Gargoyle's Quest is a surprisingly ambitious action-platformer for the Game Boy. As Firebrand, a demonic gargoyle, you'll battle through challenging side-scrolling stages and explore a top-down overworld map filled with towns, dungeons, and random encounters. It blends classic platforming with light RPG elements like leveling up and item management. While its difficulty can be unforgiving, Gargoyle's Quest offers a unique adventure brimming with gothic charm and satisfying gameplay mechanics.
Played on Game Boy - Nintendo Switch Online, but didn't make it very far. I like difficult games, and platformers as well, but this game isn't for me, so I will not be returning to it.
Neat little mixture of a very basic Zelda-like adventure and an equally basic Ghosts 'n Goblins 2D game. Rather difficult and cryptic, some unnecessary clunky design decisions. Had fun, though and doesn't overstay its welcome
Lots of neat things it was doing, especially compared to its contemporaries at the time, but it hasn't aged great since then.
A fun little spin off of the Ghost N Goblins series where you play as one of the most notorious enemies in the series. It's a short gameboy platformer that plays kind of like Kirby and isn't too frustrating like it's older brother. Beat it in an afternoon.
This review contains spoilers
So Gargoyle's Quest is a trilogy that I really wanted to play the games to get to know better and nothing better than starting with the first one as my first experience wasn't one of the best, like I got some items called "Vials", but I didn't know what they were for, An NPC said that it gave me a talisman, and I who played Demon's Crest thought that these "talismans" worked like that game or that they protected me, but as soon as I dropped that game and went to the second one, I realized that they gave me lives extras, so after venturing into the second title I decided to go back and give the first one another chance, which was a reasonable experience until I hit save state in retroarch... and lost my progress, but in the end I used the password to go straight to the last stage because I thought the game is very mediocre and I couldn't stand the last phase and the "last" boss isn't difficult, but it's like Dracula from Castlevania Dracula X; very annoying to defeat.
And honestly, this game frustrated me a lot, what irritates me the most about it is this annoying flickering that irritates me a lot and I don't have that much of a problem with flickering, but this one got on my nerves, the music is a bit irritating, the graphics are simple , but a simple and very ugly one, anyway, I don't really recommend this game, I recommend playing the second one (also because it's almost a remake of this one) or Demon's Crest
And honestly, this game frustrated me a lot, what irritates me the most about it is this annoying flickering that irritates me a lot and I don't have that much of a problem with flickering, but this one got on my nerves, the music is a bit irritating, the graphics are simple , but a simple and very ugly one, anyway, I don't really recommend this game, I recommend playing the second one (also because it's almost a remake of this one) or Demon's Crest
So, I went through this series backwards, starting with Demon's Crest.
And while this game is great; I do think the games iterate on eachother really well.
I'm still pretty blown away how many ideas started in this one though. Everything is so solid and feels really good to play. Going in, I thought it'd feel like the series didn't hit its stride until the NES game. But nope, this game's in full stride, baby!
It's honestly kinda amazing how similar the NES game is to this one. If I didn't know any better, I would have assumed this was like the GB version of that NES game. Something akin to the Mega Man GB games.
The biggest difference is the pacing. This game is much more linear. But to pad out the length they have random encounters on the overworld... which sucked. The vials you get from them are not that useful and they end up feeling more work than their work, really fast. Especially considering the annoying fanfare everytime you defeat, sometimes, a single enemy in these encounters. Even so, it's a pretty comfortable length and difficultly, which I appreciated. Never got stuck on how to proceed like the NES game, and never got frustratingly sick of it like other games of this era. It's just so impressively well done considering it came out 35 years ago. It's probably one of the best Gameboy games out there.
And while this game is great; I do think the games iterate on eachother really well.
I'm still pretty blown away how many ideas started in this one though. Everything is so solid and feels really good to play. Going in, I thought it'd feel like the series didn't hit its stride until the NES game. But nope, this game's in full stride, baby!
It's honestly kinda amazing how similar the NES game is to this one. If I didn't know any better, I would have assumed this was like the GB version of that NES game. Something akin to the Mega Man GB games.
