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Trivia

Click on Arthur to play the Flash game Ghost Trick!


  • Here's the name changes and release dates of several of the G'NG games (release dates are for the Japanese systems):

    Release date Japanese title American title System
    9-1985 Makaimura Ghosts 'N Goblins arcade
    6-13-1986 Makaimura Ghosts 'N Goblins Famicom
    12-1988 Daimakaimura Ghouls 'N Ghosts arcade
    8-3-1989 Daimakaimura Ghouls 'N Ghosts Mega Drive
    5-2-1990 Red Ariimaa ~Makaimura Gaiden~ Gargoyle's Quest Gameboy
    10-4-1991 Chohmakaimura Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts Super Famicom
    7-17-1992 Red Ariimaa II Gargoyle's Quest II Famicom
    4-16-1993 Makaimura Gaiden ~The Demon Darkness~ Gargoyle's Quest II Gameboy
    10-21-1994 Demon's Blazon ~Makaimura Monshouhen~ Demon's Crest Super Famicom
    8-3-2006 Gokumakaimura Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins PSP


  • According to Johnny Undaunted, Daimakaimura is set three years after Makaimura and Chohmakaimura is set four years after Daimakaimura. So the first three G'NG games have a set seven year timeline.


  • The main theme music used throughout Ghosts 'N Goblins ended up being used as the level one theme in both Ghouls 'N Ghosts and Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts.


  • Arthur makes an appearance as a non-playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom. He can be selected as an extra character that your characters can call out to attack your opponent. Take a look at the screenshot below - Arthur is right there below Legendary Wings' Michelle Heart.

    Below is a great shot of Arthur in action during the game.


  • Thanks to Yashiro, here's a great shot of Team Capcom from MvC standing together (specifically, from the MvC Secret File). Along with such other greats as Strider Hiryu, Unknown Soldier, Mega Man, Ryu, Chun Li, and Captain Commando, there's Arthur (standing on Strider Hiryu's left, slightly behind him).

    Team Capcom pic


  • Also from Yashiro: info on the Ghost Trick, from the Neo-Geo Pocket Color game SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millenium. Here's what he has to say about it:

    In SNK vs. Capcom there were a few minigames you could play besides the straight fighting. These included "Blade Arts" which was basically the Samurai Shodown bonus stage, "Target 9" where you shot spaceships from Metal Slug X (it worked kinda like the shooting scenes of Snatcher) and "Cat Walk" which was a Dance Dance Revolution clone with Felicia from Darkstalkers. Last but not least was Ghost Trick. Here's a description from the manual:

    "An event for Capcom Team members wherein you become Arthur from Ghosts 'N Goblins and gather treasure while avoiding Gargoyle. The event ends when time runs out or your (sic) struck by Gargoyle. At this point the amount of gathered treasure is calculated into your score."

    It was pretty fun and addictive, and the Ghosts & Goblins theme (the music used for Level 1 in all 3 games) played all through the game. Very faithful adaptation I might add. ^_^

    To play a Flash version of the Ghost Trick, click here! Thanks to Alex Schütz for providing it!


  • Also from Yashiro: a picture of Arthur's card from SNK Vs. Capcom: Card Fighter's Clash for the Neo-Geo Pocket Color. I've also added pics of the Red Destroyer and Lucifer cards that I located.


  • From Kenn Lucas: the G'NG cards from SNK Vs. Capcom 2.


  • Also from Kenn: scans of the G'NG/GQ Super Power Club trading cards that appeared in Nintendo Power several years back.


  • Arthur also makes an appearance as a playable character in the Capcom/Psikyo Dreamcast game Cannon Spike. He appears in a fully loaded version of his gold armor (complete with jet boots, lasers, and machine gun!). Here's his description from the manual:

    King Arthur

    Age: 32
    Country: England
    Height: 6ft 7in
    Weight: 264 lb
    Type: Backward
    Weapon: Gunlance "Excalibur"
    Heavy Shot: Arthur Missile
    Heavy Attack: Arthur Rush
    Special Attack: Arthur Beam

    Arthur is a veteran mercenary. Due to his massive firepower, he is considered a one-man army. His gunlance "Excalibur" is extremely powerful. Arthur accompanies Simone and acts as her guardian. Arthur is from the GHOSTS AND GOBLINS series.

