts still facing and firing forward at the enemy, only now you’ve got double the jumps. For most bosses, you use the first jump to get some height (as most are much bigger than you, and only take damage in the face), and the second to jump away from them whilst firing, before they kill you. Again.
Some of the sound effects I find annoying, but the bgm is decent, and it looks great. Atmospheric but still wonderfully colourful, and with some decent use of Mode7 effects to keep the levels interesting.
You’re a dickhead Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts! But maybe we wouldn’t want it any other way.
6/10
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