Lost In Translation/Ghosts'n Goblins

This page is a stub for arcade games that are part of the Lost In Translation series using information based on MAME (version 0.113u2).
For an example of preferred content and layout please refer to Out Run or The Ninja Warriors.

Ghosts'n Goblins
Manufacturer	Capcom
Released	1985
Control Method	8-way Joystick 2 Button(s)
Main CPU	M6809 (@ 1.500 MHz) Z80 (@ 3.000 MHz)
Sound CPU	Mono (2x) YM2203 (@ 1.500 MHz)
Video Details	Raster (Horizontal) 256 x 224 pixels 60.00 Hz 256 Palette colours
Screens	1
ROM Info	20 ROMs 328,236 bytes (320.54 KiB)
MAME ID	gng · gnga · gngt · makaimuc · makaimug · makaimur

Ghosts'n Goblins is an arcade video platform game where the player takes on the role of Sir Arthur the knight, who sees his sweetheart, Princess Guinevere, kidnapped by the Goblin King.

Arthur must run and jump through 6 horizontal and 8-way scrolling levels in his bid to rescue the kidnapped princess. Arthur is initially armed with throwable lances, but a variety of other throwing weapons, such as axes, flaming torches, swords etc. are dropped by defeated enemies and can be picked up and used to fend off the zombies, bats, demons and other assorted satanic minions that Sir Arthur has to face.

Each of the 6 end-of-level gates is guarded by one of Satan's generals; huge, end-of-level guardians who must be defeated before the player can finally reach the Goblin King and rescue the princess.

Additional Technical Information

Players : 2

Control : 8-way joystick

Buttons : 2

=> [A] FIRE, [B] JUMP

Trivia

Released in September 1985.

Licenced to Taito for US manufacture and distribution.

Also licensed to Romstar for US distribution.

This game is known in Japan as "Makaimura" (translates as 'Demon World Village').

The princess was officially called 'Prin Prin' (this is a onomatopeia for the buttocks which make a pretty movement).

The main character, Arthur, appears as a striker character in "Marvel vs. Capcom - Clash of Super Heroes".

The red flying gargoyle enemy that you come across in the first level is known as Firebrand or Red Arrender Ace/Red Arremer depending on the game and it actually has his own game on the Nintendo Game Boy called "Gargoyle's Quest - Ghosts'n Goblins" and two sequels on the NES/Game Boy and Super NES respectively. The gargoyle is also the last boss in the MSX game Makaijima Higemaru and a secret last boss in the Neo-Geo's "SNK Vs. Capcom - SVC Chaos".

Steve Donaldson holds the official record for this game with 811,000 points.

Alfa Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Capcom Game Music - 28XA-94) on 25/08/1986.

Suleputer released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Makaimura Music Collection - CPCA-10128~34) on 28/12/2005 containing music from the original arcade and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis series.

Updates

The Japanese versions, unlike all other versions, use a cross instead of a shield.

Scoring

Scores For Enemies Killed

Target	Points
Zombie	200
Grave Spirit	200
Crow	100
Plant	100
Demon	1,000
Dark Shield Knight	100
Wraith	100
Cyclops	2,000
Blue Devil	100
Ogre	500
Two-Headed Golem	300
Purple Goblin	100
Dragon Tail	200
Dragon Head	1,000
Skull	100
Skeleton	100
The Red Guard	3,000
Satan	10,000

Scores For Items Picked Up

Item	Points
Key	1,000
Skull Coin	200
Wreath	200
Young Arthur Doll	200
Foot Soldier Doll	400
Knight Arthur Doll	400
Princess Doll	400
Ghost Doll	400
Devil Doll	400
King Arthur Doll	10,000
Money Bags	500
The Princess' Ring	100
The Princess' Shoe	800
The Princess' Dress	1,000
Arthur's Knickerbocker	2,000
Arthur's Crown	5,000
Capcom Symbol *	10,000

∗This item also appears in many other Capcom games of the time, e.g. "1942".

End of Level Bonus

Level	Bonus
1	5,000
2	5,000
3	10,000
4	10,000
5	15,000
6	15,000

Tips and tricks

2 x Capcom 10,000 Points In The Game

• The 1st one is in the forest (second part of level 1) : Jump at the 4th tree 'before' the last plant.
• The 2nd one is at level 3 : Enter a ditch, in the leftmost spot, after you have landed on the bottom of level 3; that is the place where you go to the dragon boss by simply running right.

