Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection is NOT "Clunky" or "Outdated" | Review 

The comparisons to RE4 are more than surface level, for those who don't know, the creator of GnG who made this game was kinda like a mentor of Shinji Mikami. It makes the complaints about control limitations as some kinda archaic thing by dumb arcade developers funnier cuz the same guys went on to influence the creators of everyone's favorite games. Here's a quote Mikami mentioned : "Mikami found himself compelled to do exactly as Fujiwara bid. In a 2001 interview, he described the general manager as a “scary master for me. Maybe evil master. I’ll put myself at his feet. He has some kind of different atmosphere than other people. He is not big or macho and he doesn’t raise his voice either but he is really scary. His way is not ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ only YES. I learned a lot from him. One big thing I learned from him is ‘create freedom inside restriction.'”

One of the roots of the problem is that many people prefer consuming video games rather than actually playing them

This reminds me of the tank controls discourse. Which, if you play for five minutes, you can master.

its great that CAPCOM always let the original Ghost and Goblins director make the next installment, even though he isnt a CAPCOM employee anymore, kinda shows they know this is something only its original creator can approach or preserve in a specific way.

The "Burrito enemies" 🤣 Hadn't noticed that won't be able to unsee now.

Whenever I heard people talk about an older games having clunky controls it always confused me, especially with the way a lot of new games are praised when they have "weighty" sluggish movement or games that feel like they're on autopilot and you can't steer against it. I just sort of eventually took it as "clunky" to these people meant the controls held you accountable.

The whole "16:9 aspect ratio affecting the shot limit" bit isn't something I ever thought about. That's the kind of critique I love from this channel, another great vid

Obligatory quote from Orson Welles: "The absence of limitation is the enemy of art."

It's funny, in the 2010's I remember phrases like "This game is NES hard" getting thrown around a lot. For a while it seemed like gamers wanted more punishing game design.

Huge day for Mr Boghog

Funny thing: I beat this game's first loop (Knight difficulty) without using the magic system. Not as like, a self-imposed challenge. But because my dumb ass completely missed that the skill tree was in the game. I legit just didn't notice until a few levels to the end.

A fantastic game that deserves way more attention.

i gotta admit, getting trolled by weapon drops like the flame magic is pretty hilarious

One of my favorite releases in recent years. The game really kicked my butt, but I persisted and refused to switch from OG rules of 2-hits and you're dead to the more forgiving difficulty setting. Felt very satisfying when you mastered a level. You really had to master positioning and timing. I love a game that puts you in a box, tells you what the rules are, and forces you to play by those rules in order to win. That's what a 'game' is.

I remember way back when Egoraptor talked about why Castlevanias stiff controls actually mattered and it always stuck out to me. As much as I like Celeste, I can't help but feel that because that game naturally attracted game journalists and video essayists, it ruined game design discourse, especially for 2D platformers. Like if you had a bingo card for video essays that talk about 2D platformer game design, mentioning Celeste or coyote time is almost a guaranteed free space. Obviously Celeste worked well for the type of game it wanted to go for, but because they didn't want to make controlling the character itself difficult or have any randomness, the harder levels start to feel like a rhythm game and a lot of modern platformers are like as well.

The random chance stuff has always been a series feature since 1985. In the first game it's less pronounced, because you have to shoot the gravestones to summon the owl that turns you into a frog, and there's always been a fireball/penalty weapon - the OG game also makes you use one of the worst weapons to achieve the true ending. That's part of what makes the game. Cheap? Yes. The game's difficult, but it adds that layer on top. Which is why it's infamous. Even seasoned players can still get their game ruined by a weapon swap. That's why it's there. Glad you got around to reviewing it.

