649th played so far
Genre: Platform/Fighting
Platform: PSP
Year of Release: 2006
Developer: Tose
Publisher: Capcom
I’ve not done the best at Ghosts ‘n Goblins or Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, two arcade platformers that, by virtue of being arcade games, are pretty difficult. By 2006, however, arcades are no longer the primary way of playing games and having people pay per game just doesn’t matter. With that, I hope I can do better in this game.
Our Thoughts
The verdict on difficulty? The levels don’t feel that much easier, but the ‘metagame’ – lives and continues – is far improved. You have a lot of lives and unlimited continues, which means just restarting the level instead of the game. Still not the easiest, but it makes it easier to progress and see new things.
It also felt like there was more going on for equipment and options. I’m not sure whether that’s because I got further into the game this time or because they were added in this iteration, but it makes for an interesting experience.
Visually the upgrade isn’t as large, but as a throwback game that’s fine. It’s also excused by being a PSP game, which is, I suppose, where the two overlap. It’s functional and colourful enough though, so it wouldn’t have needed more.
Final Thoughts
The balance with these late sequels is always how faithful you want to be to the original games versus keeping it playable for a modern audience. Ultimate Ghosts & Goblins toes this line well, by being as difficult as ever, but providing a bunch of helpful additions, especially when surrounding lives and continues, that make the game a lot less frustrating to get through.