The History of Ghosts 'n Goblins (and Makaimura 魔界村) - Full Series Retrospective | Rewind Arcade

[Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] in the early 1980s a new company had entered the arcade and video game market to compete with established developers and publishers like namco and konami this company's name was capcom and they'd eventually go on to become one of the most respected and well-known creators in the gaming industry giving birth to major franchises like street fighter monster hunter mega man and resident evil their success didn't start with these series however but instead with the creations of a young game designer named tokura fujiwara one of these creations start a heroic night hordes of demons and challenging gameplay that would intimidate even the most seasoned of gaming veterans this game was eventually titled ghosts and goblins and it would help put capcom on the map and lead them to becoming the company they are today [Music] before creating ghosts and goblins tokura fujiwara had already spent some time working in the video game industry he had been recruited by konami in 1982 while attending college and designed games for them like puyon and rock and rope one year later in 1983 fujiwara had caught the attention of capcom a small company very new to the gaming industry who invited him to leave his current company and come create games for them instead he accepted their offer and joined the company alongside one of his fellow konami co-workers yoshiki okamoto director of arcade hits like time pilot and jairus fujiwada spent his early time at capcom designing and directing mostly well-received arcade titles like valgus and pirate ship higemaru it was in spring of 1985 though that he released his first massive arcade hit a vertical scrolling run and gun shooter called senjo no okami meaning wolf of the battlefield or commando as it's known in the west the arcade title found immense success in japan as well as many other countries around the world and proved to capcom that their decision to hire the young game designer was one that would greatly benefit the company while developing commando however fujiwara was also directing a second title one that was very different from his military-based vertical shooter when development began on the second video game it was determined early on to be much different than its parallel project commando and would take place in a fantasy setting with monsters knights and medieval weapons fujiwara knew from the start that he wanted to make this game based around demons it would be set in europe and drew inspiration for its characters and environments from more western oriented works like the christian bible and tales of king arthur fujiwara was worried trying to create something too realistic might end up falling short and feeling like a cheap horror movie so instead he and his team opted to give the demons and monsters that appeared in its stages cuter and more humorous designs these inspirations and design choices would also be reflected in the game's title as well makaimura the team started out calling the game makai which in japanese translates to demon world or spirit world somewhat akin to what the west referred to as hell muda meaning village in english was then added onto the title to help convey its medieval european motif and also make it feel a bit more lighthearted the full title in english roughly translated to demon world village when it eventually released outside of its native country though its name was changed to the one most westerners are more familiar with ghosts and goblins rather than creating the game's protagonist in the beginning one of its enemies was the first to receive a concept design the iconic red armor or red devil as it is sometimes called outside of japan this crimson demon titled retto alima in japanese was jokingly designed and named after the project's main programmer toshio arima many of the staff often gested about this enemy being the true protagonist of the game foreshadowing a future turn for the franchise a few years later the team continued to flush out a large assortment of various horror inspired enemies before eventually creating its main character a steel armor-clad knight named arthur most likely inspired by and named after king arthur of british folklore fame the game began with princess printprin being kidnapped by the winged creature satan who was working under asteroth the king of the demon world and arthur setting out to rescue her its gameplay was that of a scrolling 2d platformer similar to the super mario brothers series but in japan makaimura actually released months before nintendo's smash hit ever reached store shelves arthur began the game with his signature throwing lance weapon but as he progressed enemies could drop additional weapons that could be picked up and used instead like daggers torches axes and crosses the cross weapons would unsurprisingly be changed to shields however outside of japan ghosts and goblins would quickly become known for its difficult stage designs and challenging gameplay arthur would need to navigate his way through six different stages culminating with a battle against the game's final boss asteroth when the player took damage from an enemy or projectile arthur would lose his armor and find himself wearing only his underwear another consequence of fujiwara wanting to add some light-hearted humor into the game if arthur took an additional hit he would lose a life and need to start from either the beginning of the stage or a previous checkpoint one of ghost and goblins most notorious features was the need to complete the game twice to receive its true ending most likely implemented to help suck money out of people's pockets at arcades once making it to the last stage of the game arthur would need to use a specific weapon to defeat its bosses either the cross or the shield depending on which version was being played to be granted a showdown with the final boss asteroth if the player used a different weapon they would be sent back to the previous stage to try again after finishing off asteroth the game would then proclaim that the room was an illusion and send the player back to the very first stage all levels would need to be completed again and now had slightly more difficult enemies to defeat the final piece of the puzzle would be the game's music composer ayako mori would create ghosting goblins soundtrack including its memorable first stage graveyard melody which quickly became known as the series main theme and would appear in every subsequent mainline iteration of the franchise before the game was officially released it was placed in a few local arcades for testing so that fujiwara and his team could observe other people playing outside of their work environment if players progressed through a certain area too easily it would be adjusted to be more difficult as the testing continued the game proceeded to get more and more challenging makaimura would eventually make its official debut in japanese arcades during the summer of 1985 and just like its development counterpart commando quickly became a big success with many being enamored by its extremely challenging and addicting gameplay later that same year the title would make its way outside of japan with its new english name ghosts and goblins taita would license and distribute the game in north america while capcom handled distribution themselves and europe its success and popularity would result in multiple ports of the title in the late 80s and early 90s to computer platforms and game consoles like the nes slash famicom the atari st the commodore 64 the