I'm glad you brought this up; I'm a huge fan of Super Ghouls n' Ghosts, and I view it more as a puzzle platformer than anything else. If you go for the items that only give score, you can easily have infinite continues... but it requires you to go out of your way and take a bit of risk with each item (they are often placed in areas where the wrong jump arc will kill you). I think part of the issue is modern gamers aren't familiar with the concept of learning through repetition and there is a severe lack of focus on mastery as a goal. Back before we could look things up online, it required you to experiment and it was through repetition that you learned their locations. They even included a super move that showed the locations of hidden treasure chests, which was tied to the easiest weapon for new players, the bow (because it helped you deal with Red Arremer Ace, the most difficult enemy type). Now, why would they include all of these design choices, including a committed jump arc? Because it is a DISEMPOWERMENT fantasy akin to horror movies. It isn't just a spooky aesthetic, they made you as the player FEEL weak. Compare this series to something like DOOM, which is an empowerment fantasy. In a game where your every action takes considerable thought, they included continuously spawning enemies because that creates pressure. This pressure can easily cause you to panic and make the wrong choice... the game makes you feel fear. You always feel as if you are about to be overwhelmed due to the shot limit, and whenever you beat a level you feel like you just barely scraped by. You are supposed to die over and over and be hit by some BS that is a knowledge check. If you don't feel like the odds are stacked against you, if it doesn't feel brutal and unfair, it isn't a true horror game. So when making a sequel, I think it is more important to understand WHY certain design choices were made. The best I can tell, it was to provide a disempowerment fantasy. With that said, there is a big difference in game development between something that is objectively unfair and something that FEELS unfair. Most games give the player advantages that only works if they remain hidden (like the first bullet an enemy fires at you will always miss in an FPS, or your hitbox in a SHMUP being ridiculously small, etc.). For the most part, this series doesn't give players these kinds of advantages and it is quite obvious. It is a fine line to walk, but something that is at the heart of what this series is IMO.

Bro, this channel really knows what's up. You're humble, but knowledgeable, analytical and great at putting ill-defined gaming things (such as this "clunky" topic") into words very well. Easy sub, I agree with this whole video. And btw! Mario Kart Double Dash is my favorite "clunky controls" example. I played and 100%'d that game as a kid with no issue, but when I saw online discussion about it, so many people complaining that the controls were clunky and how its the hardest Mario Kart etc., and I just never noticed. Even during game night with the boys, none of us ever brought up a problem with the controls. The steering does have a bit of delay and weight to it, but to me its like... don't you just learn how the game works and adapt to it? Instead of expecting every game to use the same physics and control the exact same way? Well, that's what we've got now because every Mario Kart game since the Wii one has used the exact same control feel. Tales of Vesperia is another one. That game's battle controls get called "clunky" or "outdated" a lot because there's no free-cancel-on-any-frame maneuver, can't i-frame dodge roll out of every bad situation, and enemies can stun lock you to death if you carelessly get yourself surrounded. When really, the game is just more committal, precise, & technical than most Tales of games. It's fine if you don't like that type of design, but when folks act like its objectively bad design and games shouldn't be designed to be a bit more punishing and precise? Definitely doesn't sit well with me. Feels like they're critiquing it for being something that it's not trying to be.

The art style of this game is simply phenomenal

Anyone else still hoping for that third Maximo game? This game reignited my hope, I know it's not likely to happen but maybe eventually.

A ton of players out there that don't understand when a game is built around the controls. It's the same people that say they want something different, then complain when something different comes along.

As a game is a challenge created by a person or group of people, when I see the term "artificial difficulty" it always seems to obviously mean "something I don't like". You'll see these same complaints more commonly used against Castlevania, but applies to this series too, of course.

Limitation also makes it easier to tailor level design to an appropriate challenge. If a character has too many options, then overcoming obstacles often becomes a matter of finding the effective vs ineffective options as opposed to executing limited options in a skillful manner.

The GameSpot/IGN game "journalist"/blogger sphere has been a disaster for the video game industry lol

Mainstream videogame reviewers hate hard games like this one because they can't finish them effortless and quickly so they can meet their deadline.

