Ghosts 'n Goblins VS Ghouls 'n' Ghosts

[Ast A. Moore]

I have no idea what the musician for the 128k version of Ghouls was thinking - I suspect that he was told "make a kinda medieval choon for this game" without having actually seen a Ghouls arcade at all.

I forget if he talks specifically about Ghouls here or not, but it’s worth a watch anyway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdvXiG0t1eg

[ZXDunny]

Thanks, I'll add it to my new year's watch list

The 128k version of Ghouls was actually more of a disappointment not because of any gameplay or graphical issues (there are none), but because they totally disregarded that level 1 tune. GnG (both) are closely linked to that melody in my mind so much so that I consider the Speccy version of Ghosts 'n' Goblins to be the superior implementation purely because it's silent musically - which is better than having the wrong tune.

By a country mile.

[Alessandro]

Like Ralf and Ivan, I never understood why Ghosts N Goblins is held in such a high esteem. I was a fan of the arcade coin-op and when I managed to play the Elite conversion, I was disappointed, also because I had the chance of playing the C64 version before. Especially when compared with other Elite Spectrum conversions of the same time like Space Harrier or Bomb Jack, it is a weak show. Therefore my vote goes to Ghouls N Ghosts.

[RWAC]

Ghouls n Ghosts whilst being incredibly difficult, it is possible to make some progress.
Ghosts n Goblins is just impossible! And the enemy sprites get lost in the background!

[PeteProdge]

Ghouls n Ghosts whilst being incredibly difficult, it is possible to make some progress.
Ghosts n Goblins is just impossible! And the enemy sprites get lost in the background!

And don't get me started on Goblins n Ghouls.

[WIWC]

Different answer on Twitter.

I don't know what to believe anymore.

[Ast A. Moore]

Voted there as well.

[CaptainKrenon]

I'm also surprised by the poll results.

Ghosts 'n Goblins (the original arcade version) is one of my favourite games of all time (I actually prefer it to Ghouls 'n' Ghosts).

The Spectrum version by Elite was quite decent. In my opinion it could have been better: half of the levels were missing and some of the present ones were quite different from the original ones, but it was still playable and fun. So not a bad version after all.

However I always thought that Ghouls 'n' Ghosts was really good on the Spectrum, one of the best adaptations of an arcade game for this computer in my opinion. They took an action game from 1989 and adapted it in a way that actually made sense for a 1982 computer, removing all the unnecessary elements while keeping it quite faithful to the original game and, most importantly, very fast and playable.

Many Spectrum adaptations of late 80s arcade games tried to be too close to the originals: too many colours, too big graphics, too cluttered backgronds, and they were often slow and not very playable. Ghouls 'n' Ghosts did it right.

[WIWC]

That's how the Twitter version of the poll ended:



59.1% for Ghosts 'n Goblins (and it's missing my vote)

[blucey]

I definitely preferred the sequel back in the day. That said, both games are way too hard for me to really enjoy them. Good conversions though

[druellan]

Something similar happened to me. I love the first game, in fact, I'm a fan of the developer. I played the arcade back in the day and the conversion was nice, one of the best IMO, then I started to read opinions online and discovered is not high prised.

I understand the criticism, the game feels rushed and it does not have all the levels, but besides the jump being a bit floaty, it plays close to the original.

[clebin]

Of the Spectrum versions I chose Ghouls 'n Ghosts for having a bit more content and a marginally better difficulty level. Although I do like separate fire & jump buttons in Ghosts 'n Goblins.

They're both pretty good conversions of deeply flawed games IMO. I like the graphical style and it's a genre I often enjoy, so I've tried to make myself like them. But like RWAC, I just find them too frustrating and difficult to be enjoyable. Both would be improved massively by restarting you where you die, rather than taking you right back to the beginning of the level. In an already difficult game, you don't need that kind of punishment. Also, the bomb power up in both games just sucks.