Debunking the Difficulty - Ghosts 'n Goblins (NES) 

As a kid I remember this game feeling impossible, even for the first level. And I hated that with each time dying, the stupid level map showed up. It was as if the game was mocking me, saying “Yeah there’s 5 other levels, and you’ll never see them!”

For those that don't know, the famicom version is more difficult. Enemies are faster and you have no continues.

Ever since Ryu modeled for the main character, he hasn't stopped pushing this game. I think he gets royalties.

After never playing the game before, I beat it today thanks to your video! It was still quite hard and took a couple hours but definitely would have quit without your numerous tips

Before I even watch this: yeah fucking right. But ima watch and learn and maybe this will be the time I finally beat my favorite impossible game ever! Thanks, best series ever Ryu!

I’ve been waiting for this video ever since the series started. Never beaten this game so I’m hoping after I watch this I can finish it.

We didn’t have the internet when this came out. No idea where the hidden armor was. Died a million times as a kid

The only part of this game that peeved me was finally beating it, then finding out I didn't beat it😂

Zelda II in 2 parts?

"You don't HAVE to get the knife"..... *2 minutes later* "Okay the knife is really good, I would get the knife" I love you Ryu

If AVGN is Yin, this series is Yang. It's amazing. This game absolutely is a crapshoot that deserves to be ranted about (Yin), but with a levelheaded, disciplined approach... it can be managed (Yang).

Listen, I love this series and will always watch it. But you are not going to convince me this game isn't brutally unforgiving 🤣

I love this series. Keep keeping on, liking the positive vibe

For those playing the original arcade version, the red arremers use a different AI from the nes port. When you see it waiting, you can get a free hit on it once (it will dodge subsequent attacks), then you must wait/dodge through its attack cycle until it charges straight at you horizontally (this prevents it from dodging). When it does this, you can then finish it off with a few more hits before it rams into you.

I need to start a series called "Bunking the Difficulty" to bring balance to Ryu's god gaming.

I always loved this game. I also loved one of the spin offs from this game called Demons Crest (SNES) . It's main character is one of the flying Red Arremer enemies in this game ( as a hero named Firebrand) and I believe was also the main character of the Gargoyles Quest series

I have a special technique for watching Ryu videos. I click the “like” button BEFORE watching it because I know its gonna be good. I don’t want to risk dying in a meteor shower before I finish and missing the opportunity.

Bro, this video was awesome. Breaking down the game to a few core strategies that really helps make the game seem more approachable and less daunting of a challenge to complete was very cool.

Solid video! It was actually really enjoyable to watch. I’m currently watching a bunch of play throughs of the classics so I can apply some of what I see in the retro styled Metroidvania I’m developing, and so far your videos have been some of my favourites to watch 😁 Cheers, friend! 😁🍻

Nice video! Love seeing these videos, i don't play these games myself but that makes it all the more fun to watch.

Great video! This game is still mind numbingly difficult but hopefully this will make the game more bearable. You failed to mention some things tho. At 8:57 actually if you stayed longer in the platform until it goes high, you can spawn an item disc that can increase your timer. That was really helpful. At stage 3, there are 2 armor placements, you failed to mention that too. I personally think this game can't be made any easier because so many random elements that you can't control happened and that can really ruin your run. If you succeed doing one thing in run 1, maybe that thing wouldn't work in run 2. At least that was my experience. You can make this game bearable but never easy.

Always love these series, keep it up, my friend!

My dad is a god at ghosts n goblins. He prefers the arcade version by far, but he runs over the nes version as well. I'm pretty sure I wasn't worthy of his love until the day I beat ghosts n goblins.

Diggin the debunks Ryu!! Much love!!

You're easily one of my favorite content creators, I'm here for when you have a million subscribers that said I'm glad I've been here for a long time Your contents really phenomenal and fire And even when I'm having a bad week when I see one of your videos drops it makes my entire night Phenomenal work my friend 👊

Bro.. your reflexes and feel for stuff like how the (incredibly clunky) jump works is what’s helping you the most, and that’s something you only learn by going through the gauntlet.

Thanks to you, I have finally beaten this monster of a game!! And with the good ending too! You did miss a couple useful tricks, such as another extra armour on level 3 (pretty late, on the stairs where the two flying dudes spawn), but you gave me the power of will to beat the game and I really needed the technique to kill the little red devils. You're great, Ryu!

"The most annoying part is how the hot-dogs spawn randomly" 😂😂 Thanks for debunking one of my favorite childhood games. My brother and I would play this for hours on end. I didn't even know about the armors! Thanks for sharing another awesome video!!

I have a yearly "Try to beat this game!" party where we do line-ups of difficult classic games and this is one ive never beaten. Not even close. Then i watched this video, sat down and did it in like 20 minutes. I'm blown away how just a handful of tips have checked this game off for me.