Your discussion at around 9:20 about putting yourself in "unwinnable situations" is something that is so unique about GnG. In GnG, you can mess up and put yourself in a situation where you cannot avoid damage and get a solid second or two to wallow in your misery as the realization dawns on you. I've seen so many people say "it's so unfair, I couldn't avoid damage!!" because they lack some sort of get-out-of-jail dodge technique for those moments, but in reality the damage could have been avoided if you just put yourself in a better position. It's an aspect of GnG that I adore, and is really only present in Classicvania and the older Monster Hunter games. The fact that Resurrection was thrashed by mainstream reviews is such a tragedy, I think a lot of people overlooked this game because of the bad reviews (I did at first too, despite being a fan of the franchise)

Super Ghouls n Ghosts on SNES is my favorite game in the series. Capcom designed the stages, environmental hazards, enemies and enemy attacks completely in mind of the double jump ability. Mastering it and knowing when/if to do the 2nd jump at specific heights and if so to either jump again in the same direction, straight up or backwards is critical to playing successfully. I think the stormy sea kraken boss at the end of stage 2 perfectly exemplifies this. And that's not even counting the timing of using gold armor magic attacks and how essential those are at mastering (except the crossbow magic attack which just makes hidden treasure chests appear lol).

Man I agree so much... For example I love classic Tomb Raider because it has limitations in it's tank controls... It gives the game a learning curve and it's own gameplay and charm... I think it's a mistake that they added modern controls because it absolutely changes the game (to the worse) because it gives the player more agility which he/she should not have by it's original design

Hit the nail on the head here. It’s a shame that many developers haven’t learned these lessons about limitations. A great example is rainbow 6 siege, where it started off as a game with limited options for team composition with serious consequences for improperly planning your approach. Then they added in so many options that there really aren’t bad team compositions anymore, eliminating so much depth and strategy in favor of “content”.

Yep spot on. They say the Donkey Kong arcade game is “outdated” because of the limited jump but it’s a stupid argument because the game is clearly designed around it. So many clueless reviewers dismiss good games because “that thing is bad because everyone says so” without putting much thought into it.

Great review of a game that is great for the reasons you mentioned. Currently playing Locomolito's Cursed Castilla EX which is a homage to this series and also worth checking out for those that like these classics.

Funnily enough, Goku Makai-Mura Kai, a japanese only update of Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins, added the traditional 2 loop Arcade Mode because the original felt too forgiving.

Loved the analysis. Since the first game, the weapons spawn in an order related to the weapon you're currently holding. Same thing with chests. Also; enemies with jars will spawn items according to odd/even numbers of times you have them spawn in the level. Avoid the even spawns. Heh. The art style of this game is based on the original 3 artwork posters, which are themselves based on fairy tale artbooks; the ones where you pull the tabs to make the characters move their limbs, hence the 'wonky' animations. The only thing that bothers me about this game are the instantaneous hitboxes on enemies when they appear in a spot (not the ones entering the screen from left and right). In the old games you could use those animations to position yourself on a better spot before they became 'active'. Thanks for the video.

I have to thank Super Ghouls n Ghosts on the Virtual Console for shaping my gaming taste. That was the first hard game that forced me to learn it and overcome a big challenge. It's something that looks impossible at first, but you slowly solve it and becomes extremely satisfying. This design is present in almost everything I play today. I love that Capcom didn't pull anything back from Ghosts n Goblins Resurrections to appeal to the masses. It's something that only a small group can truly appreciate it. Thank you for doing it justice here. Also, this might differ from Mark’s perspective here, but I don’t think GnG was ever made with a 1cc in mind. I love the series, but it always had very troll-ish design like the whole shield thing from the first game. And that’s part of the appeal, they’re even self aware and kept the tradition of the final phase of the final boss being a pushover. Beating the first loop with no deaths is nothing short of madness because of how things can go terribly wrong at any time. Boghog deserves big praise here and a visit to the therapist.

This game beat my ass but beating this game on nightmare is probably the most difficult gaming feat i've done and it was satisfying.

Maria was intentionally designed to be an Easy Mode in Rondo Of Blood

You had me at 2 min mark already. 2D platformers have totally lost their identity because every single game needs to be a metroidvania with all the air dashes, double jumps, skill trees, etc. Anything less is outdated game design. It's ridiculous.

I honestly never thought people were dunking on GnG's jumping. I thought it was extremely clear that this was intentional and was meant to demand more forethought of every player action.

I just beat resurrection the other day, well, the first ending anyway. This was a super challenging game, but it was so much more accessible than the previous games, but I think this game was amazing.