zx spectrum the amiga and the amstrad cpc some of these ports like the commodore 64 version were changed quite a bit from their arcade counterpart and had different music missing stages rearranged levels and even lacked its final boss asteroth even years after its original release the title would continue to be ported over the next few decades to both game consoles and mobile phones often in various capcom classic game collections and through digital services like the virtual console and nintendo switch online ghosts and goblins would be the beginning of a long successful franchise for capcom and just like most popular video games would inevitably get a more ambitious sequel [Music] [Applause] development on ghosts and goblins sequel did not start immediately after its arcade release instead fujiwara would spend the next few years directing and designing games like bionic commando and tiger road during this time capcom had been working on and preparing its brand new arcade board called the cp system often referred to as simply the cps or cps1 that would greatly boost the graphics and capabilities of their arcade titles and gave birth to massive hits like strider final fight and street fighter 2. with the approaching advent of the cps-1 in 1988 fujiwara thought it would be the perfect time to finally create a follow-up to his challenging masterpiece this sequel would be titled daimakaimura in japan dai translates to large or great in english with the full title's translation meaning roughly great demon world village outside of japan it would receive a very different title and be called ghouls and ghosts this name became a bit confusing down the road as some thought it was merely a reimagining of the first game and others weren't sure which was the original and which was the sequel the game's story took place three years after the events of ghosts and goblins arthur returned to the royal castle to find that most of its residents along with princess printprin had been killed by a demon named lucifer he sets out to defeat lucifer in attempts to bring the princess as well as the others murdered by the ruthless demon back to life the gameplay for ghouls and ghosts remained mostly unchanged from its predecessor with the player navigating arthur through several relentlessly difficult stages while using various weapons to defeat enemies some new mechanics and items would be added however to give arthur a leg up on his foes he could now attack enemies above him vertically and also aim down with weapons while in mid-air moving or jumping to certain spots could also cause treasure chests to spawn that contained different weapons and armor upgrades many of the original weapons would return from the first game but a few new ones would be added like the sword and the discus additionally the gold armor made its debut which acted as an upgrade to arthur's steel armor and added a special magic ability that could be charged up and released for different large-scale attacks that changed depending on which weapon was equipped similar to its previous title once the player made it to the end of the last stage they would not fight the final boss and instead be sent back to the very beginning of the game and would need to make their way once again through all five of its stages the enemies in stages would increase in difficulty making the second journey a bit more challenging there was one big change though upon tackling the second playthrough a new weapon could be acquired called the psycho cannon sometimes referred to in different versions as sorcery or magic power this weapon would only appear if arthur opened certain treasure chests while wearing the gold armor the psycho cannon would need to be equipped while finishing the fifth level and just like the cross or shield from ghosts and goblins was needed to defeat the final boss lucifer the new cps-1 board allowed the development team to create gorgeous and more complex sprite art with its characters enemies and environments all having increased graphical detail when compared to its predecessor while the cps-1 had much more memory and power fujiwada quickly found that many of his concepts for the project would be too grand even for capcom's new arcade board his original plan was for the stages to have branching a and b routes that would be chosen by the player before starting each level once the game looped arthur would then need to go through the other paths that hadn't been picked the first time around which added more variety and would make the second playthrough a very different experience from the first fujiwara found that this concept needed to be scrapped though as even the cps-1 did not have enough memory to facilitate the additional stages some of these removed levels however would be reused and repurposed later in the ghosts and goblins series tai makaimura hit japanese arcades in fall of 1988 and found immense success with both fans and critics alike who praised the title for its beautiful graphics and new items and mechanics it made its way to western arcades in late 1988 under its english name ghouls and ghosts also to resound in praise and success the game received many ports to various computer platforms and video game consoles like the sega genesis mega drive the master system the pc engine super graphics the sharp x 68000 the amstrad cpc the zx spectrum the amiga and the commodore 64. some of these ports received big changes from their arcade counterpart like missing bosses different stages and a brand new soundtrack with talented game composer tim fallon creating music tracks exclusive to some of the computer ports of the game the master system version was especially unique as it had special rooms which appeared out of treasure chests that allowed arthur to upgrade his different pieces of armor as well as obtain new weapons and magic spells restore his health points and replenish his magic bar this made the game feel a bit more akin to that of an action rpg instead of a standard platformer like its other versions the year following dai makaimura's initial 1988 arcade release capcom split its development teams into two separate divisions one would handle the creation of its arcade titles and the other would focus exclusively on developing new home console video games as the nes and famicom had proven themselves as a lucrative market that capcom could capitalize on fujiwara was adamant about staying in the arcade division but the company's president thought he'd be better suited for home console games after much arguing and deliberation he was eventually convinced to make the move from arcade development and concentrate on creating famicom nes software instead over the next few years fujiwara would work as a producer and director on a variety of major capcom nes hits like mega man 2 ducktales and the japanese horror exclusive sweet home not long after his move to the console division development would start on the next title in the now well-established ghosts and goblins series but instead of brutalizing its players and arcades it would instead make its debut somewhere else [Music] this same year fujiwara had moved to capcom's new division nintendo had begun sending out development kits for its upcoming brand new console the super famicom or the super nes as it was known outside of japan since he was now working solely on console games fujiwara decided that the next entry in his now popular and established ghosts and goblins series would finally break its trend of debuting in arcades and instead be created exclusively for the super famicom with fujiwara acting as the title's producer development did not go smoothly the