The Debunking series is my new fave. It amazes me how I could sail through these games as a 10-12 year old kid, and now as an adult I struggle.

Ryu: "I want to show it isn't so bad" Game: "My sprites are often invisible, you arbitrarily lose for getting the wrong weapon, the whole thing is a twice-twice, and the reward for all that is a lazy ending message that's not even spelled properly." Ryu: "It isn't so bad..."

This series has given me so much hope in beating these games. THANK YOU 😊

After watching this, I went down memory lane and watched Ryukahr struggle with this game 4 years ago on his extraordinarily hard game series. It was funny watching the struggle on those demons and accidentally doing the humpback technique before he knew that was the strat.

Another super interesting video👍 I have super console x so i have access to all these games and i play them often. I really like watching you make these games look easy and the truth is with practice it becomes easy eventually. I appreciate the tips and the pure entertainment of just watching you play. I'm about to try to play through the 4 main ghost n goblins games in a row. Ultimate ghost n goblins is the one that scares me most and i haven't played resurrection yet so I'm looking forward to that. Anyway great content and I'll be watching and commenting on all these videos as i play the games for myself. Ty again and keep em coming👍👍

I want to play this game again now 😂Another great video man, i love the debunking series.

I see what you're doing with this series. You're removing the stigma that these challenging games are "impossible" for the average gamer.

This series is a great idea. I'm loving the vids. Keep it up.

I agree with you ryu. Making any hard game easier is all about knowledge. Which in early games is everything.

love the series, dude! Keep up the great episodes!

Finally! thank you. I was playing some Castelvania SOTN and I was thinking about this weird Castelvania game I played as as kid on my NES, but I could not find it anywhere. And now I remember, it was this game! I was racking my brain about it..

Yess i remember requesting this from you. So glad its here so i can atleast have a shot at beating it !

Nice to see you do this game, there is a way to avoid the forced fire weapon from the ladder on level 2, i'd have to replay the game to remember but it depends of your trajectory. i also beat this last year on my channel both quest and it felt nice.

Great video man. Classic game. Thanks for the play through.

I cant believe you actually did this one!! Dude you are a legend.

Love this series, and I'll continue waiting patiently for Battletoads :)

It gets quite hard if you keep doing more and more loops. I've never heard of anyone getting further than loop 7.

Congraturation!

Enjoyed this! 😁

I think game overs actually reset all of your points, so if you're playing for score those WOULD matter. This is pretty common in arcade games.

I just booted this up last night! Thanks Ryu!

You have amazing patience. I used to grind on these games back in the day. Well done.

I've been looking forward to these episodes like I was looking forward for the next AVGN episode, back in the day. Time to get some noodles and enjoy.

"you feel a strong welling in your body" but is the princess's body ready?

Hell yes this is one I've been waiting for

It's easy to say this game isn't difficult after someone else mapped it out for you, but as a kid, this game was why I started smoking cigarettes at the age of seven. I had the Advantage joystick that had turbo buttons. When you paused the game, nothing shows up on the screen, so I used to use turbo on the pause button and basically play this in slow motion and I got pretty far doing it that way. Nowhere near beating the game though. Gamers that can beat this do make it look pretty damn easy though.

27:11 --> Just like in Kid Icarus! Never knew there was so much from that game in this one =D Nice video!

YES YES YES, I’ve been waiting for this 😍🔥

Arcade version was ROUGH (tons of RNG). The NES version was just about memorizing everything, and "enjoying" the stupidity of all the secret nans, weapon requirements, etc. 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨

This series is fun to watch. Are you gonna do the SNES version, too?

I'm surprised how much I enjoy this series. As a general suggestion for future games, I remember finding every game by Ocean on the SNES to be rediculously hard. Robocop 3 and The Addams Family drove me nuts.

I remember being able to warp to any level by doing some button combinations on the title screen. You are then able to play the final boss with any weapon you want too. Start the button combination right when you see the title screen and be sure to complete it before the game demo happens. 1. Hold Right and press A 10 times 2. Up (do not hold) 3. A 3 times 4. Left (do not hold) 5. A 3 times 6. Down (do not hold) 7. A 3 times 8. Start 9. B 10. Start This is off memory from my childhood. If that doesn’t work then just use B button for all the combinations. When you complete a level it will take you back to the warp screen. You can also practice the same level over and over again. Great way to practice that 1CC.

You actively motivated me to complete this game!

in the words of AVGN GET THE KNIFE!