Monster Hunter World increased the combat options players had, lowered animation commitment, made the skill system more flexible and made healing easier and infinite. It made the game a lot more accessible and easy to play which turned out to be a good idea, until it wasn't, and they had to give all of the endgame bosses instakill gimmick attacks or mmo DPS check mechanics in order to pose a threat to the overtuned hunters. Yay!

Loved to see GV3 shown I hope you review the Gunvolt games some day Id love to hear your thoughts on their score system and how they demand perfection from the player.

Now this was a vote worth spent. The discussion about limitations was just beautiful and I loved the examples that you chose. And an unexpected highlight of this video were the boghog stream moments, some of them really had me laughing. I'm wondering about Metroid Dread though. I was under the impression that it didn't compromise all that much. Sure it has all the modern game design things added like the parry, but it was also surprisingly difficult (much more difficult than Super Metroid or Zero Mission), and it encourages speedruns exactly like one of the older games. I don't know yet how it holds up to high level gameplay but I am wondering why you seem to hold it in low regard.

Fair points in the intro but that also applies to criticisms about checkpoints and other older mechanics in shmups criticized in this very channel and by many "modern" shmups players. I guess we all are guilty of this in some way or another, most likely in general with just some exceptions when we do like the "outdated" mechanics ;) Great video though! :)

The eternal endboss of japanese video game design :arbitrariness lul

another absolutely GOATed review, keep it up Mark!

I started following the channel because of shmup content but this video made me realize why I like your content so much. We have similar opinions about game design and I think that's why I like the topics you emphasize in your reviews. It's the kind of details and how you appreciate every game's intricacies that made me become a fan of the channel's content. You're doing a really good job! thanks for all the rich content here.

This was my game of the year when it released and I immensely enjoyed playing it. Even if I hit some very frustrating points on the highest difficulty and died a ton before finally beating it, almost all of my deaths felt like something I could improve on.

Hard agree with every point you made in the video. I'll watch it later

It's crazy how people don't really talk about this game. By far, the best entry of the series.

Good stuff, Mark. I've said it before, but when you look for your next arcade action platformer fix, take a look at Volgarr the Viking. This incorporates the fixed limitations you mention (borrows from GnG) + the level design and arcade structure you also appreciate. It's a fantastic game and, IMO, the best of it's type since the likes of GnG.

13:57 Can't you see this is a genius mockery of the concept of unbridled player expression? By forcing the player to randomly adjust to the worst weapon for the situation, it changes the answer to the puzzle and denies the player's attempt at leaning back on old tactics while presenting an opportunity for true skill expression.

You make a lot of great points here. I especially didn't even think of the whole aspect ratio and the way shot limits are affected by it and make missed shots feel extra punishing (which was something that wasn't a problem in the older GNG games with their narrower aspect ratio), so that's something new for me to think about when it comes to game design. Also, yes, you are right that this game definitely did not get much in the way of budget from Capcom. It doesn't even have any kind of physical release on any platform! As for advice for new players, there is no shame in playing the game on lower difficulties at first, just so that you can at least memorize the level and hidden treasure chest layouts. Then you slowly work your way up to Legend so that you no longer have to worry about any of that and just focus on the enemy onslaught. Anyway, what I want to focus on with this post is on the term "artificial difficulty". I think it's about high time videogame discourse gets rid of the term "artificial difficulty". All difficulty in videogames is inherently artificial, because it is designed by people. There is no grass-fed, free-range, USDA-certified game difficulty. There is no difficulty that grows on trees for you to pluck and eat. I am not just being pedantic or playing semantic games here. I am saying this because I think it's harmful to discourse to refer to these things as being natural and artificial, which implies that there is an objectively right way to do things and a wrong way to do it, when really it's more that different genres (and even specific titles within those genres) call for different ways of balancing difficulty. For instance, take weapon randomization. Rogue-lite action platformers like Dead Cells are designed around randomizing the weapons you get over the course of a run. The game has been meticulously balanced over the course of 7 years to ensure that just about every weapon selection is as balanced as possible and can be useful regardless of where in your run the weapon spawns for you. Part of the skill ceiling of Dead Cells (and other rogue-lites like it) is the player's ability to adapt their run to the weapons they get. Does this necessarily mean such weapon randomization is good for Ghost and Goblins Resurrection? No, you are right in this regard. Simply because as far as I know, the game hasn't been balanced in such a way that all weapons are designed to be able to face whatever scenario the game throws at you. Such weapon randomization COULD work if the game's weapon selection was more balanced instead of having specific weapons completely make certain scenarios nigh impossible to overcome. There is nothing wrong with referring to poor implementation of difficulty as "cheap" or "bullshit" difficulty, instead of distinguishing between well-done and poor implementations as "natural" and "artificial".

