‘Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection’ Review: Capcom’s Throwback Platformer Is Punishingly Hard

Platforming games on the original Nintendo Entertainment System were notorious for their high difficulty, but few tested players’ dexterity and patience like the original “Ghosts ‘n Goblins.”

Released by Capcom as an arcade console in 1985 and later ported to Nintendo’s first home console, “Ghosts ‘n Goblins” remains infamous for its forbidding challenge, and its reputation as one of the most difficult video games in history still holds up despite how much of a crucible the platforming genre has become in recent years. And while the franchise has been dormant since 2010, it’s no surprise that it’s being dusted off for another go on the Nintendo Switch now that hits like “Sonic Mania” and the “Super Mario Maker” games have proven the market for modern takes on classic platforming IPs on the system, while viciously challenging side-scrollers like “Hollow Knight” and “Cuphead” have enjoyed major acclaim despite their considerable learning curves and sadistic mentalities.

Enter: “Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection.” Part sequel and part reboot, “Resurrection” is entirely a throwback to a bygone era of gaming. Longtime fans will be immediately at home here, as many of the enemies, locales, and power-ups in “Resurrection” are faithful to those in the series’ classic titles. Maybe too faithful. Here is a platformer that has willfully ignored almost every advancement the genre has made in the last two decades, and only reveals how far the form has come by falling well short of its modern standards.

The premise of “Resurrection” is as simple as it was back in the day: The princess has been captured by a demon, and it’s up to Sir Arthur to wade through an army of monsters and tricky platforming challenges to save her. Alas, this is not a job that Arthur is cut out for. Like its predecessors, “Resurrection” is about as brutal as platforming games can get and nearly every element in every section of every stage is designed to kill you in one way or another. The screen is constantly swarming with enemies and projectiles, while pitfalls and other roadblocks are placed in locations that are designed to force the player into awkward positions. Most enemies and their attacks can pass through terrain that impedes Arthur and his weapons, which can only be thrown or swung in four directions.



Life isn’t fair, so it’s a good thing you have a lot of them. But while infinite lives ensure that too much progress isn’t lost upon death, the margin for error is still practically nonexistent; Arthur can receive damage a set number of times (which varies by the game’s adjustable difficulty level) but hits will cause him to bounce backwards, usually down a bottomless pit or into a horde of enemies. It’s a surprise — and also something of a relief — that “Resurrection” is most manageable during its boss battles, which are suitably challenging but operate more fairly than the rest of the game, if only because there aren’t quite as many random lava pits and cheap …read more

Source:: IndieWire