team struggled with nintendo's new hardware and had a tough time deciding on the project's general direction fujiwara's attention was also split between many other video game projects at capcom which was not helping matters eventually he decided to bring in some extra help and tatia minami was brought in as a planner to help stabilize the title's development and get everything back on course minami and the team would continue to work on this new chapter in the ghosts and goblins series for the next two years mari yamaguchi would later join the development staff and compose the game's soundtrack this new project would eventually be titled cho makaimura in japan translating roughly to super demon world village in english overseas though it would instead be called super ghouls and ghosts a title that would once more be a bit confusing to fans especially next to its previous entry ghouls and ghosts the game started very similar to the original ghosts and goblins with princess printprin being abducted by satan and the steel clad knight setting off to rescue her strangely however the princess's captor never appeared in the game as an actual enemy or boss to help move the project along some stages and assets that had been part of the scrapped branching paths feature in ghouls and ghosts were reused and repurposed like the raft water section found in the game's second stage arthur would gain a new double jump ability that greatly changed the gameplay and strategy from its predecessors as well as new weapons and armor upgrades like the crossbow the scythe the tri-blade the bronze or green armor and the moon and sun shields the sword and discus weapons however would not return nor would arthur's ability to shoot weapons vertically when arthur obtained the bronze armor whichever weapon he had equipped would be upgraded often increasing its damage and changing how it behaved when the golden armor was acquired arthur would once again gain access to a chargeable magic attack but now was also granted a moonshield that could block a single projectile if the player remained still while wearing the golden armor an upgrade called the sunshield could be collected that sped up the charge speed of the magic attack and allowed up to three projectiles to be blocked the game consisted of seven separate stages each with very unique and different environments as usual arthur would need to progress through the entire game twice and defeat the seventh stage's boss with a special weapon called the goddesses bracelet that only appeared during the game's second playthrough doing so would let arthur face off against the final boss samael or sardius as he was renamed in the western versions of the game cho makaimura would hit the super famicom in october of 1991 nearly a year after the console had first launched in japan it would make its way to north america on the super nes the very next month in november as super ghouls and ghosts the title was received well by critics who were impressed by its graphical leap new gameplay mechanics and challenging but fair difficulty yet some panned its heavy slowdown during certain sections and the removal of being able to aim weapons up and down still though the game sold well and capcom was pleased with its results super ghouls and ghosts finally hit european store shelves in late 1992 over a year after its japanese and north american releases this version made some small changes to its stages removing certain enemies in various sections throughout the game though it is unclear if this was done to fix some of its slow down issues or simply lower its immense difficulty a bit the game would also receive an enhanced port to the game boy advance in 2002 under the title tol makaimura r in japan and the unchanged super ghouls and ghost name everywhere else it added a new arrange mode that featured an array of new levels and bosses many of which were brought in or inspired by those found in the series previous two games the title also received ports in various capcom classic collections and digital services like nintendo's virtua console and switch online in 1990 a year after super ghouls and ghosts began its arduous development fujiwara started work on a different new game in his now incredibly popular franchise but this time with a twist that starred a character who he and his team had jokingly referred to as the quote unquote true protagonist of the very first game in the series [Music] during the initial planning stages of the original ghosts and goblins arcade game the red armor was the very first character to be created leading fujiwara and his team to develop a certain fondness towards the red demon fans of the franchise also found him quite memorable though often not in the same way his creators did as the enemy was generally much more challenging and troublesome than even many of the series's bosses with its quick unpredictable movements this led the enemy to be seen as somewhat of a rival to arthur and helped bring about its popularity fujiwara picked up on this popularity and thought using this character as a protagonist in its own new spin-off game would be a great way to build on the world of ghosts and goblins and create some new and interesting gameplay ideas he would act as producer on this new title with capcom's kenshi naruse taking the role of director and composes harami fujita in yokoshimamura creating the game's soundtrack one of fujiwara's biggest goals at the start of development was to avoid stepping on the toes of the mainline ghosts and goblins games one of which was currently in development for the upcoming super famicom and it was decided that the game would be created for nintendo's new game boy handheld console it would be titled retto alima makaimura gaiden in japan translating to red armor demon world village side story in english when released overseas however its name would be changed to gargoyle's quest the player would take control of a red armor who played much differently than arthur as he had the ability to fly stick onto walls and shoot fireball projectiles at enemies in the japanese version the protagonist would be simply referred to as red armor but outside of japan he would be given an actual name firebrand the game saw firebrand defending the demon world from a powerful foe threatening to destroy it named braeger while platforming stages similar to those found in the ghosts and goblins games were abundant throughout firebrand's journey much of the game's traversal and dialogue took place in a new overhead mode and featured gameplay very reminiscent of classic rpgs like final fantasy and dragon quest a large overworld map as well as various villages and structures could now be explored during these sections to converse with numerous characters acquire different items and progress through this story while exploring the map random battles with enemies would regularly occur and result in a short platforming section which would need to be cleared before proceeding much like zelda 2 the adventure of link had introduced a few years prior also very similar to rpg's firebrand could level up his abilities use consumable potions to recover health trade vials for extra lives and gain new attacks that helped him both defeat enemies and move past obstacles rather than containing a save feature a password system was available that would allow players to continue their quest where they left off retto arima makaimura gaiden was first released in spring of 1990 in japan before making its way to north america as gargoyle's quest during the summer of 1990 and eventually to europe in 1991 the game was received well perhaps even more so in the