Ghosts 'n' Goblins Resurrection: Killing Demons in Your Underwear 2021

[balder the brave]

I’ve beaten the first four levels on Knight difficulty, and I haven’t found a single secret stage…

It’s a shame because the upgrade tree is really cool, but I don’t see myself getting enough bees for a tantalizing power ups at the top of the tree, like the one that can give you gold armor or ones that make it easier to find the secret stages and chests.

The doppelgänger power up has been the most useful for me by far, making the boss fights in particular substantially easier.

I think I will try to beat the first loop, but I don’t find it enjoyable to shoot every random wall and gravestone looking for secrets. Like someone said earlier, that mechanic seems like a bad match with difficult platforming and combat.

 

[Torzelbaum]

I don’t find it enjoyable to shoot every random wall and gravestone looking for secrets. Like someone said earlier, that mechanic seems like a bad match with difficult platforming and combat.

When is it ever a good match?

 

[ShakeWell]

People don't seem to mind having to whip every wall in Castlevania or bomb every single inch of every surface in all the Metroid games.

 

[balder the brave]

When is it ever a good match?

I don’t want to make any definitive statements, but the Metroid and Castlevania games are well loved and they have a fair amount of “attacking walls to find secrets.”

 

[Torzelbaum]

True but you can take more than two hits in those games.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

I had to start a new save file after stage 5 got three times as hard despite me only completing it once. I had stated earlier that completing a stage may cause it to increase in difficulty, but that is not true. You can play a stage, die a bunch, quit, then pick it up again and possibly have the difficulty permanently increased.

I cannot believe this game is real.

 

[Ludendorkk]

I’ve beaten the first four levels on Knight difficulty, and I haven’t found a single secret stage…

It’s a shame because the upgrade tree is really cool, but I don’t see myself getting enough bees for a tantalizing power ups at the top of the tree, like the one that can give you gold armor or ones that make it easier to find the secret stages and chests.

The doppelgänger power up has been the most useful for me by far, making the boss fights in particular substantially easier.

I think I will try to beat the first loop, but I don’t find it enjoyable to shoot every random wall and gravestone looking for secrets. Like someone said earlier, that mechanic seems like a bad match with difficult platforming and combat.

The Nightmare version of stages are stupid full of easy Bees. Makes getting the big upgrades a snap.

 

[ShakeWell]

I finished the first five shadow stages (that is, both versions of 1 & 2, then stage 3) last night, and I find that the Graveyard is maybe the worst stage to start either sequence with. It's obnoxiously hard to the point that it doesn't really feel representative of what the rest of the game is like.

Also, I have Armormend, and boy, that's a game-changer.

 

[balder the brave]

How do you play the shadow stages?

 

[R.R. Bigman]

You have to complete all the stages first. Then you get to do them again, but even harder! It's Tradition!

All right, so I started a new file on Knight and after many curses and possible blasphemies I have reached the secret final boss that only appears if you get all the demon orbs. It's not that terrible, but there is no checkpoint after the regular last boss, so you gotta beat both of them in a row. I may just look up a strategy video. I need this to be done with.

 

[ShakeWell]

You have to complete all the stages first. Then you get to do them again, but even harder! It's Tradition!

All right, so I started a new file on Knight and after many curses and possible blasphemies I have reached the secret final boss that only appears if you get all the demon orbs. It's not that terrible, but there is no checkpoint after the regular last boss, so you gotta beat both of them in a row. I may just look up a strategy video. I need this to be done with.

Typically, the stages haven't been altered much on the 2nd play. In fact, usually, they're easier, because you have a PSYCHO CANNON/Princess Bracelet which does buckets of damage and can eat enemy projectiles when upgraded. These are something else.

Anyways, I got the bad ending (non-ending)? So now I'm on playthrough 3 with only 2 remaining DEMON ORBS. I guess they're both hidden in Hell Holes, but I would swear I got one out of a Hell Hole on my first play. Anyways, with a nearly-full Umbral Tree, I'm going to be using the Treasure Finder spell thing to mop up those last black chests and take on that final boss. (Which I hope is Sardius from Super GnG, but I have a suspicion it's just Loki/Lucifer again, but stronger/harder.)

So this game rules, early GotY contender for me, exactly what I wanted out of a new GnG. I might just try a Legend playthrough when I'm done.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

I got the second, not much different at all ending. Nothing less than a code for a mail-in iron-on jacket patch and free large pizza voucher would have made all that effort worth it, but it's almost nothing.