Funny to see a review for this. I just happened to look Ghost 'n Goblins Resurrection up the other day and noticed that at the moment it’s on sale on everything. Although for some reason it’s not marked down as much on Xbox.

Hope Capcom makes another one of these games. At least give us a Legacy collection like Mega Man 👍

I greatly appreciate all of the Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts music in the background! I love that game, it’s probably my favorite Ghosts ‘n Goblins game and it has an amazing soundtrack!

When I hear them complain about clunkyness I want to hear the framecounts, input lag, windups, gravity, momentum, hitboxes, s. Like, give me something actually measurable, otherwise its pretentious review fkery. >:[

I wish Capcom would just make a bunch of smaller games like this and throw them all together on a disc like some fake Capcom Classics Collection of new games. I do wonder if the leaked Captain Commando and Final Fight remake end up using a similar Spine style animation on drawings. That Vanillaware style of animation. They definitely could’ve had more parts of the character moving. I’m guessing the beat ‘em ups with have a little more money to do stuff.

I really liked this game, although it is not without its flaws. It brilliantly mixes and revisits the first two titles of this legendary saga which made the heyday of arcades and 8 and 16-bit consoles, namely: Ghosts'n Goblins and Ghouls'n Ghosts. The game is obviously difficult and is sometimes unfair by putting us in impossible situations, but I still had a lot of fun. The infinite lives and more numerous checkpoints (banners) make it significantly easier to complete than its ancestor (Ghosts'n Goblins first of the name). In terms of criticism, we will regret, as was already the case in previous opuses, too great an imbalance in the effectiveness of the weapons. Aside from the dagger (by far the best weapon), the spear (correct) and the crossbow which can be very useful against large enemies and flying bosses, the others are more penalizing than anything else , or even unusable against certain bosses. Special mention to the hammer which is particularly unsuitable for the game design of the game. On the other hand, although it is not effective in all circumstances as a weapon, the spiked ball has its usefulness, it allows you to easily unearth the secrets buried in the ground. Furthermore, it quite often happens that the lack of visibility causes us to unintentionally pick up a weapon in the heat of the action when the screen is teeming with enemies. Not to mention those placed in places that cannot be avoided (you mentioned them in this video), I am referring to weapons dropped by enemies, of course. Very interesting review

I just started playing Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate after only playing World and Rise previously. It's not that old as a game, but it's relatively old school. And I honestly feel lied to by the reviewers who praised World for "modernizing" or even "fixing" the series. For example: Roll canceling attack recoveries is a big thing in both new and old MH, but in the old game you can't roll cancel backwards so you have to think about positioning much more. Many enemies have attacks that are clearly designed to check your positioning with this limitation in mind and those moves are trivialized in the new games.

You are the one gaming RU-vidr who has a clue. Great analysis.

This is why I feel more fondly about old Monster Hunter. Nowadays it feels like there's too much overlap in the various functions of each weapon type, their identities and their matchups against certain monster feels less distinct since I'll rarely ever think "maybe X would be better suited for Y". Bowguns probably suffered the worst of it since before you had to be much more deliberate because you couldn't fire or reload on the move, recoil and reload speeds were harder to minimize, various gun parameters were more impactful and being too greedy was gonna get you killed. Yeah sure, you could describe the old gunning controls as obtuse but the games were designed around it instead of now where it feels like I'm playing some sort of third person shooter in which you have unimpeded uptime and never genuinely feel at risk. I played through the whole King's Field series a while back too and I loved those games a lot. They're a real testament to how limitations really inform the player's experience and it really drove home why I find it hard to engage with a lot of first person action RPGs beyond the novel exploration phase. I genuinely felt a keen awareness from the developers while playing those games that would be impossible to properly recreate in current market conditions because everyone's "moved on" so the speak and if you dared make a first person action RPG game built around sluggish player controls instead of just being able to mouse look anywhere you want in an attosecond you'd be laughed at.

