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, seemingly defenseless little creature found for the first time waiting 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 these 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 overflowed the glass came in 1990 in the form of a spin-off title exclusive to Nintendo's newly released GameBoy, putting 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

Firebrand embarks on a quest to show the world demons care for each other too, protecting his home land and its dark inhabitants from invasion and leaving Arthur alone for a while. According to the prologue: "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, these same destroyers are back, and Firebrand will defend his land by becoming the "Red Blaze", its savior.

Western cover

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

Half platforming action and half RPG, Gargoyle's Quest breaks all GameBoy game molds of the time by re-mixing its arcade roots with uncomplicated RPG elements easily understandable by early 90's players who hadn't yet been fully exposed to the genre. It includes a very linear, overhead world map where random and fixed enemy encounters take place, which also ties together the towns and castles the realm's residents inhabit and the different action stages of the game.
Firebrand's job includes interacting with NPCs to find out where to go, helping them with obligatory fetch quests, and putting abilities learned in the process to good use in order to access further areas. A primitive, RPG-like command menu is available in non-action areas, but it doesn't feel elaborate enough and it could have very well been left out.
There's no experience to be gained, but skills like jumping, hovering in mid-air and shooting different projectiles from Firebrand's mouth become stronger by completing predetermined events throughout the game. He can also grab on to walls, demonstrating he's not your average platforming Joe.
Battles (both as random encounters and as mandatory events), occur in confined, often small platforming areas that must be cleared of enemies before continuing. The rest of the action takes place in regular platforming stages that are accessed through locations on the main map.

Gameboy advertisement

There's no doubt that this gargoyle adventure stood out thanks to its big sprites and uncommonly detailed graphics Capcom knew how to extract from the new hardware. Firebrand's Ghoul Realm was gifted with a very particular cartoonish yet dark style that matches the tone of Ghosts'N Goblins without exactly copying it, and it's visually a lot more attractive than other GameBoy titles of the same year. Signature design traits like imaginative enemies, eerie ambiance, and beautifully haunting soundtrack (its quality on par with Capcom's work during the early 90's) defined this short series from the beginning.

Japanese cover

Still, Gargoyle's Quest is quite rough around the edges. For example, NPCs have very little to say, menus are extremely oversimplified, slowdown is sometimes present, and background quality seems to be very inconsistent between battlegrounds and stages. It's also sometimes hard to guide Firebrand through narrow spaces because of awkward enemy placement, which slows down the action a bit.
Yet all of this is forgivable considering Capcom's first try on the recently released hardware was still one of the most impressive ones. Although its unorthodox mix of genres and at the time impressive audiovisuals gave this spinoff wings, further polishing would have surely made it a masterpiece.

Soundtrack:
	Prologue
	Ghoul Realm map
	Password screen