The biggest difference is the pacing. This game is much more linear. But to pad out the length they have random encounters on the overworld... which sucked. The vials you get from them are not that useful and they end up feeling more work than their work, really fast. Especially considering the annoying fanfare everytime you defeat, sometimes, a single enemy in these encounters. Even so, it's a pretty comfortable length and difficultly, which I appreciated. Never got stuck on how to proceed like the NES game, and never got frustratingly sick of it like other games of this era. It's just so impressively well done considering it came out 35 years ago. It's probably one of the best Gameboy games out there.
First of all: really good atmosphere. You really feel like you're in a hellish world on the brink of dying from too much war, and Firebrand (who is green on the cover despite everyone in the game mentioning how red he is) has to trek through its very inhospitable biomes to save the demon realm from an evil more evil demon than the ones currently living there. It's a melancholy you don't really expect from a Ghosts & Goblins spin-off starring its most annoying enemy in the main role, and one that is a perfect fit on the monochrome game boy with all of its technical limitations that sort of necessitates sparse environments. The melancholic world map theme one spends most of the game listening to also helps create the picture of a world at the end of its lifespan if nothing's done soon.
As for playing the game, it's fine. Gargoyle's Quest doesn't really do anything poorly, but it does feel a bit... undercooked, maybe? Like, there's nothing really to do on the world map other than walk straight to the next point of interest, the town's you visit all look almost exactly the same, the NPCs mostly say the exact same thing, and the game as a whole feels like it ends just as it's truly began since the platforming finally starts feeling a bit more complex and Firebrand can use his powers to their fullest which allows for more creative challenges for the player, which this game sorely lacked for most of my playtime since Gargoyle's Quest tends to just not have very interesting level design, relying more on awkward enemy placements than fun platforming. Not that I was suffering, hating my time with these levels or anything, but they sometimes suddenly glimmered, utilizing Firebrands gliding to its fullest and switching between abilities to create paths forward in a clever way, and those moments really made me feel how much potential the game had, and how little Capcom did with that potential. The bosses are also kind of an issue, with all of them being really easy since they follow super simple patterns that you'll learn in about five seconds, but they at least all look really cool.
Terrible translation by the way, but just like with most terrible 90's localizations, it just adds a layer of charm to the experience as a whole.
As for playing the game, it's fine. Gargoyle's Quest doesn't really do anything poorly, but it does feel a bit... undercooked, maybe? Like, there's nothing really to do on the world map other than walk straight to the next point of interest, the town's you visit all look almost exactly the same, the NPCs mostly say the exact same thing, and the game as a whole feels like it ends just as it's truly began since the platforming finally starts feeling a bit more complex and Firebrand can use his powers to their fullest which allows for more creative challenges for the player, which this game sorely lacked for most of my playtime since Gargoyle's Quest tends to just not have very interesting level design, relying more on awkward enemy placements than fun platforming. Not that I was suffering, hating my time with these levels or anything, but they sometimes suddenly glimmered, utilizing Firebrands gliding to its fullest and switching between abilities to create paths forward in a clever way, and those moments really made me feel how much potential the game had, and how little Capcom did with that potential. The bosses are also kind of an issue, with all of them being really easy since they follow super simple patterns that you'll learn in about five seconds, but they at least all look really cool.
Terrible translation by the way, but just like with most terrible 90's localizations, it just adds a layer of charm to the experience as a whole.
kinda strange that i like this more than the ghouls n ghosts games. im very excited to try demon's crest now
Probably no surprise that I'm playing the Gargoyle's Quest series of games with the intent of getting around to Demon's Crest, but what is surprising is how competent this was. It's neat for what it is; a gameboy platformer with light RPG elements and an unconventional moveset, and a pretty hilariously bad translation. Gliding and clinging to walls are pretty novel concepts especially given the hardware and time, but the level and boss design kinda doesn't back them up. Really liked the last level that had you swapping between your different shots and their abilities, though, and I'm excited to see how they improve in the sequel and how it culminates in the third game.
Found this in a /v/ top games by year for 1990. Really enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Ended up mastering the RetroAchievements for it.