Pixel art today is not a limitation, it's a choice.

Great video. I think the point you make is a great one. And more importantly it is somewhat non-obvious. At the surface level, restrictions just feel frustrating, but as you dig into a game, the limitations are actually what make things interesting, deep and strategic. I think that is a big part of why I still generally prefer games made many years ago to modern AAA games. The modern games absolutely have all of the edges sanded off and in the end have to pad out the game with fluff to make up for a lack of depth through the restrictions of the game.

These reviews and insights are truly excellent. The best reviewer around - thank you always, Mark!

I absolutely loved Ghosts n Goblins Resurrection. It was my first game in the series and I thought it was great. Insanely challenging and tough but still fun

fantastic commentary and critique on the "clunky" word usage by reviewers keep up the great work!!!

Awesome breakdown, really motivates me to start writing more about game design.

Man, I'd buy this game in a nanosecond if it came out physically for Switch!

Simply put, one of the best games I've played in years.

I'd say "bad camera" is even more cliche, but you're absolutely right

Absolutely agree with everything said. I love this game and find it frustrating in equal measure. The upgrade tree adds unnecessary complexity to a game that should be more focused on the difficulty of its fundamental gameplay elements. It often feels that you need to be using the right upgrade at the right moment to simply progress past certain points. And indeed the RNG is complete BS at times ( the random weapon selection issues have plagued all of the games in the series). An arcade mode would be most welcome.

This is a brilliant game that respects the fans and celebrates the legacy. Anyone that dislikes this game should please stay away from the franchise. Forever.

Have you been to the galloping ghost arcade? I just found out about it and would be cool if you could make a video about it! Once I'll travel to usa I'll make sure to go there 😀

I think clunky is a fine descriptor, but the words they are looking for is “stiff” or “rigid” for stuff like Castlevania. In my platformers I actually tend to have better game feel with more rigid jump arcs as I generally know where to land and it makes attacks easier to aim as I am not controlling my jump at all. I just prefer that game feel compared to the momentum based physics of Mario World where I tend to slip off platforms all of the time. And as far as limitations being important for difficulty, I think the best example is Kirby and Mario, both great series. Kirby is fun, but you almost have no limitations in where you can go as you float basically anywhere you want, making platforming trivial. But Mario you need momentum to jump to different platforms and if you accidentally slip, you fall. If Mario could be like Kirby with no limitations there would just be no challenge or fun for Mario as jumping on platforms is the whole point of the game where Kirby is a more casual experience where the fun is in doing different copy abilities. The fact is that you need this limitations to for this creativity. Although I have my issues with pixel graphics and chip tunes not because they are pixel art, as I love old pixel art, but because old pixel art was about making characters designed well within the limitations where modern pixel art is focused on capturing those limitations instead of making the game look great. Same thing with chip tunes. There’s exceptions, but I don’t find many of them.

Hey mark, very esoteric question but how often have you encountered the ability to ledge climb in this game? I'm admittedly not very far in (this game is really kicking my ass lol) but I encountered it once on 1-b and was surprised that the game even had a grace feature considering it seems to demand precise and deliberate platforming

Totally love this perspective. I’ve felt slighted by modern game discourse and am happy to see acknowledgement of the pros of limitations. Out of curiosity, what mod do you showcase at 9:24? I’ve never seen this one

It’s always insane to me that people will go out of their way to play hard games to then turn around and say “not only is this game hard, but it is unfair and poorly balanced”. When they don’t even have the skillset, experience or community to properly judge them. They’re essentially going out of their way to say fuck you to the super small community of hardcore arcade gamers when they have the entire market making games for them. Also, random but there is a tribute game to Ghosts and Goblins called Cursed Castilla, I really enjoyed it and I thought the pixel art was done really well for what it is.

Good stuff I wish they figured out a proper score system for it

All I know is if I wasn’t stubborn enough to play this on Legend, I probably would’ve beaten it like two years ago. Absolutely brutal.

