If you’re into more classic or retro games then February was probably a pretty fun month for you. We saw the release of the Blizzard Arcade Collection, and Capcom released a couple goodies in the form of Capcom Arcade Stadium and the topic of today’s video, Ghosts n’ Goblins: Resurrection. Welcome to another Broken Controller Club Review, my name is Ed and I’m you’re host.

I’m guessing that most everybody watching this wants to know what’s changed and if it holds up to their memories of previous games. Memories are a strong thing because as we know, our memories and nostalgia for things we watched and played growing up can play tricks on us. I mean nostalgia’s the only reason Hollywood is still in business because they haven’t had an original idea in about 20 years, and reboots and remakes that ruin or best case – taint – beloved franchises are what puts butts in…well it used to be theater seats. Maybe toilets now? I’d wager half of you are watching this on the can as we speak.

Anyway Ghosts n’ Goblins: Resurrection is a remake of the first title in the series from 1985, starring the knight Arthur, and you help him in his quest to rescue the princess from the demon king Astaroth, who in this game not only kidnapped her but as a result, also these things called Umbral Bees fled the Umbral Tree, and the whole kingdom is in darkness now and is overrun with monsters. The theme of this game, really is that it’s everything you remember but with a new coat of paint and additions to make it more appealing to a modern audience.

Right off the bat you’ll notice the art style has this more flat style to it, but is also really detailed and looks hand drawn. It reminds me of the art style Vanillaware used in games like Odin Sphere. Arthur himself looks angrier this time, like he knows he’s in for another adventure where he dies like 1,000 times trying to get the Princess back, and I can’t blame him because I felt the same way starting a new game. He also throws his hands up in triumph when killing a boss and you’re probably going to be right there doing it with him, and it feels good. Ghosts n’ Goblins isn’t known for being easy and in fact it is infuriatingly difficult at times. Like all arcade games, this was meant to take all your money…and your dignity…pride…kinda like dating now that I think of it.

That’s where this one starts to differ, though. To begin with, when you start your first playthrough you’ll actually get to choose a difficulty level, that ranges from Blue Checkmark Game Journalist difficulty all the way up to Legendary, so you can truly push your skills to the limit and see just how far your Switch will fly across the living room after your 50th cheap death. I played through this on Squire difficulty, which isn’t the lowest, and all things considered was still really challenging but doable.

In past games you had a map screen show up when you started the game and when you died, and in this one you actually use the map screen to choose where you want to go. This also tells you what secrets you’ve collected, and for the first few zones of the game you can choose which levels to play. Each one is reflective of either Ghosts n Goblins or Ghouls n Ghosts, which I thought was a really nice touch. By selecting a zone you also get to choose which checkpoint to start at, so if you’re backtracking just to find secrets, this is helpful, or if you have to take a break and come back later, you can pick up where you left off.

The gameplay itself is for better or worse the same as it’s always been, but with some tweaks to modernize it. First and foremost, Arthur still sucks at running and jumping. He no longer double jumps like he did in Super Ghouls n Ghosts, but he does still have the ability to shoot up and down mid-jump. You can’t control his jumps mid-air so once you make that leap, you’re committed. If that’s not immediately leading you to your death then the nice thing about that is you can just jump and then concentrate on shooting in mid-air if you need to.

On the lower difficulties Arthur can take more than one hit, and his armor serves as his life bar. You’ll start with a full suit and pieces of it will fly off as you get damaged, which was in a different order every time. Regardless of the order, you’ll spend most of your time playing in your underwear, not unlike most thots who stream on Twitch for money and try to advertise their onlyfans.

Right off the bat you’ll notice the art style has this more flat style to it, but is also really detailed and looks hand drawn. It reminds me of the art style Vanillaware used in games like Odin Sphere.

Magic is back and you no longer need gold or bronze armor to use it. You learn spells and passive abilities by collecting Umbral Bees hidden in each level and adding them to the Umbral Tree, and you can get things like the ability to cast lightning or turn enemies into frogs or stone. I found magic to be mostly useless because it didn’t usually work on larger enemies unless you upgraded it, and in the time it’d take me to charge it up I could just kill everything with my weapons. There’s some great stuff higher up in the tree though, like randomly being able to come back to life after dying and being able to hold up to 3 weapons at once.

