Ghosts 'n Goblins (series)

Ghosts 'n Goblins, known as Makaimura (魔界村, lit. "Demon World Village") in Japan, is a dark fantasy-themed series of Run and gun platformer games created by Tokuro Fujiwara and developed by Capcom. The series focus on the brave knight Arthur, who must overcome obstacles in several deadly levels set in the Ghoul Realm of Makai and fight through demonic enemies and villians, such as the Red Arremer and Astaroth respectively, in order to save princess Guinevere. There are also spinoff games which feature Arthur and/or other protagonists, such as Firebrand or Maximo.

The series as a whole has sold over 4.2 million units and currently stands as the 13th best-selling Capcom game franchise.^[1] It has gained a reputation among players for the high level of difficulty in nearly all of its games.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Gameplay

Ghosts 'n Goblins gameplay

The main series consists of run and gun platformers with players controlling Arthur who must battle through hordes of the undead in order to rescue the kidnapped princess Guinevere from the demon king Astaroth.

Arthur's health and magic level is represented by the armor he wears, with Arthur capable of finding better armor and various weapons in treasure chests hidden throughout the game stages; even so, regardless of how powerful is the armor Arthur wears, he will lose it with a single hit. Once losing his armor Arthur is left only wearing his boxers (an image which has become iconic for the series). In most of the main series, once completing the game the player is forced to re-play the game's stages at a harder difficulty level in order to receive the game's "true" ending.

Gargoyle's Quest gameplay

The Gargoyle's Quest series are side-scrolling adventure games with mild role-playing video game elements. Players control the character of Firebrand, a character who is based on the Red Arremer enemy.

Maximo gameplay

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The Maximo games are 3D hack and slash platformers.

List of games

SuperGNGArt — *Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts* Game Boy Advance cover, art by Shinkiro.

Main games

Ghosts 'n Goblins - (1985)

Ghouls 'n Ghosts - (1988)

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts - (1991)

Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins - (2006)

Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection - (2021)

Spin-offs

Arthur to Astaroth no Nazomakaimura - (1996 - Japan only) - a Ghosts 'n Goblins-themed gadget puzzle game.
Makaimura for WonderSwan - (1999 - Japan only)
Geki Makaimura - (2005 - Japan only) - A Pachinko game.

Ghosts 'n Goblins: Gold Knights - (2009) - a mobile phone game. Introduced Lancelot as an optional character. Lancelot has a higher rate of fire than Arthur at the cost of less power and durability.

Ghosts 'n Goblins: Gold Knights II - (2010) - another mobile phone game. Introduced Perceval as an optional character. Perceval is a close range fighter with higher attack power and durability than Arthur.

Puzzle Makaimura - (2010)

Makaimura Online - (canceled)

Red Arremer series

Gargoyle's Quest - (1990)

Gargoyle's Quest II - (1992)

Demon's Crest - (1994)

Maximo series

Maximo: Ghosts to Glory - (2001)

Maximo vs. Army of Zin - (2003)

Development

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The Ghosts 'n Goblins franchise was created by Tokuro Fujiwara. Toshio Arima served as lead programmer and Ayako Mori composed the score for the original arcade release in 1985.