Thanks for not just pointing the way the average player gets wrong, but also actually pointing the real BS this game has. Wich could have a separate ingame mode or atleast a mod that fixes the RNG, lingering drops and hidden chests.

The spacing aspect seems exceptional but the cheap unavoidable deaths completely kill any desire for me to try it

I wish capcom or Nintendo made a physical version of this great game, but i fear they won't 😢

I wouldn't be surprised if you already knew about this but it's worth stating, Egoraptor made a love letter about the old castlevania and how its limitations were fundamental to it and that it was what made it great. Its a good video. I've never even played a castlevania.

Been meaning to check out this game for a while now. “Clunky” can definitely be a cop out. And limitation is definitely key, RE4 is better without a right analog stick by far.

You really did a good job of expressing why I feel the Classic series Rockman games are better than the X ones.

Great video. Most reviewers dont seem to get it at all. Calling the forced trajectory style of jumping clunky, misses one of the main points of the game design. Even if it was a result of the time period, it adds alot of challenge and planning to how you play the game. My biggest issue with the game was slow walking speed. It feels like Im walking at a slower speed then the other games in the series. That was my perception having completed most of them. Other than that I thought the density of projectiles and enemies was awesome to see. It really takes the challenge of the older games to an extreme level , especially on the Legend mode. Interesting about the Switch version being laggier. Maybe thats why I felt the game was not as snappy and responsive as I wanted. Im working on Legend mode currently on the Switch version. Its one Ive been wanting to get back to. I dont really want to unlock everything again on PC, so I might grind it out. ALOT of memorization and precision on Legend. It will probably be the most brutal memorization type of game Ive completed once its done. Jim Power was pretty crazy to memorize on the SNES, but even that game has some leeway for fuck ups with all the 1 ups you can get. Gun.Smoke will probably stand as the hardest 2D game I completed just because I could never learn the patterns and it was an insane dance for each boss (arcade version). Watching the rest of this now. Might edit in some extra feedback. Aside from a few issues this was one of my favorite smaller games. This game has a great flow to it, its just super dense, which means it takes alot of trial and error to find that movement path. There does seem to be more RNG or random projectile movements then I typically notice in old games that are this memorization based, though it may just be that I moved differently on a pixel and triggered a different reaction from the game. Speedrunners would be more familiar with that than I would. Maybe thats why I was fuckin horrible at Sekiro. Turns out it was a rhythym game, ha ha. Took me way too long to bullshit my way through that one. Agreed. Always hated the magician in the chest mechanic of the GNG games. Im really glad this one also fixes the shitty concept of having to beat the game twice to win. Now you get a pretty heavily modified second quest and its optional. Much better design. Item farming isnt great either. You try to grab the flies, then exit the stage. It also makes it so that if you dont do some of the branching paths you end up not as well upgraded. Its not like the flies are ever hard to get. Its just a matter of fucking up your memorized path to try to grab it, then die because youre out of sync with the path, rinse and repeat. I do really like the upgrade tree system though and all the new things it adds to the gameplay. Even though Id only use a few moves. Yes, they shouldve fixed the weapon farming too. Its an outdated time waster mainly. It also can get you into some bad scenarios where drops may not be available. It just feels shitty to be gimped over a decision you could not have foreseen. It is a trial and error game, but its also a game with checkpoints. It goes against the concept of the game to have to restart a stage by getting in a shit weapon scenario. Or you are just greatly irritated while you try getting to the pot drop area and dying again and again to get what you want. There really is only 3 main weapons like you said. Cant remember if weapons still dont disappear but they sure as fuck should. Never liked that mechanic of having to know how the chests work, as far as whats in a given chest. I would prefer a more predictable order of items in chests. Most of the time its a sorceror or some points bullshit. Its dangerous to get them , so you dont want to waste your time. When the game first came out there was this horrible shit where "Retry Stage" was the first option on the list, every time you died. This meant if you didnt hit down a few times before mashing the start button you would restart the full stage. I believe that was fixed later via a patch. It was extremely annoying. Right. Had any of the current Switch emulators had Save State support I would probably move over to those, since being able to do isolated section practice on this game would be a massive time saver for Legend. Another thing that feels a little ariticial is the idea of Legend mode removing checkpoints to increase difficulty. Not sure how I feel about that. I think its also denser and more aggressive, but I wouldve preferred that to having to do 3 checkpoints in a row to get 1 on Legend. I would rather them make it even more insane but keep the checkpoints where they were. Despite its flaws, I fuckin loved seeing Capcom push the difficulty to new extremes and really utilise modern hardware to fill the screen with death, while maintaining that classic core gameplay, limitations included. Dread was a great surprise too, as Nintendo usually makes thier games easier and easier with each console gen (Minus the stealth bullshit).