    Sorry about the somewhat low quality of the pics, but they're the only ones I could find of it.


  • Apparently sometime in the mid-'80s, Capcom licensed Ghosts 'N Goblins to Taito America/Digital Controls, Inc. for distribution in either the U.S. or Europe (I'm not sure which, but I'm guessing Europe). Well, they kept the same story for the game but changed the names of the characters. Their version of the story can be found on the front of the arcade flyer that Taito distributed (a picture of this flyer can be found in the Artwork section). I've reprinted the text from the flyer below.

    The princess of a mythical land is captured by a messenger of Argon, the Lord of Goblins, whereupon Sir Michael, the brave and resourceful knight who dearly loves the princess, vows to rescue her.

    To save the princess, the daring Sir Michael must brave the dangers of the six gates guarding Argon's kingdom. The gates are defended by ghastly generals, determined to protect the fiendish Lord's lair. The knight had five weapons at his command which he must use skillfully to destroy the attacking ghouls and advance into Argon's realm.

    The knight needs your help to rescue the princess and escape.

    Interesting, isn't it?


  • From Yashiro: I just got Pocket Fighter for my Sega Saturn a few days ago, and I immediately discovered something cut out of the Playstation version:

    Everything in this game is a Capcom tribute. Even the way a KO'ed opponent falls down! The one that will interest fans of this site is: if you KO a person in the middle of a flash combo, the death sound effect from Ghouls 'N Ghosts plays, and they fly back and turn into a pile of bones! Complete with skull on top! Others include: Exploding like a Mega Man boss, fading away like a dead baddie in Final Fight, and falling off the stage into water, like Son Son. The Ghouls 'N Ghosts tribute is only in the arcade version, however (or the Saturn version if you have a 4MB card).


  • From Flying Omelette: Arthur's head appears on paintings on the walls in some houses in the SNES game Breath of Fire (I don't know about the Game Boy Advance remake.) I think they got the idea to do this from The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which had Mario head paintings on the walls in some houses.


  • Also from Flying Omelette: There's a "secret" music used in Mega Man 7 for SNES. There's a code to change the music for Shademan's stage from the normal Shademan theme to the Ghosts 'n Goblins theme. Also, the short stage intro theme (where they show the Robot Master boss and his name) will change from the normal Mega Man 7 intro theme to the stage intro theme from Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts when you use this code. Here's the code:

    To activate the G'NG music in the Shademan level highlight his level, press and hold the B button, and then select his level. You can't try this after defeating Shademan, because if you do this won't work.


  • Besides the code mentioned above, there's also another nifty little tribute to G'NG in the Shademan stage. Take a look at the way the coffins rise out of the ground and the way the robo-zombies move. Look familiar?


  • Also, in Mega Man X4 for the PlayStation and Saturn, the battle with General is inspired by the final battle with Sardius in Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts. In both battles, the weak point of both General and Sardius is the face. And to get to the face, you have to jump on either one of two temporarily moving platforms.


  • Here's some information on the Japanese Capcom Generation Volume 2 from Johnny Undaunted:

    The manual of Capcom Generations Vol. 2 (Makai to Kishi) actually has a list of the main characters. They are:

    Heroes:
    Arthur (armor)
    Arthur (gold armor)
    Arthur (underpants)
    Arthur (old man)
    Princess (the manual doesn't give away her name, just Princess)

    Villains:
    Demon King Astaroth (final boss of Makaimura and a reoccuring sub-boss in the later games)
    Great Demon King Lucifer (aka Loki, final boss of Daimakaimura)
    Demon Emperor Samael (aka Sardius, final boss of Chohmakaimura)
    Red Arremer (Makaimura)
    Red Arremer King (Daimakaimura)
    Red Arremer Ace (Chohmakaimura)

    Also, Knight Arthur is not King Arthur of the Arthurian Legend, that's what Capcom USA wants you to believe. He just happen to share his name. Astaroth is an arch demon from European mythology, not to be confused with the Astaroth from Oriental mythology, who is a goddess of love. Samael and Lucifer are alternative names for Satan I believe.

