In 1985 Capcom released one of the coolest Arcade games ever to grace the gaming scene, and that game was the incredible Ghosts'n Goblins which appeared on lots of different systems. It is a game that if you haven't played it, you are seriously missing out! So as a shout out to that awesome game of which I have played a lot, we have just found out through Facebook that an Arcade like version of Ghosts'n Goblins has arrived on the Plus/4, and it's glorious!
Original
Arcade Plus/4
Here's the latest from the plus/4 world website about the game developed by Tamas Sasvari, Steve Day, Carl Mason, and Csaba Pankaczy. "If you believe that the 1986 16K release of Ghosts 'n Goblins didn't do justice to the original game, you had a long 40 years to wait. In 2026, TCFS is here to make us proud: Ghosts'N Goblins Arcade Version is now available for Commodore Plus/4. Guide Arthur though 7 levels to save Princess Prin-Prin. A side scrolling platformer."
"Ghosts'N Goblins Arcade Version is a technical marvel on all levels. It's hard to believe your eyes! From the advanced sprite engine running at solid, high frame rates, to the seamless fastloaders, the wonderful graphics with enhanced TED colors, and the soundtrack, this is as good as Commodore Plus/4 games get. While many individuals contributed their decades-old knowledge and talent, the real hero is TCFS himself, who is responsible for most of what you're seeing"
Links :1) Source
Oh my god, the version from 1986 is extremely bad. Who ever paid for this, has my personal sympathy. What a difference!
ReplyDeleteAnother good example of what can be done on the Plus/4 when its 64KB RAM is used rather than just 16KB (for compatibility with the Commodore 16) as was the norm back in the day. I'll certainly give it a try although the fact that "it is often cited as one of the most difficult games of all time" is not too great to hear with my mediocre gaming abilities! Hopefully there will be an easy mode.
DeleteGood news: it has "easy" mode (and "hard" mode as well, just to be sure to not to be bored )
DeleteOr maybe 1 million credits
DeleteSoftware houses wanted to be present in the C16 market but nobody wanted to spend time to do something good for it. They used to assign the job to ppl who were barely knowing the machine's features, with few weeks of overall time to accomplish a "something" to quickly sell. See also Green Beret, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Airwolf, Commando...
DeleteOut now: http://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Ghosts_N_Goblins_Arcade_Version
ReplyDeleteWOOOOOOOOOOO!
DeleteWell I didn't think I'd be playing this on my Plus/4 quite so quickly after posting my comment! Very happy to discover that controls work well & it does indeed have an easy option as well as a few other options (I always appreciate a Sound FX option (no music) which this has). Great work.
DeleteVery difficult, but great graphics and lots of fun. Jumping arc is quite long. Difficulty moderated by the generous restart locations and continues.
ReplyDeleteWow what a fantastic conversion. I love the way it deals with not having horizontal scrolling. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand where and when has started this legend about the 264 series as not having hardware scrolling. Not only the Plus/4 shares with the VIC-II the same tech about hardware scrolling, but the TED chip is also capable (tricky but capable) of bitmap smooth scrolling too (see Alpharay!).
DeleteIt's probably rather about loading not scrolling.
DeleteAmazing job creating this version for the plus 4, love it. congrats to the team.
ReplyDeleteThat has to be one of the best soundtracks for the TED ever. Kudos!
ReplyDeleteLooks great compared to original, but the old C64 version is still clearly better graphically and soundwise, and it was released already in 1986. There might be a later version available for C64 as well, but at least a remake is being done for Amiga, and it is close to arcade perfect, it was done with Scorpion engine.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree: original C64 version had inaccurate player controls and poor knight animation compared to this one. A remake for C64 would be definitely great.
DeleteI remember I played Ghost'n Goblins on C64 (original version, 1986) and the steering was indeed a bit difficult, but got to last level. Apparently the c64 original version had some levels left out, but a remake from 2015 is also available: https://www.lemon64.com/game/ghosts-n-goblins-arcade. It has also different music, probably same as arcade. Some say this version is the best 8bit computer conversion there is currently available.
DeleteOf course it doesn't look or sound better than the C64 version, because this is for the Plus/4. Considered the inferior hardware, it's is clearly very well done. Respect. The GNG Amiga Scorpion project is not in the works anymore. Instead, JOTD is working on an arcade version of GNG for AGA.
ReplyDeleteIt's a cracker! In-game music is a rare treat on the Plus/4 too :) Happy days!
ReplyDeleteDefine glorious, define arcade version
ReplyDeleteWell compared to the original it's glorious! ;)
DeleteAnd no credits to Nostalgia ?
ReplyDeleteThere's already a massive feature of the C64 version by Nostalgia https://www.indieretronews.com/2015/06/ghostsn-goblins-arcade-stunning-revamp.html
Deletewill it work on C16 with 64kb memory?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, it works on memory-expanded c16
Deletec16 with extended memory yes!
ReplyDelete