CRAZY that a game I only played as a joke on vacation ended up being one of my favorite OG Game Boy games ever???
Remarkably ambitious for a Game Boy title. Fun mix of tough side-scrolling sections with Final Fantasy-like overworld exploration with random encounters. Great music and funny, charming writing.
Great game, especially considering how early in the Gameboy's life it came out. It's not an easy game, but it never felt unforgiving.
My favorite part was the atmosphere, I really like how oppressive yet friendly everything is. The way the melancholic overworld music plays as you wander around the wastelands of hell, running into Lucifer who says you're a bitch, then beating him he thinks you're cool.
My favorite part was the atmosphere, I really like how oppressive yet friendly everything is. The way the melancholic overworld music plays as you wander around the wastelands of hell, running into Lucifer who says you're a bitch, then beating him he thinks you're cool.
The platforming mechanics are really solid, especially for the Gameboy. It's really cool how your upgraded projectile attacks become integral to the platforming, like breaking blocks and creating surfaces to cling to. Unfortunately, the RPG-esque superstructure to the game is very bare-bones, with a completely uninspired world (save for one cool puzzle in the desert) and populated by near-identical little towns with nothing to do.
Jeux fort sympathique et original, ou notre personnage est littéralement une gargouille, nommée Firebrand, qui peut planer plus ou moins longtemps suivant notre avancée, s’agripper sur les murs etc avec de bonnes ost et une ambiance plutôt solide. Le bestiaire aussi est plutôt cool mais si je dois retenir une chose qui m’aura vraiment marqué ce sont sprites des boss qui sont, je trouve, excellent et très crédible pour la console de merde qu’est la gameboy et en 1990, soit en tout début de vie de la console qui plus est, et ça c’est plutôt respectable.
Malheureusement le jeux peine à être réellement marquant, et en réalité vous allez probablement l’oublier assez rapidement. Probablement un des meilleurs jeux gameboy, certes, mais un des meilleurs jeux sur une console mauvaise encore une fois.
Malheureusement le jeux peine à être réellement marquant, et en réalité vous allez probablement l’oublier assez rapidement. Probablement un des meilleurs jeux gameboy, certes, mais un des meilleurs jeux sur une console mauvaise encore une fois.
Known as "Red Arremer: Makaimura Gaiden" in Japanese, this is a game I know I owned as a kid in English, but I don't really remember if I beat it or not. I had so much fun with Demon's Crest earlier in the year, I decided to pick up this (and a GameCube and a GameBoy Player ^^;) so I could play more of Firebrand's series on stream~. It took me just about dead-on two hours to beat the Japanese version of game on stream.
The game opens with a text scroll about how the underworld is under attack my a mysterious army, and a few dying monsters relate that directly to Firebrand as you start the game. Getting through the first stage past the gates of hell, you enter into the underworld to a grim sight. The underworld is crawling with the lackeys of the lord of destruction, Breager. He was defeated eons ago by a legendary hero, and you're entrusted by the lord of the underworld to do it again! There are a few characters in the game who are silly fun in a way, but this is a GB game from 1990 (the first GB game Capcom even put out, so far as I can tell), so we're here for action more so than story, and the game knows that.
Gameplay-wise, this game plays like Zelda 2 had a baby with Mega Man. You have an overworld you walk around in and can get in random battles into, and you also how towns you can enter as well as dungeons to get through to progress the story. The overworld and towns are from a Zelda 1-like top-down perspective, but all the action is sidescrolling that feels more like Mega Man. You get upgrades to your health, jumping/flying power, and attack power as the game goes on, but I don't think any of it is actually optional. The game is for all intents and purposes stage-based with the illusion of a more open experience, as most often beating the big dungeon and/or boss of the section of the world map you're in will dump you into an area that you can't return from. That said, the adventure parts, isolated between stages as they may be, may be simple but are still well executed for what they are. As evidenced by how I beat it in two hours, it's not a super duper long game, but you do have a password system to let you come back and play it in multiple sittings if you want to.