    I don't know what an Arremer is, it could be a bad romanization. The closest thing I found to Arremer seems to be Ahriman and I don't think that's correct. Prin Prin (the name of the Princess shown at the end of Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts - ed.) could have be take from Purin Purin Monogatari, a Japanese puppet show who's main character was Princess Purin (Purin being Japanese for Pudding). I'm not sure though.


  • Some more info from Johnny: I don't know why I didn't mention this before, but my brother has a Makaimura Play Model Kit (circa 1986) from Bandai that he bought from eBay once. It seems to be really rare, since I've never seen for sale at Yahoo Japan. He hasn't built his kit yet though, as it requires painting. There are pieces for most of the characters including the Petit Devil and Prin Prin. I would gladly scan it, but unfortunately I don't have a scanner.


  • Here's some info from Dain Q. Gore concerning a Ghouls 'N Ghosts glitch: If Arthur is positioned just right, he can jump (or fall) through the Magic Armor in such a way as to obtain the cape before hitting the ground: the scripting for the cape effect must therefore precede the incidental jumping/falling sequence.


  • Also from Dain, a trick he refers to as "Jacob's Ladder": This worthless trick is possible in the arcade, Genesis and Supergrafx versions of Ghouls. If Arthur is made to jump in place above specific ladders (2nd on first stage, 2nd to last on last stage) while holding up, he will keep climbing up into the screen until he hits the "ceiling."


  • More from Dain: The Beezlebub daemon (a.k.a. Lord of the Flies) at the end of level 5 of Ghouls 'N Ghosts was quite possibly inspired by this engraving from the infamous 19th century book Le Dictionnaire Infernal, by Collin de Plancy, which is essentially the epitome of Daemonology... appropriate imagery.

    Here are pics provided by Dain that show the comparison between the two. The scan of the daemon in question is from the actual Le Dictionnaire Infernal. Nice, eh? - Rob


  • More from Dain: The "extend" icon of Ghosts that was replaced by this 1UP icon in Ghouls (as seen below) was never shown or even eluded to in any instruction manual, and is found after having collecting around a dozen statues, after which the process resets. Reason enough to get as many statues as possible. A common place to find it if no pots are passed over is the Tower Ruins stage (level 3).


  • According to Robert Torres, the Red Destroyer also appears in the Capcom arcade game Black Tiger (called Black Dragon in Japan) as a boss! Here's a picture of him and his stats, courtesy of Arcade Forever's Black Tiger Playing Guide:

    GARGOYLE

    5,000 pts
    Bonus Zenny: 1200 coins.

    At the end of Round 4, you will encounter an orange ball. But get close, and the ball opens up into an ugly gargoyle. He shoots arrows which explode into purple flames, which dissipate after a few seconds. Once again, the "stick and move" approach works best. Here, you can also hop on the various pillars, so you can move up and down as well as left and right. You can shoot him while he's sleeping: move till you're on the bottom pillar, where you will be about 2 pillars away. He only has three pellets of vitality, so you can virtually take one away before he gets a chance to attack you.

    Like the rectangular rocks in Round 4, the Gargoyle becomes a "regular" starting in Round 5. And he becomes madder than ever!

    Interestingly enough, the skeletons from Black Tiger resemble the skeletons from Ghosts 'N Goblins. Take a look for yourself:


  • The Pixel Pals section of I-Mockery.com has had four comics based on the NES Ghosts 'N Goblins! Take a look at them below, and don't forget to stop by I-Mockery.com for more comics like this.

    Zombie Pajama Party

    Take A Look In The Mirror, Pal

    Tainted Hands

    Oh The Horror!


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