Ghouls 'n Ghosts Amiga 1989
Software Creations ported Capcom's Ghouls 'n Ghosts coinop of 1988 to the Amiga in 1989. Ghouls 'n Ghosts is a scrolling platform game.
While Ghouls 'n Ghosts of 1988 is the follow-up to Ghosts 'n Goblins of 1985, Ghouls 'n Ghosts was ported to the Amiga in 1989 whereas Ghosts 'n Goblins was ported to the Amiga in 1990.
The Amiga version of Ghouls 'n Ghosts was programmed by David J. Broadhurst (Bubble Bobble 1988); its graphics were drawn by Andrew R. Threlfall; its audio was composed by Tim Follin.
The objective, controls and gameplay are the same as in Ghosts 'n Goblins, but the Amiga version of Ghouls 'n Ghosts is much easier than the Amiga version of Ghosts 'n Goblins.
Ghouls 'n Ghosts consists of five levels of platforming action, culminating in the boss battle against Lucifer. There are six bosses in the Amiga version.
Ghouls 'n Ghosts displays in 16-color 320x256; the active drawspace is 287x191.
Ghouls 'n Ghosts features both horizontal and vertical screen-scrolling as well as auto-scrolling segments. However, the Amiga version does not scroll smoothy. In fact, audio aside, the Amiga version of Ghouls 'n Ghosts does not even begin to harness the potential of Amiga hardware. In addition, much of the coinop content and assets are omitted by the port.
Still, the Amiga version of Ghouls 'n Ghosts constitutes a passable and playable port of a powerful arcade machine. And while the Amiga was capable of evoking an arcade-perfect port in 1989, we should bear in mind the many problems that present themselves when attempting to convert coinops to home computers, some of which are enumerated in Best Coinop Ports and Shoot 'em up History.
Ghouls 'n Ghosts was distributed on 2x 3.5" 880kB DD diskette.
I give the Amiga port of Ghouls n Ghosts 5/10.
Ghouls n Ghosts Commodore 64 1989
Software Creations ported Capcom's Ghouls n Ghosts coinop of 1988 to the Commodore 64 in 1989. Published by U.S. Gold, C64 Ghouls n Ghosts was programmed by Stephen Ruddy, drawn by Andrew Threlfall and composed by Tim Follin.
C64 Ghouls n Ghosts consists of five stages most of which scroll horizontally. C64 Ghouls n Ghosts features a separate SID tune for each of the five stages. C64 Ghouls n Ghosts ends after the defeat of Beelzebub; there is no battle against Lucifer.
C64 Ghouls n Ghosts scrolling and sprite-shifting are much smoother than Amiga Ghouls n Ghosts, which was no doubt hamstrung by Atari ST considerations (the ST being unable to match even the C64 in sprites/scrolling). Amiga Ghouls n Ghost does not even have sound effects whereas C64 Ghouls n Ghosts at least offers a choice between music or sound effects. C64 Ghouls n Ghosts has on-throw, on-hit, on-death, on-land, on-collect and on-appear: enemy and on-appear: chest sound effects. In addition, the rain on the first stage can be heard.
C64 Ghouls n Ghost weapons include the throwing spear, throwing knife, shuriken, throwing axe and grenade. The throwing knife has an increased RoF, the throwing axe flies diagonally and the grenade is lobbed in short arcs.
I give the C64 port of Ghouls n Ghosts 8/10. It does almost as much as the Amiga port, but with much less. Most importantly, it plays better; it's more fun to play; it's a better game, period.
The Ghouls n Ghosts coinop was designed by Tokuro Fujiwara, Shinichi Yoshimoto and Hisashi Yamamoto, programmed by Hiroshi Koike, Masatsugu Shinohara and Shinichi Ueyama, and composed by Tamayo Kawamoto.
Indexes:
- History of Computer Platform Games (Chronological platform game coverage)
- Amiga Games Reviews (Index to all Amiga game reviews)
- Computer Game Reviews (Index to all computer game reviews)
- The First REAL Amiga Game
- Best Amiga Games
- History of Computer Games 1976-2024 (Master Index)
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