Ghosts ‘n Goblins, known in Japan as Makaimura (Japanese: 魔界村, lit. “Demon World Village“), is a run-and-gun platform video game series created by Tokuro Fujiwara and developed by Capcom. The first entry in the series was Ghosts ‘n Goblins, released in arcades on July 7, 1985. The series has subsequently been ported to and released on a variety of personal computers, game consoles and mobile platforms and spawned several sequels and spin-offs.
The main series focuses on the knight Arthur’s quest to save princess Prin-Prin from the demon king Astaroth. The primary spin-offs include the Gargoyle’s Quest and Maximo game series.
Ghosts 'n Goblins (1985)
Ghosts ‘n Goblins is a platform game where the player controls a knight, named Sir Arthur, who must defeat zombies, ogres, demons, cyclopes, dragons and other monsters in order to rescue Princess Prin-Prin, who has been kidnapped by Astaroth, king of Demon World. Along the way the player can pick up new weapons, bonuses and extra suits of armor that can help in this task.
Ghosts 'n Goblins (1988)
Three years after the events of Ghosts ‘n Goblins, the Ghosts have returned with Ghouls for revenge, initiating a mortal holocaust on the Princess’ kingdom as beams of light struck through countless villagers. When Sir Arthur returns to the village, his rescue attempt was too soon as his beloved Princess Prin-Prin also has her soul taken away from her body in front of his very eyes. Now it’s up to the heroic knight once again to slay his way to the hellish castle to defeat the evil Lucifer and his legion of demons and restore the souls of Prin-Prin and every mortal.
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (1991)
Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts is a side-scrolling platform game with reduced emphasis on run and gun and more on platforming. As in the predecessor Ghosts ‘n Goblins, the player takes the role of the knight Arthur, who must save Princess Guinevere and rid the kingdom of the Ghoul Realm which is revived under a spell of Emperor Sardius (known as Samael in the Japanese version), who has kidnapped Guinevere in the Phantom Zone. The game has four difficulty settings (easy, normal, difficult, and professional), and the player can set up to nine lives. However, there are also only six continues.
Makaimura for WonderSwan (1999)
Makaimura for WonderSwan (Japanese: 魔界村 for WonderSwan, Hepburn: lit. Demon World Village for WonderSwan) is a game for the WonderSwan developed by Capcom, published by Bandai in 1999 and is the fourth game in the mainline series of the Ghosts ‘n Goblins franchise.
Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins (2006)
Ultimate Ghosts ‘n Goblins is a video game in Capcom’s Ghosts ‘n Goblins series, developed by Tose and published by Capcom. It was released for the PlayStation Portable on August 13, 2006, in Japan and August 29, 2006, in North America. Ultimate Ghosts ‘n Goblins is the first game in the main series to employ 3D graphics, while maintaining much of the 2D gameplay mechanics of the earlier games. It also marks the return of the series’ project head, Tokuro Fujiwara.
The game follows the classic scenario of the heroic knight Arthur battling with demons, but includes a large number of changes.
Ghosts 'n Goblins: Gold Knights (2009)
Ghosts ‘n Goblins: Gold Knights and Ghosts ‘n Goblins: Gold Knights II, released in Japan as Makaimura Kishi Retsuden (魔界村騎士列伝, lit. Demon World Village: Knight Chronicles) and Makaimura Kishi Retsuden II (魔界村騎士列伝II, lit. Demon World Village: Knight Chronicles II) respectively, are a pair of run and gun platform games developed and published by Capcom for iOS. Both titles were removed from the Apple App Store on May 10, 2016.
They are the first games in the series to offer a choice of playable characters in addition to the series standard, Arthur. Similar to Ultimate Ghosts ‘n Goblins they employ 3D graphics, while maintaining much of the 2D gameplay mechanics of the earlier games.
Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection (2021)
Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection is a 2D side-scrolling platform game. The game once again features knight Arthur, who must navigate the Demon Realm in order to battle enemies such as skeletons, zombies, and the Pigmen. Once the player finishes the game, they can complete the Shadow versions of each stage, which rearrange the placement and spawn points of enemies, as well as introducing additional environmental challenges that make each stage more difficult to navigate. The game features eight different types of weapons. This includes Arthur’s iconic lance, which he can throw, and a hammer that induces a shockwave when it strikes the ground. As the player progresses, they will collect umbral bees which can then be used to unlock and upgrade Arthur’s magical and combat skills through a tech tree. By default, Arthur can take four hits before losing a life, but unlike previous games, he loses his armor in pieces as he takes damage
