A Beginner’s Guide to Ghosts ‘n Demons
This is Ghosts ‘n Demons, a 2015 fan made game for PC, created by BonusJZ. Being a remake of the Japanese-exclusive Wonderswan Ghosts ‘n Goblins, it follows the original game’s formula closely. It also adds many of its own new additions, including updated mechanics and a significantly steeper difficulty curve. The game as a result can be challenging for new players to adapt to, quite possibly more so than any other game in the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series. A key to succeeding at this game is getting in tune with its many game mechanics. For those trying the game for the first time, or for those that need a refresher, here’s a quick guide to get you up to speed with this game.
As with prior Ghosts ‘n Goblins games, you control Arthur, who has his typical left and right movement along with ducking and jumping. While there’s no vertical attacking as with Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Arthur does retain his double jump from Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, activated by simply tapping jump a second time while in mid-air.
A ground stomp can be activated by pressing down + jump in the air. Landing next to enemies with this does a little bit of splash damage, hurting enemies on either side. Landing on top of enemies does considerable damage and bounces Arthur back into the air. Doing so successfully resets your double jump, allowing for some nice shortcuts through the game when used creatively, particularly halfway through Stage 2.
The downside to the ground stomp is that it can only be used with armor. However, even without it Arthur can hop off enemies when timed properly. This is risky, but can be used as a last resort if you make a jump in the wrong direction. It does considerable damage and you can keep hopping from enemy to enemy as long as you don’t double jump.
The backflip is a maneuver that is mapped to a third button. Arthur can use this to get to higher platforms easier or to avoid tricky projectile patterns. He can even perform the maneuver in the air to gain extra height. Smacking enemies in the face with a foot is also possible and does solid damage. This is risky but can be especially useful against the Red Arremers. On the Easy and Normal difficulty levels, the backflip also has a significant amount of invincibility frames at the start of it, allowing Arthur to pass through objects and projectiles when timed just right.
A key move for survival is pressing the jump button right as Arthur loses his armor. This makes Arthur shout aloud, giving you extra invincibility time. Normally when taking a hit you only have a second or two of invincibility frames. When performing this special trick, Arthur gets significantly more invincibility time. The easiest way to do this is to mash the jump button immediately upon taking a hit.
Much like previous games in the series, Arthur can uncover various chests in each level. These are typically activated by jumping at a certain position, sometimes by double jumping. The red chests encountered drop various types of items. Weapons are the typical fare, but a warlock or a goddess can appear as well. The warlocks can turn Arthur into various creatures like in previous games, but the effect stays significantly longer here, so be careful. The goddess will offer an invincibility power-up for a significant amount of time. Like the original Ghosts ‘n Goblins, warlocks can also appear by shooting specific objects too many times, such as tombstones, so be sure to be careful about shooting around randomly when there are no enemies on screen.
Unlike prior games in the series, the contents of the red chests are completely random. Under normal circumstances this means that there is no rhythm or rhyme to what appears. Sometimes you’ll get a weapon, sometimes you’ll get armor, sometimes you’ll get points. There is however a more advanced trick to guarantee an armor drop. This is done by uncovering four red chests and intentionally *not* opening them. Your fifth red chest will have armor in it guaranteed.
Green chests can also appear and each level has at least one or two of these. Green chests offer guaranteed armor drops. If Arthur has no armor, Silver will appear. If Arthur has Silver, then Gold will appear. If Arthur already has Gold, a 10,000 point item will appear.
Other hidden chests can appear for extra lives. These appear in most levels in the game and typically require Arthur to stand in front of a specific location for at least a few seconds. On Stage 1, it’s the tombstone at the beginning. On Stage 2, it’s the suit of armor at the bottom floor of the building. On Stage 3’s water level, it’s in front of the clam right after the mini boss. On Stage 3’s fire level, it’s at the end of the last vertical shaft. On stage 5, it’s to the right of the boss door (in front of the pile of skulls in the updated version). On the final stage, it’s right before the big drop to the boss. Stages two and four also have extra chests right out in the open, also giving extra lives. For stage 2 Arthur needs to perform a ground stomp an enemy and double jump over the last column on the top floor of the building. On Stage 4, it’s at the top left of the first major platforming section.
Due to the game’s difficulty, it’s recommended you start on Easy. Easy mode features slightly fewer random enemies and there are also added checkpoints. You will know you’re playing on Easy, as Arthur’s armor will be green. On Normal and King modes, checkpoints only appear at hard screen transitions. The final stage for instance, due to having no hard screen transitions, has no checkpoints. Easy also adds more continues over Normal, giving you more time to warm up to the harder parts of the game—nine continues, as opposed to Normal’s six. Money bags also increase the amount of credits you have on any given run, so in the early stages of learning the game, it’s good to grab as many as you can. For those curious, King mode offers zero continues.
Weapons have always been a huge part of the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series, and Ghosts ‘n Demons is no exception, with Arthur having a wide ranging arsenal to work with:
Lance: Arthur can fire this at a moderate pace, doing moderate damage.
Dagger: Relatively weak, but has the benefit of shooting multiple projectiles across the screen quickly.
Torch: Moderate strength with an arced attack that allows for more shot flexibility, not to mention large blasts of fire that erupt when landing on the ground.
Axe: One of the least useful weapons in the game, but it can be solid for enemies positioned higher up.
Arrows: These act much like they do in the Wonderswan and Super Nintendo games, firing in pairs of two angled upwards, offering poor damage output and being difficult to use against small enemies up close. Very efficient against Red Arremers.
Discus: Short-ranged weapon that packs a major punch when used right. It does multiple hits when colliding with enemies for long enough.
Sickle: Short range weapon that turns into a long-range one when it loops back around towards the player.
Shield: Great crutch for new players, going all the way across the screen and blocking most projectiles along the way.
Cross: Tricky to use but packs the biggest punch. Also absorbs projectiles and goes through solid objects.
Holy Flame: Randomly appears after reaching 300,000 points. This weapon goes all the way across the screen, destroys projectiles, and can even charge up two different attacks with the Gold armor. Charging makes you invincible for a second or two during and after the attack.
Weapons aside, the biggest upgrade in the game is the Gold armor. This allows Arthur to throw even more projectiles at a time. It also gives him some useful new abilities. Pressing up + attack while on the ground allows Arthur to stab enemies in front of him. Jumping and pressing down + attack allows him to downstab, doing tons of damage and pogoing off of enemies heads. Pressing up + backflip allows Arthur to perform an uppercut, a strong attack that can do multiple hits when used properly.
So with that, you should now have a good idea of the basics of Ghosts ‘n Demons. Get in there, search for hidden chests, learn the stages and bosses, and ultimately just have a good time.
For anyone curious about checking out this game, it’s a free download for PC. Simply click here to be taken to the developer’s site to download it.
I’d also like to give a shout out to Aquas who got me interested in this game, provided some extra details for my video version of this and let me use some of his stream footage. Shout out to Skipnatty as well who also helped with loads of tips on my initial stream of this game. Without this help I wouldn’t have gotten up to speed with the game so quickly. I’d also like to give a shout out to Solid Nate. He checked out the game after I initially streamed it and he has been hooked on it since. Him constantly streaming it motivated me to continue playing the game after my initial session with it.
So with that, thanks for reading! If you want to see all of these details in action, check out the video version of this write-up below.
