Behold, the definition of Nintendo hard.
The basic story is that the brave knight Arthur is relaxing under the night sky (in his underwear) with princess *insert name here*. All of a sudden, the princess is kidnapped by Satan himself. So Arthur puts on his suit of armor and goes out to save his beloved.
The game is a side-scrolling action platformer in which you have to venture through six levels defeating an endless array of enemies and avoiding various projectiles and obstacles. You have a few weapons to choose from during your travels, like a javelin, dagger, or fire bomb. You can also pick up treasuers like gold and demon statues to add points to your meaningless score. The gameplay statistics are basic, but do not be deceived. The programmers showed no mercy in developing this game. This one of the most ball-bustingly difficult games ever created for any game system. You can only get hit twice before you die. If you get hit once, you are down to your boxers. Very rarely will there be a spare suit of armor. In Contra, even though you can only get hit once, it still allowed a greater sense of control, which made wailing on enemies a little easier. Ghosts 'N Goblins, however, decided to follow in the footsteps of Castlevania. Arthur can only shoot left or right and his jumps are incredibly stiff, which can make the platforming and dodging enemies frustrating. Arthur also suffers from the wonderful gaming sin of knock-back. The enemy placement and patterns are the game's biggest fault for being so difficult. Enemies and projectiles can come in all directions and some enemy patterns are completely random, making it difficult for one to determine how to proceed. Oh, and if you do reach the end, you will need to go through the game again (harder this time) in order to reach the true final boss. Wonderful.
However, the game gets some credit for its difficulty. It certainly proves to be an ultimate test of reflexes that can really toughen your mind and fingers, and the challenge is just so addicting that it is rather hard to try and stop until you finally beat that one section. The game also offers unlimited continues and a checkpoint system activated halfway through an area.
The graphics are also quite good and have a charming design to them, and the music is incredibly catchy (though you will quickly get sick of it once you heard it 700 times in a span of 10 minutes).
To sum things up:
PROS:
-Difficulty does make it addicting
-Catchy music
-Nice graphics with quirky design
-Unlimited continues and checkpoint system
CONS:
-Sadistic difficulty
More likely than not, you are either going to pull your hair, break your controller/ TV, and probably scream at the nearest passerby. If you really think you are up to the challenge of experiencing this legendarily difficult game, you can still find a way to get some enjoyment, if only for a little bit.