west than in its native country and a sequel was eventually greenlit not for the game boy but instead for the famicom nds gargoyle's quest 2 the demon darkness or simply retto arimatu in japan was directed by ryou miyazaki and would not make any major changes to the series gameplay and mechanics outside of an obvious graphical boost a new ability and a more weighty feel to its protagonist's movements it would act as a prequel to the first title and saw firebrand facing off against an entity called the black light which appeared and began to ravage his homeland the game did away with its overworld random encounters but still kept enemies on the map that could be approached and challenged to gain vials which could be exchanged for additional lives retto arimatu first released in japan on the famicom during the summer of 1992 nearly two years after the release of the super famicom it would hit north american shores under its english title gargoyle's quest 2 the demon darkness in the fall of 1992 and then finally reached europe in 1993 much like the first title it was received more favorably in the west with reviewers being a bit kinder to the game than those in japan surprisingly it received a port to the game boy in 1993 under a new name which combined the subtitle of the first japanese game with that of the sequel's western release that read makaimura gaiden the demon darkness this port offered a few new stages and abilities but sadly never made its way overseas to north america or europe by this point in time the super nes had already established itself and was thriving in the video game market so it was a natural decision to bring the third in what would be final game in the red armors trilogy to nintendo's popular console fujiwara did not want to make a direct sequel to gargoyle's quest too though but instead a re-envisioning of the spin-off series that acted as more of a reboot for the red protagonist he would once more work as this new title's producer with capcom designer masahiko kurakawa taking the role of director with the move to the vastly more powerful super nes the game's overall tone was changed from the cute like and cartoony style found in the first two games to one that was much more darker unsettling and realistic the story saw the demon realm erupt into civil war over six crests that had appeared which would grant the one that collected them all unlimited power in an attempt to stop the civil war firebrand collected them all but was thwarted at the very last minute by a rival demon named phalanx firebrand then set out to stop phalanx and collect the crests once more fujiwada and the team didn't stray too far gameplay-wise from firebrand's previous two outings keeping many of the core tried and true mechanics intact as well as the game's password system to save the player's progress the game would once again switch back and forth between more action-heavy side-scrolling stages and an overworld map which could be explored npcs could also sell firebrand various consumable items and spells to help him on his quest probably the biggest change in the game would be the focus on backtracking as more crests were collected new abilities would unlock and allow firebrand to uncover different areas and secrets within previous stages this put a much larger spotlight on exploration even within the more action-focused side-scrolling sections another new feature would be the addition of multiple endings depending on when firebrand decided to challenge and defeat phalanx one of these endings would open up access to a new crest transformation as well as a new stage and boss that if completed would reward the player with the game's true ending the game would be released in both japan and north america in late 1994 and as usual had two separate titles in japan it would be titled de monzu boreizon makaimura manchogen or demon's blazon demon world village crest chapter in english its western name would be shortened to simply demon's crest the game would later hit european shores during spring of 1995. during production of demon's crest however fujiwara had begun to feel somewhat restless and had developed a strong urge for more freedom and creativity to expand on his own original ideas this restlessness would eventually lead to a major life decision that resulted in the experienced producer and designer leaving the company which he had flourished at for so many years after firebrand's final outing fujiwara would continue to work on many of capcom's key super nes titles over the next few years like mega man 7 final fight 3 and mega man x3 he later came up with and pitched the concept for the massively successful survival horror hit biohazard or resident evil as it's known in the west and collaborated with the game's director shinji mikami as the title's general producer resident evil's mechanics and atmosphere have been closely based on sweet home the 1989 famicom horror game that fujiwara had directed so it was only natural that he worked closely with mikami developing its spiritual sequel fujiwara had begun to feel restless at capcom though and wanted desperately to create something brand new without being tied to existing franchises and ideas shortly after resident evil launched in 1996 he made the difficult decision to leave the company and start his own development studio called whoopee camp fujiwara would work with his new company to create the tamba series for sony's playstation console these polygonal 2d platforming games felt very reminiscent of the ghost and goblins titles and featured similar types of gameplay even with both tomba games receiving favorable reviews from critics they had a tough time finding much commercial success and whoopi camp would eventually cease all game development shortly after tomba's second title in 1998 even with fujiwada's departure though capcom would continue to create spin-off games in the ghosts and goblins series without him over the next decade the first of which was a puzzle game titled assato asitorato no nazo makamura incredible tunes translating into arthur and asteroth's mystery demon world village incredible tunes the game was simply a port of pc developer dynamics incredible tunes franchise a spinoff of their the incredible machine series surprisingly it was decided very late in development that the game would be reskinned with characters and items from the ghosts and goblins series most likely as a way to make it a bit more marketable the player was given an objective that often included either arthur the armor-clad protagonist or asteroth his princess capturing nemesis they would be given a set amount of items to complete this objective which could be placed in a way that would often create a chain reaction with the characters and contraptions around them the game launched in summer of 1996 exclusively in japan for both the sunni playstation and sega saturn and never made its way to the west three years later another ghosts and goblins title would be released this time for bandai's japan exclusive wonder swan handheld console the game would be titled simply makaimura for wunderswan and mostly played just like the titles found in the mainline series it would be a joint collaboration between both bandai and capcom with toshihiro suzuki acting as its producer many of the enemies weapons and stage themes from the previous titles would return as well as arthur needing to use a special weapon to confront the final boss and rescue the captured princess this final boss would be a new character named emperor azazel most likely titled after the biblical fallen angel of the same name while the core gameplay and mechanics remained