Just found these videos and really enjoying them. I can't seem to find it you have it not, but one of these videos for NES Blaster Masrer and Mad Max. I spent all day even with Game Genie on Blaster Master and when I finally got to the final boss, my mom called us for dinner and my brother jumped off the bed that had the game on the game genie wedged, kinda like stacking games, for the damn game to play and it froze. That was they day I gave up. And Mad Mad made me sad so many times I wasted hours that could have been spent on something worthwhile. Lol. Thanks for the videos, look forwards to your next ones as well as getting to the ones I haven't seen yet.

The reaction at the end after reading the ending credits was hilarious!

I cannot believe the title. Ambitious, indeed!

I’m impressed. Not cuz you beat it (which still respect) but because you showcased the escape route with the damage boost in stage 2 😂

Great video 📹 loved it

-Great vid! Here's one for ya: at 8:00, if you don't need to get the armor, stay off the top floor, and that fire won't drop, blocking the ladder. -also, there is a cheat for this game. Kinda like the one for Contra(up, down, up, down, etc.) I don't remember exactly what it was but, the cheat allows you to start at any stage except the last one(where you fight the Devil). And also, the cheat negates needing the cross(shield) for the final boss.

"Get the knife" is one of those classic lines from old youtube history, just like "You can just walk over it".

Love this series! You should look into doing one on Double Dragon for NES. That game is pretty difficult, at least I thought so when I was a kid :).

Great video! I would LOVE if you also did Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts from the snes.

You should do Karnov at some point. Not sure if it's a famously difficult game, but I couldn't get far into it when I was a kid, and I still can't. Kind of reminds me of Ghosts 'n Goblins.

Love this man! Thanks

Super nice video with great content and information. A++

DDD Digging the Debunking the Difficulty! Thanks Ryu, this game is so (hard) easy

That was great! Question what is that animated crono frame from? It's great.

That’s the final boss? Now I’m pissed!

Loved the video Ryu. I can't believe you actually tested the no shield ending that AVGN warned about lol... I thought it was bs. This game is still difficult even with the hidden armor tricks, way too cheap with the invisible stuff and weird patterns. The wall damage skip trick was awesome.

the first time i watched ryu he was playing this game on twitch, and honestly it’s my favorite twitch vod of all time. glad to see it return!

Nice video was fun to watch.

Gg. Thank you for this video and your debunking series. It helped me beat the first loop for the first time today on my wife's birthday.

Hell yeah! This is the game I wanted to see. The trick for the red devils is super helpful, that's the kind of stuff this series is all about. Definitely still a very sinister game, can be a super cheap bastard especially in the late stages but it's good to know there ARE real strategies.

One other difference between Loop 1 and 2 is that in Loop 1, the Axe and Shield weapons do not appear until stage 5. In loop 2, they can appear at any point.

Great video, but I'm gonna live vicariously though you on this one!

I almost beat this game on NS Online without knowing it was infamously beyond difficult. And I was thinking to myself the whole time “wow this is hard”. But now knowing that, I’m proud of myseld

The one for master system, with the tornado monster, and the burning village, is so much harder than this one.

my new favorite series from Ryu

Red dude is called Firebrand Congratulations 👏🏽 The NES was notorious for bad interpts lol

nice video well done as usual :D suggestion for a game to debunk would be the gremlins 2 and isolated warrior , those are pretty harsh and unforgiving ;)

I'd love seeing you debunking either "The Goonies II" or "Faxanadu". Anyways, many many thanks for this content, your community just love that

Ryu se que no entiendes mis comentarios en español... pero te sigo en tus dos canales y amo estas series!!! Espero ver más. Soy tu fan. Saludos desde Argentina mi rey. 🤟🏾🤟🏾🤟🏾

“I always have people getting mad, saying ‘You didn’t debunk the difficulty! It’s still hard!’” You could’ve called the show _Nullifying the Notoriety,_ but then you’d lose the double-D.

Unrelated to the video content, but what exactly are those in the background with Chrono and the Mog? I’d love to get my hands on one of those ! What are they called and where can you buy them? Thank you :)

“I think the fire is better against the dragon” as he proceeds to completely wreck two dragons with da’ knife.

One of my first Nintendo games ~1988-90. Great game

If you still struggle defeating the red devils, you can make them de-spawn as another method. Make sure they are on the edge of the screen and shoot one projectile. As soon as the projectile hits, run away so the devil is off screen. You need to run a short distance. The devil should then de-spawn. Works on most devils. Just make sure you have enough room to run away from the devil so it goes off screen.

My friends and I will often say, “I feel strongth welling in my body.”

Wow, Ryu went there. Good on him.

Love this. I beat the first cycle back in the days without any tips but had to keep my console running over the night so I didnt have to restart the next day but could continue. I felt absolutely disgusted and turned off the console when I realised I didnt get a real ending. Had no clue that there where another ending at cycle 2 but thought It would just cycle forever.