Great video. Ghosts and Goblins holds up excellently and deserves more respect. Metroid Dread slander was unnecessary though 😂

I absolutely loved this game. Even more than any of the previous entries. It's gorgeous, and the mastery between checkpoints is so great. Everything is so deliberate, so well tuned and doable, you just have to pin it down and pull it off, keep the pattern in check. Totally agree that expression within lines affords the design some very unique, palatable qualities that give the gameplay depth and individuality. I really enjoy fast, fluid games as well, but I don't need everything to be completely spastic, mashy and weightless in all games. It's like expecting Souls games to be Bayonetta, or chess to be Crossfire.

Great review/essai about gaming in general. I will give this game another chance. Kinda neglected it because the art style didn't fit my tastes.

Great video. Two things though This series rewards your knowledge of it, hence why the chests are hidden. When I had Super GnG, I used the bow to locate the screen the chest was on then started to discover how to make them appear. There’s a logic to it that begins to be apparent. I don’t know how Resurrection does it since I haven’t played it and that’s because of. The visuals of this game look terrible. If they claimed the wanted it to be a storybook look, they should’ve taken inspiration from Rayman. Those are the prettiest 2D games and it would’ve helped this not look like it was a game jam submission.

I think it's really interesting that you praise the controls for limiting the player and making them consider risk/reward and develop tighter execution, but when the risk reward is RNG-based (e.g. whether to risk opening a chest immediately, clear the surrounding enemies first, or just skip it) you call it BS. Personally, I feel like learning to use the "bad" weapons and considering potential dangers in the near future is also an important part of the game's design, though without playing it for myself I can't exactly say for sure which of the scenarios your friend died to could be reasonably played around and which couldn't.

This reminds of the limitations in movement in the first three Tomb Raider games that have just been remastered.

Mark, what are your thoughts on Contra: Shattered Soldier (or as I call it, Contra: Shattered S***ter)? I feell like it would have been the perfect Contra game if only the Hit Rate mechanic (which isnt about fire/ shots landed ratio at all and more about 100% completion per stage with the destructive elements) wasn't required for S Ranking the game.

When you discuss these broad overarching trends in gaming you are very insightful Mark.

Superb game! Loved it other than the moments where I hated it! 😅 You were absolutely spot on with the points you made. The limitations make the game.

There are certainly games that feel clunky to play, dodgy hit boxes, overly animated moves etc etc. But a game like GnG or SGnG and RE4 and even games like mario bros. and Donkey kong or one of my favorite underdogs of gaming, Evil Within (I don't care what anyone says, that game is a masterpiece!) all have this methodical gameplay where the amazement of gameplay is in knowing how to play the game

My biggest gripe with GnG is the bullshit weapons that you dont want (this is a very "traditional feature" of the franchise though), and the charge mechanic. Maybe im just incompetent but charging is such a hassle to deal with considering how long it takes and how likely it is that you'll get hit mid-charge, it's simply too frustratingly hard to time it effectively in the heat of battle so I rarely bother with it at all. Maybe just shorten the charge time, let the charge build automatically while you are playing, or figure out some other way of paying-for / limiting special attacks which isn't so infuriating. On top of that most of the special attacks are rubbish even if you can get them out when wanted.

Honestly, the term “outdated” not “clunky” is the worst term in game criticism. It’s like disrespecting developers by saying “they didn’t know any better” instead of just calling it poor design. It’s bullshit term that somehow is such a commonly used term like old game developers are too primitive to understand good design.

My biggest problem with the game is the animation of the enemies that lacks any weight and personality - which the predecessors (except the PSP-game) had in spades.

Game literally just went on sale on the Switch too