A long time ago there was a small company called Capcom, said company made a game that even today is deemed the hardest arcade game of the platform genre, in this case: Ghost and Goblins, the game was simple in plot and gameplay, mash A to hit as many baddies with spears as a knight called Arthur (Why he didn’t simply stab with them? I know as much as you do) compensating the simplicity with braincell shattering difficulty you can only take two hits before being dragged screaming to a checkpoint, not only the level design ensued that was frequent, but also the enemies, one of the most known is Red Arremer, or as today he shall be named…Firebrand
Now you play as the right guy... i hope you haven't hurled too many lances on him
Coming in the humble Gameboy Gargoyle’s quest was an experiment from Capcom, basically they took the most castrating enemy of an already castrating game and gave him his own spin-off Sitc… I mean game, fortunately, despite some tumbles, the game was a success, enough for them to be able to pump a sequel for the NES and another one for the SNES, we may talk of them later, but for now, let’s see how Firebrand’s protagonist debut fared
HISTORY
This game is a Gaiden Game of Sir Arthur’s escapades when facing Lucifer’s army, and thus the narration seems to imply this story happens before Sir Arthur had a picnic with his…¿Wife? Girlfriend? The Princess? In the safest place to have one…a FRIGIN GRAVEYARD, where the Ghoul Realm was getting clapped by the “Neighboring Dimension”, before a savior swept them, said event being the Red Blaze, hundred years later, the Ghoul Realm was threatened again… this time by an internal threat, and now it seems to be our turn to be the Red Blaze…
GYAAAAAAAAAA ("Oh really? great!"
The story proper starts with three demons getting to deliver the message to Firebrand that something seems to be conducting an assault on the Ghoul Realm and we need to get back to our Realm before the portal closes, after a brief Tutorial we are dumped in a world of dry trees, lava or blood per water, and deserts instead of usual forests of the genre, worry not, this is the Ghoul Realm so AFAIK for Firebrand we are back to a nice day for a picnic, so is our turn to explore this realm and solve the conspiracy while finding out you may have something to do with the savior of the Ghouls this time around
The story aside of that intro is minimal, typical of the genre, aside of an intro you merely solve the problem of the next town, get some McGuffin or weapon and find info of where the Hell (Ba Dum Tss) to go
ADDENIUM, SOME OF THE LOCALIZATION’S ANTICS:
If you have the knowledge of the game in terms of Lore, you may notice the whole Ghoul Realm thingy feels kinda censoring, and that’s the case, Demons are called Ghouls or Gargoyles, the king Rushifell is Lucifer, Moloch is called Moroch… and so on, aside of the basic Engrish of the time
CONTROLS
The controls are basic, Select does jack, Start opens the menu, B shots a fireball (Or by the graphics, ¿A ninja star?) and A jumps, if you press A in the air you start to fly, but only for two seconds for the time being, fortunately you can perch on walls like…well, a Gargoyle, they are kinda laggy, though, and the jump feels far too floaty even before you fly
GAMEPLAY
Firebrand using his powerful breath problems to defeat the first boss
You start the game with a measly jump and even measlier flying time, but as the game progresses, your flying, as well as your jump and most importantly your fireball arsenal increases, exploration happens in a Dragon Quest styled overworld while battles happen at random in the 2D platforming you see in the intro, aside of those battles, the game’s dungeons happen in a Faux-Metroidvania dungeon, where your fireballs not only improve the damage output, but also are your skills to keep progressing, no weapon or armor shops, instead anytime you solve the town’s arc, you can get either extra life bars or jump expansions, the “Money” (Here called vials, I don’t know what they has but they seem to be valuable enough”) only serves to buy Talismans, your lives, sadly you seem to only buy three, if you want more than three lives, you need to find them in the dungeons, fortunately even if they run out, you can get a password, you want to talk to him if you aren’t playing with Save states, since he will act as a Checkpoint, the game is more or less lineal, even if you get lost, you are blocked of accessing to places where you would get shredded without the upgrade that you missed
DIFFUCULTY
To time the spikes so you don't get a nice needle piercing, you need to time them with VERY PRECISE pixel alignment, that or you will have to eat some damage in the way down... WHERE THERE IS A FLOOR OF SPIKES WUTH A NARROW MARGIN TO FLY
