Many “gamers” when they find something hard call it the Dark Souls of that genera. But Dark Souls has only been around 10 years, and there are many classic games that hold the fond memories of its difficulty. We talked before about Super Ghouls and Ghosts but now this year Capcom released the first new entry in that franchise for a long time, the true marker for hard games has come back.

Ghosts and Goblins Resurrection is a 2D classic horror themed side scroller well known for its hard difficulty. You play as the Knight Arthur who is out to save Princess Prin Prin from the demons that have captured her and are threatening the kingdom. This game is somewhat like a remake of the original 2 games in the franchise, Ghosts and Goblins and Ghouls and Ghosts. Combining the two into one but also taking some elements from later games.

The game is hard, but you get a choice of 4 difficulties now. For enjoyment I recommend the second “easiest” difficult as later ones give you less health and fewer checkpoints… and more monsters and there’s a point becoming harder just makes it less fun… in fact when you complete a level it shows you how many times you died, and on some YouTube playthroughs those numbers go mad.

The controls are basic with a standard movement and a single jump (no double jump this game) and a selection of weapons to use to get through the game. New abilities come with the collectable umbral bees hidden in each level. Retuning these to the umbral tree will grant Arthur some spells he can get, ranging from simply lightning and aoes, to really handy ones like making clones of himself or even better restoring armour (you will want that one).

The first 2 levels give you a choice of which level you want to go through, them being somewhat recreations of levels from the first 2 games (so one from Ghosts and Goblins the other from Ghouls and Ghosts) then there are 2 more that you don’t get a choice on followed by a final one which you fight the final boss…. and then in classic fashion you find that’s not really the end and now there’s all the shadow versions to go through which remixed the levels and in some ways even harder (I died so many times on the second half of level 3’s shadow version). You see to get the true ending you need to get all the demon orbs. That means beating the normal and shadow versions of every level… finding the two hidden in hell pits (special challenge areas you unlock by killing a wizard in a hidden box somewhere on the level) and the final hidden one somewhere in the game. Only then can you face the true final boss and then play through again as much as you like but with the invincible magic armour (though it will still kill you by knock back into pits.)

The game is hard (and painfully so on the higher difficulties) but it does reward you. Umbral bees unlock more powers for you to use and there are the armours, the magic armour you get from fully completing the game and the armoury armour that gives you every weapon at once ( bow is still the best). There’s even achievements if you want them for completing certain challenges (like not dying once on a level.. good luck). The game also features a Co op mode which has the other player control a ghostly helper, however I’ve not been able to try that but I hear it makes the game a fair bit easier.

The classic Ghosts and Goblins music is also back here with remixes of the classic tunes They aren’t as world renowned as Castlevanias but they are still ones you may find yourself humming between your breaks of dying in the game.

I remembered fondly getting Super Ghouls and Ghosts on the SNES and it was a nice surprise to see Capcom bring the series back and I love the somewhat paper cartoonish movements of the enemies, helps give the game a nice style to remember. Just remember this game will kill you A LOT even on easier settings soo… get used to that noise.

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