In all, I wish that we just got a no frills, run n' throw GnG game without the added aspects of the skill tree. You can mostly get through the first run without much assistance, but the shadow levels are maybe impossible without the better spells. That's also why the Shadow versions of the Graveyard and Execution Grounds feel so much harder than the technically more nasty later ones, since you will have relatively few upgrades to deal with the major difficulty increase. Having a game balanced around a fixed set of abilities would have meant the devs possibly wouldn't have made so many mean-spirited designs, since hey, there's checkpoints everywhere now and you get screen clearing spells, three weapon slots, shadow clone Arthurs and avery broken spell to just get armor back every minute or so.

 

[ShakeWell]

I honestly didn't find Shadow Execution Grounds nearly as hard as Shadow Graveyard. But I've gotten a few more Hell Holes, and boy, some of those are ridiculous. There's one with the screechy pigs-in-a-blanket ghosts (side note: I recall laughing very hard when AVGN referred to them that way in his video 6 or 7 years ago or whenever that was, because as kids, my friends and I also referred to them that way) that also has two windmills in it, and just like... what the hell, man? Tokuro Fujiwara, you're a madman.

 

[Kzinssie]

those enemies are canonically called Woody Pigs, so the pigs in a blanket comparison is not without basis

 

[ShakeWell]

True!

Related: I think I'm going to finish tonight. I've gotten all the Orbs, I'm on Astaroth's doorstep. Let's get this done!

 

[ShakeWell]

Update: I have done the thing. Also, the final boss is called SHADOWLORD, but he basically is Sardius from Super GnG, though he attacks just like Loki/Lucifer, but it's still neat.

And I didn't play around much after beating it, but those special armors you get for doing the true ending are pretty fucking sick. One of them gives you every weapon in the game at your disposal whenever you want it and the other one takes away the cooldown on magic, so you can just spam lightning and frogs and whatever else, and also never be without armor. Pretty sick.

So, yeah, this game rules, definite GotY contender for me.

 

[Voncaster]

I just got around to playing this because I was waiting for the PS4 version; I don't own a Switch. After spending a month playing, I just beat the final boss last night and got the true ending.

Finding the 3 in level shadow orbs was a pain. I was able to do it using Treasure Seeker I. It felt real satisfying when I found orb 17.

Like ShakeWell this is GotY contender for me. I loved the art style. The weapon variety was great. Almost every weapon has its uses. I thought the length of the game was perfect too. All the boss fights felt challenging but fair.

I do wish there was a Super Ghouls n Ghosts double jump in the upgrade tree.

After the franchise has been dormant for a number of years, this is an excellent new entry in the series and my favorite one so far.

 

[ArugulaZ]

Haven't played much yet, but it seems better than the previous entry, Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins on the PSP. You're still getting your booty kicked on a regular basis, but there's something more reliable about the position of enemies, and the graphics are sharper and more distinct. I don't think Ultimate was served well by its muddy, low-poly backgrounds.

One thing I like is that when you first play the game, you have your choice between the first stage from Ghosts 'n Goblins or its sequel Ghouls 'n Ghosts. They don't match up perfectly, of course, but there's heavy inspiration. The first Ghosts 'n Goblins is flat, while the sequel has a lot more topography to it, with hills, valleys and platforms taking you a couple screens upward or downward.

 

[Isrieri]

I picked this up a few months ago in October and I've been slowly plonking away at it whenever I feel up to get my teeth kicked in. I like this a lot better than the last installment I played on the PSP since there's none of that ring business and you get these cool faeries instead. I love unforgiving run-and-gun games like this since when you are playing very well, there's never any sense that the game is only patronizing you or things are being streamlined for the sake of your time. If you are kicking ass, you really are kicking major ass. Better to reserve that cruel mercilessness for shorter games like this, seeing as how I've been at it since last year and have only gotten to the penultimate stage.

But dang, like. What do you do? I'm completely stuck on it since it punishes the previously beneficial habit of firing away at things with wild abandon. I'm sure eventually I'll figure out a trick like I did with the giants (jump back and forth beneath 'em instead of sitting still) but I'm pretty burnt out for now. I think this might be the first game in the series where all the weapons are decently viable.

 

[ShakeWell]

Where are you stuck?

 

[Isrieri]

Where are you stuck?

Stage 4 (6?) the citadel approach. Its a nightmare.

 

[ShakeWell]

Oh, yeah. I think on the non-Shadow versions of the stages, that's the hardest one. (Shadow dragon riding is a LOT worse, though.) Have you reached the teeth yet, or still at the beginning?

EDIT: Sorry, I was confused about the stages. I thought that was the Caverns of the Occult, which I think is the hardest non-Shadow stage. The kinda trick for the first part of Citadel approach is to not shoot a lot. Avoid splatting any of the eyeballs in the background, they summon powerful baddies. The second part of the stage after the checkpoint is easier. (With the teeth. I did remember the second part right.)