Ghouls 'n Ghosts

Ghouls 'n Ghosts (大魔界村 Daimakaimura, "Great Demon World Town") is a 1988 arcade side-scrolling platform from Ghosts 'n Goblins series. Like the first game, it was ported to numerous home computers. Its Sega Genesis and Master System versions were published by Sega due to strict contract between Capcom and Nintendo at time. The Genesis port in particular was programmed by Yuji Naka, who would go on to be one of the co-creators of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and the one who receives most of the credit for creating said franchise.

Plot
Three years after the events of the original Ghosts 'n Goblins, the evil forces of the demon world are attacking Princess Prin Prin's kingdom once again, this time, instead of just kidnapping Prin Prin, they steal all the inhabitants’ souls, including Prin Prin’s, so Sir Arthur must defeat the evil Lucifer (Loki in the Genesis version) in order to save Prin Prin and her kingdom. After defeating Beelzebub for the first time, Arthur realizes he needs the Psycho Cannon to defeat Lucifer and rescue Prin Prin, so he goes back to the village to grab the Psycho Cannon from St. Michael to make the whole journey to Lucifer's hellish hideout again to destroy Lucifer and rescue the souls of Prin Prin and her subjects.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) You can play as Sir Arthur, a valiant knight who must defeat zombies, ogres, demons, cyclops, dragons and other monsters to rescue his girlfriend.
 * 2) Colourful graphics and funky soundtrack for 1988.
 * 3) Now you can run uphill and downhill on slopes.
 * 4) You can throw weapons upwards to compensate stiff controls with sandbag jumping physics.
 * 5) Fun level design that tests your platforming skills.
 * 6) Ability to change difficulty (Practice and Professional) and change controls (Genesis style for moving while pressing diagonal down) on Genesis version.
 * 7) Unlike the first game, next stages have distinct bosses.
 * 8) There are new weapons, like sword for killing close-range attacks and disk that travels on ground, when you shoot from prone position. Plus, old weapons improved- fire bomb hits ground instantly and axe travels diagonally upwards, albeit slowly.
 * 9) Speaking of weapons, you have golden armor, which lets you perform Super attacks, if charged to the maximum.
 * 10) The Genesis port was programmed by Yuji Naka, one of the co-creators of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, which makes this port intriguing for Sonic fans and Sega fans in general.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Like in the first game- two hits and you're dead, even if you wear gold armor.
 * 2) Jumps are still stiff, like in the first game, but it is more forgiving.
 * 3) You have to run through the stages twice to achieve the true ending. Moreover, you have to defeat Beelzebub during second run with Goddess' bracelet, which is inconvenient, but you can shoot it upwards, as the boss was designed with it in mind.