Ghosts 'N Goblins's frustrating difficulty was legendary among arcade goers of the time. Its unforgiving cast of lightning-fast ghouls, unpredictable flying devils, and stiff controls kept only the most persistent players coming back for more while the rest of us had no problem declaring Arthur's quest a failure after only a few quarters. Interestingly though, one of the toughest of Arthur's foes wasn't a big stage boss, or even the Goblin King himself. No. For some strange reason that title was held by a small, deceptively defenseless little creature that our hero sees for the first time waiting for him at the cemetery, confidently sitting there as if he knew Arthur has no chance of passing through.
The moment this demon is perturbed marks the end of first-time players' quests, revealing an incredibly resilient, fast-dodging red gargoyle who's devilish A.I. seemed conceived by none other than Satan himself. His attacks every bit as unfair as they were random, he is part of the Red Arremer tribe.

The popular Red Arremer:
			Nazo Makaimura: Incredible Toons cover			Ghouls'N Ghosts art
			Ghosts'N Goblins flyer			Ghosts'N Goblins marquee
			Ultimate Ghosts'N Goblins cover			Ghosts'N Goblins flyer

Despite players' hate for this fiends, Red Arremers managed to return to every single Ghosts 'N Goblins sequel in one shape or another, boosting up their popularity and even appearing in most of the games' arcade flyers and cartridge box covers. What kind of masochistic obsession do players have with him? How did these creatures from hell start getting as much attention as Arthur?
The drop that spilled the glass came in 1990 in the form of a spin-off title exclusive to Nintendo's newly released GameBoy that puts players in the shoes of "Firebrand", one of these fearsome demons.

Gargoyle's Quest Ghosts'N Goblins

Players: 1 About: Platforming / RPG Courtesy of: Capcom Back in: 1990 Originally on: GameBoy Also on: N/A

This time around is one of these mischievous gargoyles' turn to be the main character, who for the first time sheds his evil ways and seems more interested in protecting his home land and its dark inhabitants from an even eviler invading threat than causing Arthur grief.
The tale goes: "A long, long time ago, the Ghoul Realm barely escaped a great peril. A large army of destroyers came from a neighbouring universe. The creatures of the Ghoul Realm were no match for the powerful destroyers. Just when everyone had given up hope, a great fire swept over the realm, wiping out the destroyers army."
Now the destroyers are back, and Firebrand will defend his land and become the "Red Blaze", its savior.

There's something unique about GQ's gameplay. Half platforming action, half rpg; the game differentiates itself from the rest of mainstream launch titles by doing away with the simpleness of Ghost & Goblins.
Rpg elements are superficial and uncomplicated, surely to please a wider audience. They include a very linear overhead view map where random and fixed enemy encounters will take place, towns and castles with inhabitants to talk to, skill leveling, some event items to collect and a small sub command menu.
There's no experience system, although skills like jumping, hovering in mid-air and shooting projectiles from your mouth become stronger by completing events and quests. He can also grab on to walls, demonstrating he's not your average platforming joe.
Random battles are cleared by killing all enemies in a fixed platforming screen instead of a turn-based rpg fight, and the rest of the action takes place in regular platforming levels that are accessed thru areas on the main map.

Gameboy advertisement

Firebrand's Ghoul Realm was gifted with a very particular cartoonish/dark style that shows off originality and attention to detail. Enemies are not only big (with huge bosses) but often original concoctions of different living and undead creature limbs.
A very distinctive point in the graphic's style is that designers LOVE to put angry, devilish faces on everything: items like vials, enemy shields and vehicules; and of course creatures' stomachs, chests and even pelvises. Just like in Ghosts 'n Goblins. This original design twist is also shared by the NES sequel and to a slightly lesser degree by Demon's Crest, and together with the eerie music they are this short saga's main attractions.

Being on display next to Super Mario Land, Qix and Nintendo World Cup on store shelves; the green (wrongfully colored by a cover artist that didn't get the memo) gargoyle's new game surely stood up thanks to its big sprites and detailed graphics. The grayscale in some of the pillars and walls of the background is incredibly rich and still looks amazing today. Capcom's understanding of the GameBoy's hardware really shows, and GQ pushed the little portable to its technical limits very early in its long career.

Gameboy cover

Green Firebrand is the funny result of miscommunication between artists and developers.

And let's not forget the sound department. A beautiful slow creepy tune will welcome you as you read the intro, a sad melody will play as you advance over the Realm's map sections, and an effective action soundtrack is available during Firebrand's platforming monster killing. All of it excellent, except that the sound effects' higher volume might give you a headache after a while.
There's of course some reminiscence of Ghosts & Goblins' soundtrack but it sure doesn't hurt.
If you think about it, Capcom was at the time producing their best game music ever, like Street Fighter 2 and Megaman. They were surely on a roll.

All in all it's a short game, technically way ahead of its time and just plain fun to be one of the bad guys defending your dark world for a change.

Soundtrack:
	Prologue
	Ghoul Realm map
	Password screen