But this is first and foremost an action game, and that's where the game really delivers. Firebrand has a main attack of spitting fireballs, and different fire breaths can be acquired through the course of the story that have different power levels and effects such as making temporary safety blobs on spiked walls, but you generally just always wanna use the most recent one you got. You can also hover with your wings for limited (at first) amount of time. The level design and boss design is pretty darn solid, but the game's main issue is a serious inverse difficulty curve problem. The first and especially the second bosses are really hard because you only start the game with two hearts between you and death. It's not an impossibly hard game, but just getting past the start can be really daunting. And that's unfortunate, since the rest of the game is generally really well balanced and fun, but that first hurdle is likely going to frustrate even people like myself who are quite comfortable with Capcom's action games.
The presentation is pretty good, even for this early in the GameBoy's life. Sprites are fairly well detailed and environments are as well. The music is also quite good, as one would expect from any Capcom game of this era, with my personal favorite being the theme that plays in Breager's Castle.
Verdict: Recommended. This is a really solid, if short, action platformer with an action/adventure twist. It's hardly Capcom's best 2D game, let alone their best GameBoy game, but it's still a very enjoyable, if a bit frustrating, way to spend an afternoon.
The game opens with a text scroll about how the underworld is under attack my a mysterious army, and a few dying monsters relate that directly to Firebrand as you start the game. Getting through the first stage past the gates of hell, you enter into the underworld to a grim sight. The underworld is crawling with the lackeys of the lord of destruction, Breager. He was defeated eons ago by a legendary hero, and you're entrusted by the lord of the underworld to do it again! There are a few characters in the game who are silly fun in a way, but this is a GB game from 1990 (the first GB game Capcom even put out, so far as I can tell), so we're here for action more so than story, and the game knows that.
Gameplay-wise, this game plays like Zelda 2 had a baby with Mega Man. You have an overworld you walk around in and can get in random battles into, and you also how towns you can enter as well as dungeons to get through to progress the story. The overworld and towns are from a Zelda 1-like top-down perspective, but all the action is sidescrolling that feels more like Mega Man. You get upgrades to your health, jumping/flying power, and attack power as the game goes on, but I don't think any of it is actually optional. The game is for all intents and purposes stage-based with the illusion of a more open experience, as most often beating the big dungeon and/or boss of the section of the world map you're in will dump you into an area that you can't return from. That said, the adventure parts, isolated between stages as they may be, may be simple but are still well executed for what they are. As evidenced by how I beat it in two hours, it's not a super duper long game, but you do have a password system to let you come back and play it in multiple sittings if you want to.
But this is first and foremost an action game, and that's where the game really delivers. Firebrand has a main attack of spitting fireballs, and different fire breaths can be acquired through the course of the story that have different power levels and effects such as making temporary safety blobs on spiked walls, but you generally just always wanna use the most recent one you got. You can also hover with your wings for limited (at first) amount of time. The level design and boss design is pretty darn solid, but the game's main issue is a serious inverse difficulty curve problem. The first and especially the second bosses are really hard because you only start the game with two hearts between you and death. It's not an impossibly hard game, but just getting past the start can be really daunting. And that's unfortunate, since the rest of the game is generally really well balanced and fun, but that first hurdle is likely going to frustrate even people like myself who are quite comfortable with Capcom's action games.
The presentation is pretty good, even for this early in the GameBoy's life. Sprites are fairly well detailed and environments are as well. The music is also quite good, as one would expect from any Capcom game of this era, with my personal favorite being the theme that plays in Breager's Castle.
Verdict: Recommended. This is a really solid, if short, action platformer with an action/adventure twist. It's hardly Capcom's best 2D game, let alone their best GameBoy game, but it's still a very enjoyable, if a bit frustrating, way to spend an afternoon.
Applause to Capcom to make a Ghost'n Goblins spin-off starring everyone's nightmare that Game Overed all of us many times in a Dragon Quest/action platform hybrid.
It does feel clunky to progress in towns, but the level design and game is all great. Just by default for idea and what it rappresents I wanna praise it.