mostly unchanged there were a few new features added the branching stage paths concept originally planned for ghouls and ghosts would be implemented in some levels helping to add replay value to the game arthur was also given the ability to now swim during certain sections a first for the series finally one stage took advantage of the wunderswan's portability and required the player to turn the handheld 90 degrees to proceed down through a vertical area where arthur would need to descend down an array of ropes and platforms makaimura for wonderswan would be released during the summer of 1999 and just like its previous puzzle spinoff would remain exclusive to the japanese market capcom's next foray into expanding on the ghosts and goblins franchise though would ditch its main protagonist and finally bring the series into the third dimension by the late 1990s 3d and polygonal-based games had already taken over the gaming market many companies scrambled to re-envision the characters and gameplay of their 2d sprite-based franchises into full 3d with varying degrees of success capcom was no exception to this and in 1996 they held a press only event and showed off a demo for a 3d ghosts and goblins title for the brand new nintendo 64 console its working title was simply ghosts and goblins 64 presumably makaimura 64 in japan and according to journalists it took heavy inspiration from super mario 64's gameplay unfortunately none of the footage shown or any roms of the title ever made their way to the public and the project was quietly cancelled around this time capcom had also begun to expand its development studios outside of japan and opened up capcom digital studios in the united states after a rough start developers at the studio were given the opportunity to pitch ideas for a new game to capcom's home office in japan one concept was a gauntlet-style action game another was a one-on-one basketball fighting game and finally there was david siller's 3d platformer tribute to ghosts and goblins silver's concept was chosen possibly as a way to rectify the failed nintendo 64 project in development moved forward it would not be created for a nintendo console though but instead for sony's new wildly successful playstation 2. siller would act as the game's director and worked with producer mark rogers on building and flushing out his conceptual pitch composer tommy talarico would create the title's soundtrack an artist susumu matsushita probably known best for illustrating countless covers of the japanese gaming magazine famitsu would handle its character designs the game was set in the ghosts and goblins universe but many of its staple characters like arthur asteroth and the red armor were nowhere to be found instead it would star a brand new protagonist named maximo who would also lend his name to the game's title maximo was created by shortening the italian name massa meliano which is derived from the latin word maximus meaning greatest or largest siller also took inspiration from the phrase to the maximum the title would finally bring the ghosts and goblins series into full 3d and now featured more hack and slash focused gameplay though it did have its fair share of platforming segments much like the previous titles maximo must rescue the princess sophia who was abducted by the backstabbing king akile at the start of the game maxima would partner with the grim reaper grimm who was angry with achilles for stealing his souls from the underworld and using them to plunge the world into chaos maximo began his adventure clad and armor which could be enhanced with upgrades but just like arthur if he took too much damage he would find himself facing enemies in only his underwear siller and his team were very careful not to rely too heavily on the mechanics and features found in the previous ghosts and goblins games though and made sure to give the title its own unique style and gameplay maximo could attack foes with his trusty sword while also striking and defending with his shield different power up abilities could be acquired that could enhance both his combos and offensive abilities the game retained the high difficulty level the ghosts and goblins franchise was known for and even went so far as to charge its players with various currencies if they wanted to save their progress or gain continues a cost that would steadily grow as the player kept purchasing them throughout the game the title consisted of five separate worlds each broken up into a hub area that connected to various stages siller and his team would often design many of these stages on pen and paper before implementing them in game the levels were pretty linear but also open enough to encourage players to explore them in search of various currencies and power-ups before completing each world maxima would need to face off against a boss capcom unveiled the title to the public during 2001's e3 and released it in japan that same year in late december it would hit north american and european store shelves in early 2002 with the north american version being given its own subtitle ghosts to glory this was most likely an attempt to help better link the spin-offs connection to its more well-known main series maximum performed well sales-wise and received many positive reviews from critics who applauded its difficult but engaging gameplay its gorgeous 3d environments and its catchy soundtrack many however panned its clunky and distracting camera controls after maximo's successful release siller was unfortunately terminated from capcom digital studios which was renamed shortly afterwards to capcom production studio 8. with the game performing well at retail a sequel was inevitably greenlit and maxima's mark rogers who had helped build and flesh out siller's original concept would be given the role of director [Music] this sequel once again starred the same sword-wielding armor-clad protagonist of the previous title and saw maximo facing off against an army of mechanical foes known as the army of zinn that had escaped after being sealed away in a vault for 500 years he would also continue his search for princess sophia whom he had lost in the first game the core gameplay found in the first game remained mostly unchanged in this sequel but maximo would gain access to additional attacks weapons and mechanics one big addition was the ability to play as grim maximus undead cohort who could be summoned after filling up a certain bar and could deal massive damage to enemies grim was only able to be used very briefly though his summoned time could be upgraded as the game progressed npcs were also added in that if saved from different precarious situations would often reward maximo with things like coins armor and health some of these npcs even acted as merchants allowing for the player to purchase things like health continues and weapon upgrades differing from the first game the hub areas were completely removed in favor of a more classic linear level by level progression through the story maxima would still be rewarded for going back and exploring previous stages however to find hidden items and upgrades the sequel would launch first in japan two years after the initial game in fall of 2003 under the title makai ayuki maximo machine master no yabo which translated into english as record of demon world hero maximo ambition of the machine monsters this name seemed to try and connect the game better with its mainline series makaimura similar to the first game's north american subtitle ghosts to glory it would make its way outside of japan in early 2004 under the title maximo vs army of zinn while the sequel was received pretty favorably