Ultimate Ghosts n' Goblins

[Glockstar]

Guess Ghost-n-Goblins and LocoRoco aren't coming out on the same day... UGnG just got moved up a week: which means that it's now coming out next week.(!)

[Renzatic Gear]

That's kind of a good thing. I'd have to find time to cram both it and Loco Roco in if they came out on the same day.

The only concern I have for the game, and this goes back to Cuddly Knife's post in the Loco Roco thread, is that the game might be too hard to play with the PSP's sluggish controls. The D-pad is about useless, and the analog pad seems to lag a bit in almost every game I've played save Daxter. With a GnG game, that'll lead to alot of pointlessly frustration and maybe even a broken PSP. I broke my first GBA playing Super GnG...and it was a helluva lot more sturdy than the PSP.

[Glockstar]

The D-pad is about useless...

It is? It's the exact same as the PS1/PS2's... isn't it?

[Renzatic Gear]

Not really. It has a similar shape, but it's wider, the surface is too slick to get good traction on, and is almost impossible to hit diagonals with.

If you're planning on just moving up, down, left, or right, it's decent. But for games like Gradius or any 3D title, it's useless.

[Glockstar]

...and is almost impossible to hit diagonals with.

Now see, I've always thought that with the PS1's and PS2's too. I hear what you're saying about it being 'slickey'; and now that I look at it again, the space between the pads does look a little wider... But I seem to hit the diagonals just as good as I did with the PS1/PS2's. Er, just as bad I should say.

[Renzatic Gear]

The old Dual Shock d-pad wasn't the greatest, but I did eventually get used to it. The PSP pad though, the extra space between the keys means it's really hard to hit them together unless you have a thumbprint the size of a half-dollar, and makes for a pain in the ass experience.

If it wern't for the analog nub, which I'm not a huge fan of but started liking it more since I replaced it with something that sticks up a little more, the PSP would be unplayable.

[Glockstar]

Excerpt from the IGN review:

Of course, a lot has been made about how hard Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins is to complete but if you managed to play through other toughies like God of War or Devil May Cry 3, it won't be any more difficult than those two. In truth, only the "Ultimate Mode" will truly test your patience as the other two settings, Novice and Standard, are a lot more balanced and can be completed with average skills in roughly four to eight hours. What I particularly appreciate about this sort of balancing is that the three challenge levels aren't just a matter of "adding enemies here" or "throwing in fewer power-ups there" -- the mode differences were given a lot more respect than that.


http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/article/728/728597/ultimate-ghosts-n-goblins-20060828032158286.jpg

Take the Novice Mode, for example. When playing through that, users begin the game with more lives but are also knocked backwards less of a distance when attacked. Additionally, powered-up weapons will also retain their extra strength when players spawn back to life. When playing through Standard Mode, however, users will only start the game with two lives before having to continue again without the aforementioned benefits of Novice. If you get enough guts to play through Ultimate Mode, though, that's where the trouble really hits -- as all your armor breaks after only a single hit and if you die, you don't respawn from the point you died... you respawn at the very beginning of the stage.

http://psp.ign.com/articles/728/728597p1.html

[Renzatic Gear]

Ahh, cool. So ultimate mode is basically GnG as the fans remember it, and the other modes are for people that don't want to kill themselves out of frustration.

That's actually a really nice move on Capcom's part. The GnG games, fun as they are, are really meant to be played by people that like beating really evil games. This way everyone gets to enjoy it.

[Cuddly Knife]

DMC3 and GoW cannot be said in the same sentence when talking about difficulty. Unless it the snetence I just wrote. Normal mode of DMC3 was harder than God mode of GoW, except for the clone battle at the end of the game, which is just cheap. I

think this games difficulty has to do more with you being precise in your moves, unlike more modern games that give you a lot of room for error. People have become spoiled with how games play these days, and other games suffer because of it. Ikaruga, DMC3, and Ninja Gaiden all got pints taken away becdause of difficulty. Boo. Hiss.

[Renzatic Gear]

Hell, I wouldn't even mention those games in the same sentence as Ghouls 'n Ghosts. Ninja Gaiden is about the only game this gen that's come close to the oldschool style platformers in difficulty.

[Renzatic Gear]

Well...I wasn't expecting this game for at least another week or two. Apparently it snuck by us all, cuz it's out.

Guess I'll be buying yet another game tomorrow. O.o

[Renzatic Gear]

Woohoo! 3rd post in a row!

Okay, first the good. It's a GnG game.

Now, the bad. It's not as fluid as previous GnG games. While not horrible, it's doesn't have quite the same feel as the previous games. It's more....clunky. Kinda makes some already tough situations even tougher.

I'll post more about it once I get a bit farther in.

[Mochan]

Ghosts n' Goblins was one of the hardest games on the NES/Famicom, right up there with Battletoads. One of the things that really made it hard was how it had no continues. When it's game over, it's game over.

I was planning to pick this game up for the PSP. But you say it's clunky Renz? That's a shame.

[Mochan]

Man I just played Ghosts and Goblins on Novice mode (read: Wimp Mode) and it's hella fun. I mean I don't get frustrated tearing my hair out like I did back in the 8-bit days but I get all the monster-bashing fun. This is awesome!

[BaneNWN]

I had enough frustrating moments with rondo of blood im sure this game would absolutley piss me off

[Mochan]

Well, its nowhere near as hard as the original G&G but the difficulty I would think is still a tad higher than Rondo, even in easy mode. Consider yourself saved!