It does feel clunky to progress in towns, but the level design and game is all great. Just by default for idea and what it rappresents I wanna praise it.
This is a pretty decent action platformer. I like how it incorporates RPG-like exploration and progression, even if it's pretty rudimentary. Overall, I recommend it.
A solid Game Boy title. The hovering and wall clinging mechanics are what make it for me. The sound effect for text scrolling is pretty funny sounding.
This review contains spoilers
Really sharply designed game with pretty unique progression. It's basically structured like Zelda 2 with top down exploration elements and random encounters before having more dedicated dungeons with traditional level design. They don't do much with the overworld in all honestly tho and it's basically just a glorified map like in the Mario games. There was basically only 2 parts where talking to NPCs led to you backtracking or have to use your head to find out where to go next
As for the design and gameplay I think that's really sharp. You can basically hover for a temporary amount of time and shoot. As you go along your moveset changes, getting more attacks, the ability to fly longer, and the ability to jump higher. The challenge scales as you go along too so it's always about the same difficulty but you feel more powerful as the gameplay gives you more freedom. There's an interesting shift in challenge as stuff goes along too. The fun of the early limitations is different to the fun of the later freedom.
Each batch of levels is basically built around your increasing arsenal. First limited attack and flight where you fire 1 bullet at a time and the challenge mostly surrounds carefully aiming and dodging as there's a huge risk to missing. This core gameplay loop is retained and iterated on but severely shifted with each upgrade. At first it's simple, just increasing your hover and giving you two attacks that can also break certain blocks. The design becomes a bit more open and aim is slightly less of a concern. Have a few levels where you have to strategically glide down too. Then you get a weapon that changes up how the spikes work, temporarily nullifying and letting you cling onto them. There's a great of mount of fun with the level design here now as there's a sense of verticality as you can now use the nullified spikes to climb upward but with complete freedom as to where you start and land. Spikes often line the ceiling too so you have to be very careful not to overshoot. Gliding can help in some forms of platforming challenges but they make sure they put stuff like that so there's a struggle constantly. In some ways it reminds me of Celeste as that plays around with wall climbing too tho I feel that approaches the same concept differently. This projectile also adds reintroduces the prior challenge of aim as you are limited to two shots, but if one gets stuck to a spike you only have 1, and if two are, you're helpless. So if you're being attacked while surrounded by spikes there's a lot of juggling. And that's not including when they start to introduce walls that only the previous attack can break forcing you to switch often. There's this great moment I noticed for this one boss where only that attack can hurt it is said attack and it forces you to switch to it before entering his room through the level design which I thought was a clever trick. The final upgrade to the attack is effectively the same as the original attack but stronger. Makes the original completely useless, but it was like that ever since you had another option so it's cool they somewhat find a way to bring it back by making it 1 shot but by far the strongest shot. Now there's a strength vs speed/aim risk to take into account and I think it's a fun challenge, although a type of challenge they could've had from the start. I don't really see why the starter shot couldn't be stronger and the existence of the strong shot doesn't really negate any of the benefits of the other attacks. The final levels also have a cool element of giving you unlimited flight instead of the temporary flight of earlier levels. Allows you to feel like you now have complete freedom but the design is also tweaked to give a new layer of challenge. Makes it feel fresh while still being an extension of everything before, especially with you having to juggle attacks and use all the skills you've gained.
My only real complaint is that it's so short. I kind of wish there were twice as many levels as there were. The shifts happen pretty fast and I wish I had a bit more time to dwell on each gameplay mode. There's a beautiful sense of progression but it also feels so rapid that I feel I'm missing out on some potential. But I guess that's what the sequels are for.
7.5/10
As for the design and gameplay I think that's really sharp. You can basically hover for a temporary amount of time and shoot. As you go along your moveset changes, getting more attacks, the ability to fly longer, and the ability to jump higher. The challenge scales as you go along too so it's always about the same difficulty but you feel more powerful as the gameplay gives you more freedom. There's an interesting shift in challenge as stuff goes along too. The fun of the early limitations is different to the fun of the later freedom.