once more with critics the title did not find the same success financially as its predecessor a third title was pitched to capcom but it never was approved for development and the maximo series unfortunately ended after only its second game during development of maximo's second game zona a newly formed networking company unofficially announced not one but two new ghosts and goblins games that they were creating with taiwanese developer game factory at the 2003 game developers conference for pc in all major consoles the first was an mmo that used zona's online technology and was appropriately titled ghouls and ghosts online a very rough demo was showcased during the event that included very basic character models in simplistic gameplay the second was a one-on-one fighting game named ghosts and goblins match fight though not many details were given on it neither of the titles ever received an official announcement from capcom and both were quietly cancelled later on even with maximo's tale ending after just two entries in zona's games never seen the light of day the ghost and goblin series was far from over and in 2005 its original creator would return to once more bring back the classic style gameplay of the mainline series [Music] after leaving capcom in 1996 tokura fujiwara had spent the next decade working with whoopi camp on the tomba series and then with developer deep space on both extermination and hungry ghosts for the playstation 2. in 2005 however capcom approached him about returning to the company in creating a new mainline entry and the classic franchise he had become known for fujiwara was quite surprised at their invitation he hadn't thought much about the ghosts and goblins series after leaving capcom and was somewhat apprehensive to come back and make a brand new game after so long he eventually decided that this was a good opportunity for him though and took the company up on their offer this new mainline ghosts and goblins game would be created not for a home console though but instead for sony's playstation portable handheld it was developed in japan under the title goku makaimura translating roughly into english as extreme demon world village with development studios tose software and neuron age assisting with its production the previous mainland title had been released nearly a decade and a half ago and graphical engines had gone through quite a major shift over that time span with many companies shifting from sprite art to polygon based graphics goku makaimura would be no exception and utilized the playstation portable's extra power to bring the mainline series and its protagonist arthur into full 3d even with this switch to polygonal graphics the title stuck with the tried and true 2d platforming gameplay the mainline series was known for fujiwara wanted to create a sequel that veterans would be happy with but also one that could potentially bring in a whole new audience to do this the game had a much larger focus on exploration and similar to an action rpg allowed arthur to collect and equip various spells and shields at will these spells had various effects like outputting a powerful area of effect blast or slowing down all enemies on screen arthur's equippable shields would not only protect him from damage but could also help in additional ways like giving him the ability to fly or restoring his magic power these shields and magic spells let the player adjust their abilities on the fly to help them better contend with what their situation called for many of the standard weapons and armor upgrades would return but with them also came some new additions like the vine whip the boomerang scythe in the cursed and dark armors rather than simply having to go through the game twice to complete it arthur would now need to collect golden light rings hidden throughout the game to gain access to the game's final boss hades another new type of item added in were warp staves these could be found in each stage and let the player teleport to any level they had found the specific warp staff in as the player progressed they would find items that gave arthur new abilities like the double jump found in super ghouls and ghosts that let him access new areas or collect the often inconspicuously placed light rings utilizing the warp staves and arthur's new abilities allowed for the player to backtrack and jump around throughout the game's stages exploring to find previously inaccessible areas and collecting the light rings that were once out of reach goku makaimura was also given multiple difficulty modes novice standard and ultimate labeled in japan as beginner original and arcade in standard mode arthur could take more than the usual two hits like in previous games and if he was killed he'd simply respawn right where he died until the player ran out of lives the novice mode was simply an easier version of standard and removed some of the trickier obstacles found in levels the ultimate or arcade mode fell closer in line with the classic titles letting arthur take only two hits before dying if he lost the life he would be sent back to either the start of the level or a mid-stage checkpoint regardless of the difficulty mode players would need to navigate arthur through the five daunting stages split into multiple areas while collecting enough light rings to face off against hades goku makaimura was released first in japan on august 13th of 2006 for sony's psp it would then launch in north america roughly two weeks later on august 29th under its english title ultimate ghosts and goblins before making its way to europe and australia the following month in september of 2006. the game had incredibly divisive review scores with some critics applauding its new inventory system as well as its focus on exploration and others panning its clunky controls and haphazard stage designs while many people were happy to see a new mainline chapter in the ghosts and goblins series not all were thrilled with the experience they received in 2007 one year after its initial release a brand new version of the game titled goku makaimura kai or extreme demon world village revised hit japanese store shelves and contained both the original goku makaimura and a new redesigned version this kai version brought the game much closer to the gameplay and mechanics found in its predecessors it remixed many of the stages in enemy layouts reworked the magic system removed the inventory and gave players a limited amount of continues to complete the game arthur would simply need to go through the game twice now instead of collecting all of the light rings to complete it goku makaimura kai never left japan and remains exclusive to the country even to this day fujiwara eventually decided to take some time away from the gaming industry a few years after ultimate ghosts and goblins had released due to health concerns but this would not stop his beloved series from continuing on [Music] by 2009 gaming on smartphones had really begun to take off and capcom like many other video game publishers was eager to try and capitalize on this new market they had already ported popular franchises like resident evil and mega man to mobile platforms and it was finally ghosts and goblins turn with a brand new original game it would be titled makaimura kishi retsuden in japan translating roughly to demon world village knight chronicles in english and ghosts and goblins gold knights and other territories the game wouldn't stray far from the classic gameplay the series was known for just like ultimate ghosts and goblins though the player was allowed to take multiple hits before dying it also added in a new playable character