Not because you has more resources and hit points than Sir “Can kick Satan’s ass in his underwear if the player feels craving a challenge” Arthur that means the Demon Realm will hold your hand, the 2D levels are mini mazes (Unintentionally made harder by the bioproduct of screen crunch) you can only het hit two times by the beginning while the max health you ahs at the end is (Drums) five… did I mentioned some enemies hits by TWO hit points) yeah, the game’s challenge can be satisfactory, but sometimes the trap hit from nowhere and you will give demonic screams that will make Firebrand himself think you are trying to sell him soap bars out of the frustration, lastly sometimes the Password guy will be two hard as balls dungeons next to the place you most likely died, so trying again can be a chore and remember, you can only buy three lives, fortunately if you can take it (Or simply savestate it *wink wink*) the game doesn't stop being good, it only require patience or lots of luck, fortunately the bosses, in my opinion, feel fair, at least compared to the levels you need to agonize trough to reach them
GRAPHICS
Firebrand: Keekeekee, grrrr, szzzzzzzz... AAAAAAAAH!? ("Well, i return to my home realm just to find it wrecked, but the blood is nice today, so may i go for a quick swin... what that sleeping purple bean said about my breath!"?
The overworld is a run of the mill RPG overworld, the only difference being the trees are dead, paraphs if the game was released in the GBC, the ocean would be red, the true meat of the graphics is in the 2D sections, the enemies look as grotesque and terrifying as you know them in the main Ghost and Goblins games, Firebrand himself is recognizable and detailed, his walking animation is kinda silly alas, he looks like if he was trying to earn the title of Tap Dancer as much as the Red Blaze one, the NPC’s also are run of the millish, since most of the time you will talk to zombies
MUSIC
Apparently if Yoko Shimomura tried to do a bad track, she would explode, most of the music in the overworld is melodic and the random battle music is the worst track… yet is still a total banger, props to the final stage’s music
Tense but triumphant, serene yet ominous, unwelcoming AND welcoming at the same time, the game’s challenge reaches its climax here
CONCLUSION
Archaic translation and high veering in fake difficulty aside, the game had to do something good to sell enough to justify a sequel that, while still hard, polishes lots of this game’s rough edges, some of the suspects can be the presentation, rather than yet another Knight on Shining Armor goodie guy saving the world because is the right thing, you get a demon that according to lore does what he does because of power and maybe he’s merely bored, other is the unique battle system, that once again was greatly expanded in future sequels, one thing is certain, care or not for the Original series this trilogy comes from, Firebrand has showed that with some Nooks and Crannies, you can turn the bane of many players’ existence into a unique character, and you, ¿Played the game before, liked it? Share your thoughts in the comments, by the time being *Turns his cloud in gargoyle wings and goes flying*
Bakuma Out
Pros
- + Unique story
- + Nice blend of Overworld and Platforming
- + Challenging difficulty may make it attractive for hardcore gamers
- + Give the spotlight to a underrated character
- + Nice Platforming mechanics
- + Simplistic upgrade system where Grinding isn't neccesary
Cons
- - Can't buy lots of Talismans
- - Checkpoints tend to be too far away
- - Difficulty can be fake
- - Game feels empty at times
- - Text speed is slow and makes a noise that will grind your ears
7
Gameplay
Linear progresion compensated by being given small mazes in the dungeons, can be cheaper than Ghost and Goblins in difficulty, but not to the extent to quitting
7
Graphics
Unique in the dungeons, meh in the background
10
Story
A nice insight in the world of enemies you casually shed though as Arthur... they are still jerks, but at least jerks that grows on you
8
Sound
The worst song (The random battle) still is good, that should tell you, that said, the GB's souldboard shows its age
5
Replayability
Nothing new under the sun if you beat it once, no hidden items, no easter eggs... may just a replay because you liked it
8
out of 10
Overall
The weakest of the trilogy, still a good playthough if you can stand its flaws or understand since it was the first one, they had not much templates to work with
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