The levels have seen an upgrade as well and mostly resemble their original versions but with lots more detail now, and range from your graveyard, to fire areas, caverns, and more. New enemies and remixed versions of the original enemies are here as well, and the whole thing feels good. All the classics are back, like that red demon that looks like Firebrand from Gargoyle’s Quest, that big cyclops from the original game, and the magician that shows up to curse you. Each level has lots of secret chests and Umbral Bees to collect, and there’s also special challenges called Hell Holes. Basically these are areas you unlock and drop into, and you’ll have to fight enemies in there and survive to get rewards like Demon Orbs. You’ll need to get all of the Demon Orbs in order to unlock the final boss and get the true ending to the game.

The bosses are pretty miserable and even the original ones have a lot of new surprises that’ll catch you off guard and kill you repeatedly. The developers knew this going in though, and in an effort to balance things out, if you die enough you can lower the difficulty or after awhile it’ll give you a tip on how to beat the phase of the boss fight you’re in. Just like a certain other series known for its difficulty, you’re meant to learn not only the levels but these boss fights as well. Clearing a boss fight will get you a Demon Orb along with the key to next level.

Regarding weapons, there’s more variety this time around but I can’t say I actually really liked what there is to pick up. You’ve got your OG weapons like the lance, knives, and torch, and the crossbow has made a comeback. You also get a weird spiked boulder thing, a disc that travels along the ground, a shield sort of weapon, and a hammer. None of the new ones were really interesting to me and I found myself just sticking with the old standbys instead. Getting the gold armor in this is rare but when you do, it’ll power up your weapons. Enjoy that for the entire 15 seconds you’ll keep that armor for until you get a hit by something and lose it.

The game’s main playthrough is a little shorter than I expected it to be, however when you do clear it you’ll get to play new “shadow” versions of the levels to go through it again, get the remaining Demon Orbs, and get the true ending. It’s still basically the same thing as having to beat the game twice, but the context is different and kept me motivated to keep going. Also the shadow levels are very challenging and basically toss everything but the kitchen sink at you, with not just an increased frequency of enemies but also with enemies behaving differently altogether. You know what’s worse than regular zombies? Ones you can’t see because half the level is in the dark. You’ll think the 1st playthrough is super tough, then you’ll play this and actually want to go back to that one. Which by the way, you can do just by hitting L or R on the map screen. So the game has a lot of replayability even after you choose the difficulty level.

So what’s left to talk about? Actually there’s a multiplayer component to the game where another player can drop in and control a spirit to help Arthur out. there’s 3 and they all do different things, ranging from protective barriers to attacking enemies. I thought this was a neat addition and a great way to bring on a friend so you can both be angry together!

I’d have to say that as a whole, Ghosts n’ Goblins Resurrection is great, and if you’re a fan of previous titles then you’ll want to get this. It’s got a lot of content to play through, new surprises that you’ll…well “enjoy” might not be the right word for it, but you’ll be challenged by them. Arthur’s movement is terrible and while there were cheap deaths to be had in the game, I felt like the jumping and running were the main problem I had with this, but I’m also aware that this he’s intentionally designed this way. The Umbral Tree addition gives you stuff to collect that’ll give you more of an advantage, but I miss the old weapons and magic that was in Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts because those actually felt powerful. Like one of these new spells is to turn into a boulder and roll around. If I want to do that I’ll play Rock of Ages.

Before we part ways today, I’m going leave you with a list of swears that I yelled while playing this game. You’re free to borrow them if you’d like:

“F***.”
“F***!!!!”
“F***! NOOOOOOO”
“F*************”
“I HATE THE JUMPING IN THIS F****NG GAME”
“F*** THIS S***”
“CUPHEAD WAS EASIER THAN THIS S***T”
“OH COME THE F*** ON”
“WHAT THE S*** WAS THAT??”
“ARRRRRGHHHHHH”
“HARDENING MY RESOLVE AND STEELING MYSELF IS NOT A TIP FOR THIS BOSS – F*** YOU”
“F***ING PIECE OF MONKEY S**T”
“THAT’S NOT WHAT I DID, THAT’S NOT WHAT I F***ING DID”
“SON OF A FU-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAARRRRRGHH”
“I HATE MY JOB”
“WHERE THE F*** DID THAT COME FROM”
“F*** YOU, I HAD THAT”
“OH WHAT THE F*** EVER”
“YOU’VE GOT TO BE F***ING KIDDING ME”
“OH SCREW YOU”
“YOU SON OF A B***H”
“F***ING FINALLY, GOT YOU, YOU F***ING ***HOLE”
“WHERE’S MY BOURBON”

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