Each batch of levels is basically built around your increasing arsenal. First limited attack and flight where you fire 1 bullet at a time and the challenge mostly surrounds carefully aiming and dodging as there's a huge risk to missing. This core gameplay loop is retained and iterated on but severely shifted with each upgrade. At first it's simple, just increasing your hover and giving you two attacks that can also break certain blocks. The design becomes a bit more open and aim is slightly less of a concern. Have a few levels where you have to strategically glide down too. Then you get a weapon that changes up how the spikes work, temporarily nullifying and letting you cling onto them. There's a great of mount of fun with the level design here now as there's a sense of verticality as you can now use the nullified spikes to climb upward but with complete freedom as to where you start and land. Spikes often line the ceiling too so you have to be very careful not to overshoot. Gliding can help in some forms of platforming challenges but they make sure they put stuff like that so there's a struggle constantly. In some ways it reminds me of Celeste as that plays around with wall climbing too tho I feel that approaches the same concept differently. This projectile also adds reintroduces the prior challenge of aim as you are limited to two shots, but if one gets stuck to a spike you only have 1, and if two are, you're helpless. So if you're being attacked while surrounded by spikes there's a lot of juggling. And that's not including when they start to introduce walls that only the previous attack can break forcing you to switch often. There's this great moment I noticed for this one boss where only that attack can hurt it is said attack and it forces you to switch to it before entering his room through the level design which I thought was a clever trick. The final upgrade to the attack is effectively the same as the original attack but stronger. Makes the original completely useless, but it was like that ever since you had another option so it's cool they somewhat find a way to bring it back by making it 1 shot but by far the strongest shot. Now there's a strength vs speed/aim risk to take into account and I think it's a fun challenge, although a type of challenge they could've had from the start. I don't really see why the starter shot couldn't be stronger and the existence of the strong shot doesn't really negate any of the benefits of the other attacks. The final levels also have a cool element of giving you unlimited flight instead of the temporary flight of earlier levels. Allows you to feel like you now have complete freedom but the design is also tweaked to give a new layer of challenge. Makes it feel fresh while still being an extension of everything before, especially with you having to juggle attacks and use all the skills you've gained.
My only real complaint is that it's so short. I kind of wish there were twice as many levels as there were. The shifts happen pretty fast and I wish I had a bit more time to dwell on each gameplay mode. There's a beautiful sense of progression but it also feels so rapid that I feel I'm missing out on some potential. But I guess that's what the sequels are for.
7.5/10
Ridiculously slow, easy action sequences broken up by boring RPG-style overworld sections and repeated random encounters. The whole game is just padding doing things over and over again in between short levels. I hear Demon's Crest is very good but the first game certainly wasn't. God I miss Ghosts 'n Goblins...
honestly cool as fuck but I just don't have the willpower for it at the moment. I'll revisit it one day
Lanzado en 1990 para GameBoy por Capcom, Gargoyle’s Quest es un spinoff de Ghost'n Goblins.
Encarnamos a una gárgola que tiene que salvar un mundo paralelo gracias a sus habilidades de disparo, escalada y planeo sobre el aire. El juego recuerda mucho a Zelda II, donde se mezcla plataformas de acción (mazmorras incluidas) con travesías con encuentro fortuito de enemigos al estilo RPG. A lo largo del viaje también visitaremos varios poblados con NPC's que nos guiaran en nuestra aventura. Me gustaría hacer una espacial mención a la mecánica de poder agarrarse a casi cualquier pared al estilo gárgola, es una mecánica única y bastante divertida.
La música, aunque no es de mis favoritas se nota trabajada, sobre todo hacía el final del juego. Y gráficamente el juego cumple, salvo en un par de ocasiones (algunos parpadeos al luchar contra enemigos grandes y ralentizaciones notorias de toda la lógica del juego cuando nos persiguen varias plantas voladoras).
Mi principal queja sería solamente lo molesto y repetitivos que se hacen al principio los combates durante la travesía y lo que se tarda en salir de ellos una vez has acabado con todos los enemigos.
Gargoyle's Quest es un juego RPG clásico con combates plataformeros originales. Sin duda hace las cosas bien y a nada que le dediques media hora ya sientes curiosidad por ver como avanza la aventura.