Turn Into A Frog

As soon as you become a duck, shoot a tombstone 15 times in a row and an angel character will appear. This angel will fire a bolt at you. Let it hit you and you'll become a frog.

Frog Bug Trick

Wait until the timer reaches 0 :01 and then have the magician turn you into a frog, if he turns you into a frog as the timer runs out, Arthur becomes distorted (sprite broken) and the timer becomes crazy. But you can continue the play like this.

Levitating Monsters

At level 6 (just after having beaten the big red guardian), kill the 5 skulls, then climb up the ladder to wake up the 2 doglike monsters. Go down again and walk right until you're blocked by the wall. Then wait for the monsters to stand just over you (possibly at the rightmost possible point), shoot at this very moment and it happens that they jump and remain in mid-air. It's not easy to do that, but you can manage to have both jumping and stuck. After that, you can safely climb up the ladder and walk while the monsters are moving above you without touching you. Don't shoot again, or they may jump up and go to the upper platform.

Boss Tricks

• Dragon Trick - You can pass the level four dragon by fleeing! Just walk until music changes to boss theme (if you can't hear that, the spot is where you have the last two flames on the left of the screen), then go to extreme left : if everything is ok, the music should stop and the flames freeze. Go to the door to collect the key.
• Demon Trick - To make disappear the demon boss at end of level five, try running away from him as fast as you can! Reach the floor with the hole in it and jump through it. If you have correct timing, you will fall in the pit, avoiding the moving platforms, and eventually escape the boss. Ogre boss tricks - The ogre bosses tend to jump when you fire, even if not directly at them. This is very useful in level six,when you can avoid losing your armor by activating the ogres, then going down the ladder and firing while holding your man in the same position where he starts at the beginning of the level.

Other Tricks

1. Weapon Trick - After having defeated a level boss(es),the knight can fire two or three "invisible shots"; if the man is facing the right border of the screen while doing so, the shots will reappear in the following stage. This can be exploited to kill some of the skulls at beginning of level 6 (soooo useful...).
2. Fire Bridge Trick - If the game difficulty level is not set to hard (you can check this by the zombies' speed), the fire bridge can be traversed by simply going right without stopping.
3. Weird Spots - In levels 5 and 6 there are spots where you can jump through the yellow rock background : usually getting blocked or killed. In level 6, the floor below the bosses' has an invisible hole in it at the extreme left : this can be used to the player's advantage.
4. Cemetery Glitch - Reach the last tomb before the devil, jump it and go right two or three steps. The knight should now be in front of a tree on the background. Don't go any further - go back, instead. Climb the first ladder you'll meet, then climb down the one on the left, which shouldn't be completely on the screen if you performed the trick correctly : surprise!
5. Warp Trick - This is very odd : by a strategy similar to the one to reveal the cemetery glitch (that is, fiddling with scroll), you can activate a 'level warp' in the platform section at the beginning of level 4. It involves going right, then trying to have some platform carry you beyond the 'scroll stops' line on the left. This should kill the knight and possibly make the next life start on the fire bridge or in level 5.

Armor

1. The first armor is in the cemetery, between the red devil's starting position and last money bag : jump there to catch it. In the forest,there's the infamous unreachable armor : to collect it you should reach a spot just above the money bag right after the first plant. This cannot be done by jumping.
2. There are 2 armors in the ice palace. One can be gotten by walking left off the topmost platform; the other will fall right in front of the inferior plant by roaming around the other plant's location.
3. There are 2 armors in the blue cave. The first one is obtained by climbing the leftmost ladder and falling off the ledge. To get the second, perform a well-placed jump (you have to cross some precise point in mid-air while falling) before the fight with the last red devil.
4. The last armor is collected in level 6 by simply walking right on the first floor with hulk-like monsters on it (the programmers thought you couldn't avoid getting hit by the ogres and so they didn't hide that armor).

Series

1. Ghosts'n Goblins (1985)
2. Ghouls'n Ghosts (1988)
3. Super Ghouls'n Ghosts (1991, Nintendo Super Famicom)
4. Maximo - Ghosts to Glory (2002, Sony Playstation 2)
5. Maximo vs. Army of Zin (2004, Sony PlayStation 2)
6. Ultimate Ghosts'n Goblins (2006, Sony PSP)

Staff

Designed By

Tokuro Fujiwara

Lead Programming

Toshio Arima

Music & Sound Effects

Ayako Mori

Cabinet and Artwork

• 

  Ghosts'n Goblins cabinet.

