 You can't talk about Ghouls and Ghosts for Sega Genesis without comparing it to its 16-bit contemporary, Super Ghouls and Ghosts on Super Nintendo. So what's the difference between the two games? There's two major ones I'll point out. It should be mentioned though that Ghouls and Ghosts came out two years before Super Ghouls and Ghosts in 1989, pretty early on in the Genesis lifespan, so it's a little rough around the edges compared to the SNES game in terms of visuals and sound. In fact, I don't blame you if you wanted to compare this to Ghosts and Goblins on NES instead, but since SNES and Genesis are kind of my thing, I'll stick with just comparing those two. The gameplay is as you'd expect with two big differences. Number one, you can throw your projectile up in addition to left and right. That might not sound like that big of a deal, but in a trial and error game like Ghouls and Ghosts, it is a major aspect that gives the game a completely different feel from the SNES game to the point that the level design is decidedly different, which is of course a good thing. Since it takes that extra mechanic into consideration and makes it feel very useful instead of just something different for the sake of being different from the SNES game, there's even a level here that almost feels like a vertically scrolling shooter, so that's pretty cool. The second major difference is that there's no double jump here like there is in Super Ghouls and Ghosts, so yeah, another reason why vertically shooting is a good idea here because at least you can clear a little more real estate to allow jumps to be a bit easier. But yeah, other than those two differences, the gameplay is about what you'd expect. You still have to beat the game twice, sadly, and you still have to use a special weapon to defeat the final boss, Bummer. The most frustrating thing it has in common with the SNES game is how freaking hard the very first level is. The key is to just keep moving. If you stop for a second to take out an enemy or if you dare turn around, you'll be swamped with enemies in no time flat. Most of the weapons are the same. There's the lance, the axe, the knife, the torch, but there's also a disc that floats close to the ground and a sword that's only used for melee combat. That's not a projectile. Later on your second go-round, you have to get the Psycho Cannon, which is this game's version of the goddess bracelet, and all the armor upgrades are here as well. Ghouls and Ghosts does ease up a little after that insane first level, but not too much. The difficulty you'd expect from a game in this series is definitely here, no doubt about that. Seems like there's a lot more checkpoints here though, so that makes the game a little more forgiving than the SNES counterpart. There's also a cheat code here that allows invincibility. Hey, that sounds sweet, right? Yeah, this game is still really hard, even with the cheat code, because the platforming here is really tricky, especially without the double jump if you're used to the SNES game anyway. At least there's unlimited continues. I will say I think Super Ghouls and Ghosts is just a bit more polished. Well, of course it is, it's two years older, but I mean more polished beyond the graphics and sound. The enemy design is a little less ruthless with patterns that are easier to pick up quickly. Super Ghouls and Ghosts is a little more of a pure puzzle platformer, whereas Ghouls and Ghosts almost feels like a shoot-em-up at times, with the amount of enemies you're swarmed with. Plus the Arthur sprite is bigger in the Genesis game, and that makes you a bigger target, and that's no fun. But hey, that's definitely not a bad thing. Ghouls and Ghosts is definitely worth playing today. It's a really tough challenge with a lot of trial and error, and damn, that first level is so hard. But it's certainly one of the better Genesis games I can remember playing, which is pretty damn cool considering it's an arcade port from 1989. So yeah, if you liked Ghosts and Goblins or Super Ghouls and Ghosts, the Genesis edition of Ghouls and Ghosts does not disappoint. It's a tough but fair challenge that lives up to what you'd expect from the series.