Encarnamos a una gárgola que tiene que salvar un mundo paralelo gracias a sus habilidades de disparo, escalada y planeo sobre el aire. El juego recuerda mucho a Zelda II, donde se mezcla plataformas de acción (mazmorras incluidas) con travesías con encuentro fortuito de enemigos al estilo RPG. A lo largo del viaje también visitaremos varios poblados con NPC's que nos guiaran en nuestra aventura. Me gustaría hacer una espacial mención a la mecánica de poder agarrarse a casi cualquier pared al estilo gárgola, es una mecánica única y bastante divertida.
La música, aunque no es de mis favoritas se nota trabajada, sobre todo hacía el final del juego. Y gráficamente el juego cumple, salvo en un par de ocasiones (algunos parpadeos al luchar contra enemigos grandes y ralentizaciones notorias de toda la lógica del juego cuando nos persiguen varias plantas voladoras).
Mi principal queja sería solamente lo molesto y repetitivos que se hacen al principio los combates durante la travesía y lo que se tarda en salir de ellos una vez has acabado con todos los enemigos.
Gargoyle's Quest es un juego RPG clásico con combates plataformeros originales. Sin duda hace las cosas bien y a nada que le dediques media hora ya sientes curiosidad por ver como avanza la aventura.
This game isn't as good as Demon's Crest, which I adore, but it's still a fairly well made and action adventure game that is extremely impressive considering the console it's for.
This is the universal "I only played it because it was on NSO" game, and honestly its really damn good for what it is. Even if it is difficult I think it balances it better than Ghosts N' Goblins, and the moveset you have makes going through levels pretty fun. The overworld were you're talking to NPCs isn't my cup of tea but I can't knock the ambition
Sides rolling beatem up rpg hybrid!!
Love a good hybrid game and this one really delivers
Love a good hybrid game and this one really delivers
This game rules even though it’s kinda hard. This is like prime gameboy gaming to me. I played a lot of gameboy color growing up but not enough OG gameboy games and all the ones I’ve played lately really rule.
So, I'm not exactly sure how the idea of this game even came to be, or why they went through with it, but sometime after Ghouls 'n Ghosts, the first spin-off game in the Ghosts 'n Goblins series was made, known as Gargoyle's Quest. This game focuses on the enemy character Firebrand, who was apparently popular enough for Capcom to decide to give him not just one, but three of his own games throughout the series, starting of course with this one in 1990.
Despite the weird character choice, and how the game differs from what was previously established in the last two games, I found myself really liking my time with this game. Sure, it may be a little slow, and some of the elements of the game are executed weirdly and not that well, but it was still an experiment that paid off in my opinion. Not enough to where I would say it is THAT great though.
The story is about as basic as a story based around Firebrand and the Dark Realm could be, the graphics are Game Boy graphics, the music is quite enjoyable to listen to, the control is simple enough to get a grasp on in the multiple different parts of the game, and the gameplay remains similar enough to the previous installments, yet also differentiates itself enough to make itself a fun and unique experience.
The game is divided into two seperate gameplay segments, with the first segment being a top-down exploration segment similar to that of Final Fantasy. You walk around the overworld and towns, talking to people, getting items, and completing quests. This is a unique way of approaching gameplay for the next installment, but I don't really think it works out as well as it should. Since the game is pretty linear, there is not really that many elements of exploration throughout, and when there are puzzles and quests, they are pretty easy to solve, most of the time just requiring to "go to the next stage", and nothing more. Not to mention, from what I could tell, the items in the game, aside from the healing vials, don't really do anything helpful whatsoever, so collecting them didn't really serve any purpose.
Not to mention, whenever you aren't going into a main level, you also have random encounters to deal with, which give off the vibe of this being an RPG, but that couldn't be further from the truth. From what I could tell, you don't gain any kind of experience or level up from these battles, so they just really serve the purpose of wasting your time, and I am not a fan of having my time wasted.
