Welcome to VC Weekly, N-Europe’s guide to the wonderful world of Nintendo’s download service. Written by Sam C Gittins

If you like classic platforming games particularly of the Capcom variety then you may well be pleased with this latest 3DS
re-release previously seen on the Wii's Virtual Console a few years back. Anyway enough from me and on with the game!
 
Available for download this week we have...     

Ghosts 'n Goblins


 
Price: GB £4.49, EU €4.99
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Released: 1985
System: NES

Now many people will no doubt be familiar with Capcom's excellent Ghouls 'n Ghosts but what you may not be aware of it that the very first game named Ghosts 'n Goblins which was released some time before was an entirely different story, even if it did help to lay the foundations for what greatness was to follow.

As some of you may already be aware, Ghouls 'n Ghosts was notorious for being one of the hardest platform titles of it's time but truly it really has got nothing on it's predecessor; so things start off with Princess Prin-Prin getting captured by the evil Astaroth and it's up to Arthur to journey through legions of demons to get her back and this is where your epic journey or rather trial by fire begins.

You are armed with your trusty lance and basically nothing else, you may take two hits but no more before succumbing to your wounds, can only jump once and may not upgrade your armour in any way, shape or form oh and you can only fire in front of you, not up and down. Technically there are other weapons in the form of the Axe and Torch but they truly are abysmal and the only item worth getting is a shield that can double up as a projectile and thats not even until your second play-through!

There are six stages available each with a rock-hard boss battle at the end, each level has many of the most annoying enemies in the series including most notably lots of Red Arremers which are irritating airborne enemies which you will most likely fall victim to many a time. The visuals may not look like much now but they pushed the hardware at the time as did the excellent soundtrack, though these aspects are vastly improved in the superior sequel.

It is a quality game overall and perhaps it's only downfall is that it's just too damned hard! Featuring many frustrating moments, you really will have to truly want to complete this to get through it because it's the kind of game thats easy to give up on if you lack the will to continue. While it's sequel was considered hard but fair this is more cheap as the amount of enemies it throws at you and the repeated boss sections near the end of the game really do snatch the proverbial biscuit right from your cold, dead characters hands but hey at least you can always keep coming back for that “one last go.”

Verdict : A classic title that requires untold amounts of both perseverance and patience.

That's it for another installment of VC Weekly which will return again soon. So until then, enjoy the rest of the week and Game On!