• 

  Ghosts'n Goblins flyer.

• 

  Back of the Ghosts'n Goblins flyer.

• 

  Taito's Ghosts'n Goblins flyer.

Ports

Consoles

Nintendo Famicom (1986)

Sony PlayStation (1998, "Capcom Generation 2")

Sony PlayStation (1998, "Capcom Generations - Chronicles of Arthur")

Sega Saturn (1998, "Capcom Generation 2")

Nintendo Game Boy Color (1999)

Sony PlayStation 2 (2005, "Capcom Classics Collection")

Microsoft XBOX (2005, "Capcom Classics Collection")

Sony PSP (2006, "Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded")

Computers

Commodore 16 (1986)

Commodore C64 (1986)

Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1986)

Amstrad CPC (1986)

PC [MS-DOS] (1987)

Commodore Amiga ("Ghosts 'n Goblins", 1988, Elite)

Atari ST (1990)

Other

Mobile Phone (2005)

Soundtrack Releases

Album Name	Catalogue No.	Released	Publisher	Comments
Makaimura Music Collection	CPCA-10128~34	2005-12-28	Suleputer	8 CD version.
Capcom Game Music	28XA-94	1986-08-25	Alfa Records	CD version.
Capcom Game Music	ALC-22905	1986-08-25	Alfa Records	Cassette version.
Capcom Game Music	ALR-22905	1986-08-25	Alfa Records	Vinyl version.
Capcom Game Music	SCDC-00193	2002-06-19	Scitron Digital Content Inc.	CD version.
Capcom Game Music VOL.3	28XA-204	1988-04-20	Alfa Records	CD version.
Capcom Game Music VOL.3	ALC-22924	1988-04-20	Alfa Records	Cassette version.
Capcom Game Music VOL.3	ALR-22924	1988-04-20	Alfa Records	Vinyl version.
Capcom Game Music VOL.3	SCDC-00198	2002-08-21	Scitron Digital Content Inc.	CD version.
Back In Time II	C64CD2	1999-01-01	High Technology Publishing Ltd.	CD version.
Instant Remedy	IR01	2002-01-01	High Technology Publishing Ltd.	CD version.
The Best Of AY-3-8912	CZCD 005	2007-07-12	Binary Zone Interactive	CD version.
Game Music Festival Live, Summer '93 ~OFFICIAL BOOTLEG CASSETTE~	N/A	1993-01-01	Pony Canyon/Scitron	Cassette version.
Arcade Ambiance 1986	N/A	2004-08-27	Andy Hofle	Digital download only.
Capcom Music Collection Vol. 0	CPCA-10211	2009-10-01	Suleputer	CD version.

Sound Comparison

Platform	Song Titles							Sound Source
Arcade	"Start Demo"	"The Map"	"Flatland Part BGM (Stage 1, 2)"	"Theme Of Giant (Stage 1, 2 Boss)"	"Stage Clear"	"Cave BGM (Stage 3, 4)"	"Theme Of Dragon (Stage 3, 4 Boss)"	M1 v0.7.8a6

Platform	Song Titles (Continued...)							Sound Source
Arcade	"Castle Of Satan BGM (Stage 5, 6)"	"Theme Of Satan (Stage 5, 6 Boss)"	"Theme Of Dark Lord"	"1st Round Clear"	"Dark Lord"	"2nd Round Clear"	"Congratulations"	M1 v0.7.8a6

Platform	Song Titles (Continued...)							Sound Source
Arcade	"Player Out"	"Hurry Up!"	"Game Over"	"Name Regist (1st Place)"	"Name Regist Finished (1st Place)"	"Name Regist (2nd Place and Below)"	"Name Regist Finished (2nd Place and Below)"	M1 v0.7.8a6

External Links

• Sinclair ZX Spectrum version of Ghosts 'n' Goblins at the World of Spectrum

References

The contents of this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
The sources used include MAME (version 0.113u2) and history.dat (revision 1.28 - 2008-10-18).
Please see http://www.arcade-history.com for credits.