The second gameplay segment is more traditional to Ghosts 'n Goblins, being various platforming stages where you will jump through, defeat enemies, fight bosses, and fly around, with you being able to gain additional upgrades to your health, flight, and different weapons to use in these stages. Not surprisingly, these are the best parts of the game. The stages themselves are pretty fun, while also giving you a good amount of difficulty along the way. Not so much on the same level as Ghosts 'n Goblins or Ghouls 'n Ghosts, but still enough difficulty nonetheless.
In addition, it is really fun to experiment with the different weapons you get, each one dealing a good amount of damage, while also being useful in other ways. The game makes sure that you need to use certain weapons in order to progress through some stages, which allows you to get accustomed to these weapons and make you want to use them more, which is all good in my opinion.
If I had one general complaint about the whole game, I would say this game is too short. Yes, I get it, it's a Game Boy game, and it does last you for a little bit, but I was just hoping that there was more to this game, more of the platforming stages I could play through. Despite that though, I still had a pretty good time with it.
Overall, while some elements of the game aren't really well thought out, and it has a short length, it is still a pretty fun experiment for the Ghosts 'n Goblins series, and a pretty good game in general. I know I'm looking forward to playing the other Gargoyle's Quest games in the future.
Game #57
Despite the weird character choice, and how the game differs from what was previously established in the last two games, I found myself really liking my time with this game. Sure, it may be a little slow, and some of the elements of the game are executed weirdly and not that well, but it was still an experiment that paid off in my opinion. Not enough to where I would say it is THAT great though.
The story is about as basic as a story based around Firebrand and the Dark Realm could be, the graphics are Game Boy graphics, the music is quite enjoyable to listen to, the control is simple enough to get a grasp on in the multiple different parts of the game, and the gameplay remains similar enough to the previous installments, yet also differentiates itself enough to make itself a fun and unique experience.
The game is divided into two seperate gameplay segments, with the first segment being a top-down exploration segment similar to that of Final Fantasy. You walk around the overworld and towns, talking to people, getting items, and completing quests. This is a unique way of approaching gameplay for the next installment, but I don't really think it works out as well as it should. Since the game is pretty linear, there is not really that many elements of exploration throughout, and when there are puzzles and quests, they are pretty easy to solve, most of the time just requiring to "go to the next stage", and nothing more. Not to mention, from what I could tell, the items in the game, aside from the healing vials, don't really do anything helpful whatsoever, so collecting them didn't really serve any purpose.
Not to mention, whenever you aren't going into a main level, you also have random encounters to deal with, which give off the vibe of this being an RPG, but that couldn't be further from the truth. From what I could tell, you don't gain any kind of experience or level up from these battles, so they just really serve the purpose of wasting your time, and I am not a fan of having my time wasted.
The second gameplay segment is more traditional to Ghosts 'n Goblins, being various platforming stages where you will jump through, defeat enemies, fight bosses, and fly around, with you being able to gain additional upgrades to your health, flight, and different weapons to use in these stages. Not surprisingly, these are the best parts of the game. The stages themselves are pretty fun, while also giving you a good amount of difficulty along the way. Not so much on the same level as Ghosts 'n Goblins or Ghouls 'n Ghosts, but still enough difficulty nonetheless.
In addition, it is really fun to experiment with the different weapons you get, each one dealing a good amount of damage, while also being useful in other ways. The game makes sure that you need to use certain weapons in order to progress through some stages, which allows you to get accustomed to these weapons and make you want to use them more, which is all good in my opinion.
If I had one general complaint about the whole game, I would say this game is too short. Yes, I get it, it's a Game Boy game, and it does last you for a little bit, but I was just hoping that there was more to this game, more of the platforming stages I could play through. Despite that though, I still had a pretty good time with it.
Overall, while some elements of the game aren't really well thought out, and it has a short length, it is still a pretty fun experiment for the Ghosts 'n Goblins series, and a pretty good game in general. I know I'm looking forward to playing the other Gargoyle's Quest games in the future.
Game #57
A lovely spinoff of the Ghosts'n Goblins franchise, allowing you to play a villain. Or is he? Nice action-adventure game with some very decent challenge.