alongside arthur named lancelot no doubt inspired by the character of the same name appearing as king arthur's companion in the classic knights of the round table stories the two characters would play a bit differently with arthur having additional hit points in power and lancelot having quicker attacks in a unique jump attack certain weapons remained exclusive to each character with the sword and discus returning from ghouls and ghosts for lancelot and the lance and torch being available solely for arthur makaimura kishi retsuden launched first in japan on the imode mobile platform in 2009 and could be played with a subscription fee of 315 yen a month equating to about two dollars and fifty cents a month in u.s dollars it made its way outside of the country that same year for ios devices as ghosts and goblins gold knights and cost around three dollars to purchase capcom also sold additional abilities as microtransactions for 99 cents apiece like unlimited lives and starting off with the gold armor that helped with the game's punishing difficulty it was followed up by a sequel that varied next year in 2010 titled makaimura kishi retsuden 2 or ghosts and goblins gold knights 2 depending on which region you played it in this sequel introduced another new playable character named percival who replaced lancelot after he was abducted at the end of the first game in gold knights 2 arthur had access to a much larger selection of weapons and could use magic while percival was more of a close range fighter with stronger attacks and higher hit points just like its predecessor it cost about the same and once again included additional microtransactions to assist players with its difficulty both games received somewhat positive reviews for their fun and engaging gameplay but were panned a bit for their controls and graphics they proved to be interesting distractions but far from what fans of the series really wanted one year prior to the first gold night's game however in 2008 another ghosts and goblins spin-off game was announced this time by capcom korea it would be another mmo based on the series and was completely separate from zona's cancelled 2003 mmo project developer c9 games would be in charge of its production and the game received the title mageshon online translating from korean as roughly devil world village online or makaimura online as many would call it unlike zona's mmo this new project would play much more akin to the 2d mainline ghosts and goblins games allowing for multiple people to party up and take on stages and enemies as a team it began as usual with the kingdom's princess being abducted in the protagonist also as usual setting off to rescue her upon starting the game the player would need to choose a fighting class from either a knight an archer or a conjurer which could eventually be upgraded later on to a secondary job class they could then customize their avatar through an in-game character creator before taking part in a tutorial that explained the game's controls and mechanics while making their way through a stage players could find and earn equipment and gold coins before eventually facing off against a boss at the end makaimura online went through a few closed beta testings in korea from 2011 to 2013 with an open beta becoming available in fall of 2013 the game sadly never received a full non-beta version though and was eventually discontinued in 2015 after a very large law and any major releases following the launch of ultimate ghosts and goblins in 2006 fans of the franchise began to assume that their beloved series might have finally come to an end those assumptions however would prove to be wrong very wrong [Music] [Music] the video game industry was very tough and unforgiving no one knew this better than tokura fujiwara he had been working in it since the early 1980s and had experienced many highs and many lows by 2009 the stress from all of this had begun to take its toll on his health and he was forced to step away and take a break from the industry he had spent nearly 30 years a part of in 2018 though he was approached by capcom once again about returning to the franchise he had created three decades prior the situation was very similar to what had happened back in 2005 nearly 15 years ago by this point when fujiwara had returned to make ultimate ghosts and goblins capcom had noticed many difficult and punishing games releasing the past few years that had found much success both critically and commercially like dark souls cuphead super meat boy and bloodborne they felt that with this new resurgence of painfully challenging titles it would be the perfect time to bring back the series that helped build the foundation that paved the way for these extremely challenging games fujiwara accepted their proposal once again and began work as the director on a new mainline entry in his brutally difficult franchise he would not do so as a capcom employee though but instead brought his old company whoopi camp out of dormancy to work under it as a third party contractor he would develop the game alongside chief producer yoshiaki hirabayashi who was probably best known for working closely with the resident evil series for many years the project stuck very close to the first two mainline titles ghosts and goblins and ghouls and ghosts and was almost more of a remix of the two entries than a brand new game borrowing and expanding on many of their stages music tracks enemies and bosses its gameplay would feel very familiar as well changing very little from the arcade titles it pulled its inspiration from it ran on capcom's re engine previously used in games like resident evil 7 devil may cry 5 and the resident evil 2 remake rather than using a more realistic graphical approach found in these games though this new ghosts and goblins project opted for a picture book art style and resembled the type of artwork you'd expect to find in a children's story book the game would be titled kaitekita makaimura in japan meaning roughly return to demon world village in english and ghosts in goblin's resurrection in the west as had happened countless times before princess printprin was kidnapped and arthur would need to journey through many treacherous levels in an attempt to save her the player now had the option to choose between two different levels during the first few stages though eventually they would all culminate in a single path about midway through the game probably one of the most notable new additions were the umbral bees collectibles that were hidden throughout the levels which could be used to acquire magic spells and skills for arthur to aid him on his adventure fujiwara wanted this array of new abilities to help open up more options for players to experiment with and tackle levels in different ways each stage would keep track of how many umbral bees had been found in it helping to add replayability to the game and challenging the player to collect them all as they progressed much like nearly all of its predecessors to face the real final boss and receive the game's true ending it would need to be finished twice collecting all 17 demon orbs in the game which were received from defeating each boss and completing all of the hellhole challenge rooms hidden throughout the levels unlike in the original games fujiwara and his team wanted the second playthrough to be a very different experience though after completing the first run of the game defeating both asteroth and lucifer arthur would then unlock the shadow versions of each stage which changed up its enemies and added new environmental traps and obstacles ghosts and goblins resurrection also added brand new weapons like the hammer and spiked ball as well as two special armors the armory armor and the cast armor that could be unlocked after obtaining the game's true ending while the series is known for being excruciatingly challenging this new game added four difficulty levels legend knight squire and paige they gave players the option to have more forgiving gameplay and take additional hits before dying the page difficulty even let arthur respawn right where he had been killed just like in ultimate ghosts and goblins finally the last new major feature was a two-player local co-op mode where a second person could control a group of three ghosts named barry carey and archie that could assist arthur in defeating enemies while also helping him avoid obstacles this would be a first for the series and helped make the title even more accessible for those nervous about its unforgiving difficulty kaite kita makaimura and ghost and goblin's resurrection both launched worldwide exclusively for the nintendo switch on february 25th 2021 the title would then be ported to pc playstation 4 and xbox one later that same year on june 1st while fans of the classic mainline games were happy to have a brand new chapter for the series that many thought had come to an end years ago critics were much more divisive with their reception and the title was given a very mixed bag of review scores some reviewers were happy that the game stuck to its roots and provided a few new interesting features while others thought that its difficult and frustrating gameplay was better left as simply a relic of the past at this point in time in 2022 ghosts and goblins resurrection is the most recent game in the long running series it's difficult to say whether or not fans will have to wait another 15 years for a new entry especially with very little news being available on how resurrection performed financially for capcom regardless of what happens the series has built up quite a respected legacy and left its mark on the gaming industry along with many of its creators like many games that have found success over the years the franchise has made countless cameos and appearances outside of its own games and extended its reach into some of capcom's biggest titles ever now [Music] years after first hitting arcades in 1985 the ghosts and goblins series had become one of capcom's most revered franchises selling millions of copies and creating a legacy of memorable characters music and gameplay that is still talked about to this day the series became such an iconic part of the company's history that its characters and music would make their way outside of their own games into many others probably its most well-known cameos were in capcom's vs fighting series where arthur and the red armor appeared as both playable and assist characters in games like marvel vs capcom clash of superheroes snk vs capcom svc chaos marvel vs capcom 3 fate of two worlds and its expanded version ultimate marvel vs capcom 3 and marvel vs capcom infinite its characters also appeared in a plethora of many non-fighting games including dead rising 2 breath of fire super smash brothers ultimate canon spike higemaru makaijima monster hunter rise dead rising tatsunoko vs capcom ultimate all-stars zak and wiki quest for barbaros's treasure namco cross capcom mega man powered up project x zune black tiger dead rising 4 street fighter 5 street fighter cross all capcom we love golf street fighter cross tekken and cave story plus ghost and goblin's music could also be found too in both mega man 7 and mega man the power battle as an alternate track to shade man's stages some fans even took to making their own unofficial games like the popular ghosts and demons made by bonus jay-z which took heavy inspiration from the japan exclusive makaimura for wonderswan the franchise would also expand outside the world of video games in various manga and comics board games mini figurines clothing lines hens and action figures while the ghosts and goblins franchise has certainly had its highs and lows the series remains important even to this day for building the foundation of difficult yet well-designed platforming games and even opening the door later down the road for more challenging series like ninja gaiden super meat boy and dark souls it was also integral in helping capcom establish a foothold in the video game market during the mid-80s leading them to becoming a juggernaut in the gaming industry it's a series that never lost sight of why people enjoyed it and stuck to its guns even as the gaming world shifted to a more casual focus and for that it deserves its place as an important pillar in video game history [Music] hey thanks so much for watching all the way to the end i hope you enjoyed the video i had a pleasure making it i'm a huge fan of the series and i was great learning about the history of a lot of the games and how everything kind of connects and all that so with this video being so long a few things got cut from the script to kind of shorten things up and smoothline everything a bit and i just wanted to run over a couple of the uh the little facts that were omitted from the actual video itself first off arthur's underwear or boxers have strawberries on them not hearts a lot of people think those are hearts maxima's boxers have hearts on them but arthurs are strawberries second there are actually magicians that can come into chests and turn arthur into different things like an old man or a baby or even different animals and these kind of change throughout the games from different things it's pretty cool to like kind of see how all those uh are altered as the series goes on and lastly the three wise men are the three skeleton ghost things that assist arthur in the co-op mode of resurrection are actually supposed to be his descendants uh they're not just random ghosts uh they are actually descendants of arthur helping him through the game so pretty pretty cool as for my favorite game in the series i probably have to go with super ghouls and ghosts i know it's a lot slower gameplay wise than a lot of the other games in the series um but i really like the double jump i really like the stage design and the music and everything like that i just think overall it's uh it's my favorite probably followed by ghouls and ghosts uh the sequel and with resurrection probably being a close third after that if you're interested in checking out or giving this incredibly difficult series a try i would recommend checking out the capcom arcade stadium which i think has the first two games on it and then super ghouls and ghost is on the snes switch online uh platform and also resurrection is on all of the major platforms uh as well if you want to give that a shot too so one more time thanks so much for watching uh and please let me know some of your stories or memories of the series i'd love to hear about them and look forward to another video coming probably pretty soon thanks so much again and take care bye

Channel: Rewind Arcade

Views: 242,484

Keywords: makaimura, ghosts and goblins, ghosts n goblins, ghosts 'n goblins, ghouls, ghosts, makai mura, super, goblins, ultimate, resurrection, kaette kita, 魔界村, switch, capcom, arcade, history, documentary, making of, about, ost, soundtrack, arthur, maximo, ps2, nes, firebrand, genesis, megadrive, pc, steam, ps1, xbox, c64, sega, nintendo, astaroth, nazo no, wonderswan, resident evil, mega man, konami, commando, tokuro, fujiwara, gargoyle's quest, gargoyles quest, demon's crest, demons crest, tomba, incredible toons

Id: -18kFb0nPzU

Length: 68min 9sec (4089 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 20 2022