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!”
Idk if you’ve beat it if not go back bro defeat that damn demon after words I bet you feel like “first beat the game” after beating it “Take over the world” lol I tell people if you grew up in that time it wasn’t easy but if you do it now you want to tell everyone..as a kid you would gat mad respect now it’s like crickets sound” lol … much respect ✊🏾
We figured it out though. Having most of them spawn by either jumping or kneeling may seem random, but it's actually a decent method since the player will first discover them by accident while playing the game. Once you know that something spawns there, then it's not too hard to figure out the trigger. In the NES days, if was often either jumping, kneeling, or hitting something in the stage. ("Wall meat" in Castlevania, anyone?) ;)
Other thing I noticed is that the famicon version seems to a bit more laggy, something to do with the fequency, I can't really tell. But like, when you shoot the goblin you can't stun lock it as efficiently as in the US version. The european version is the easiest, cause the response time is the best and you can stun lock enemies much easier. In fact, that's the only version I managed to beat.
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
Yeah, it's like the only way to beat the game is with the collective knowledge of millions of people finding very niche strategies and then compiling it. As if no normal person would find this game easy without extremely obscure knowledge.
@@magicbymccauleyI remember that I did finish it when I was young. I do not remember using any tricks. I think I was just good in avoiding projectiles and enemies.
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.
@@ryukahr That's funny because I vaguely remember watching you on twitch when you tried to beat this game the first time and you managed to spawn it lol. Anyway, these debunking difficulty videos are the best. Keep 'em coming.
In fairness knowing stuff like where the armor is and the enemy patterns makes it far easier. I beat this with only the guidance of the manual and it's fucking ridiculous. On another note I never knew that second armor was there in Stage 3. I thought there were only 5 suits of armor in the game.
@@isaacwilbourn3362 Sorry. i think I was replying a separate comment and clicked on yours by mistake. I remember a Spammy comment but it wasn't yours. Sorry.
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.
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 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.
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.
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).
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!
Indeed a great game , It was one of my favorites as a kid even tho I don't think I ever saw level 3 back then. I didn't beat it until 30 yrs later , lol.
It’s the full commitment jumping. And the ‘attacks from all sides, get clusterfucked’ thing that happens all too often. Ryu’s video makes it look so easy it’s insane!
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..."
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.
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 always thought it went Gargoyles Quest 2, then 1, then Demons Crest in terms of the lore. Once you get the Time Crest I believe there is a bit of dialogue with one of the townspeople where he freaks out that you have returned or something similar to that. I could be entirely wrong however.
"You see these guys?" *Points to Waddle Dee* "These guys are DEADLY. I call them 'Muderators'. If you see Muderators coming, you RUN and you HIDE. In a bottomless pit."
"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!!
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.
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.
The torch spawns if you come down the last ladder just before the ladder with the torch on top of it. If you take another route it won't spawn. Using the speedrunning skip is kind of overkill, given that it's very easy to get hit after that. He was extremely lucky in this video (unless there were other takes we didn't see). Often the Unicorn bosses just run into you and there's nothing you can do about it.
@@conorneligan7694 Yup I agree and that is the way I did it myself, by not triggering the torch and not taking the shortcut. You do have to hurry but you should have enough time to get to the end. Ah I should replay this game soon, been a while, that and Ninja Gaiden remain my favourite 2 NES games to beat!
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.
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.
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!
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! 😁🍻
If you study walkthroughs and gameplay videos, figure out what the best weapon is, learn where all the hidden items are, and learn the strategies for beating the hardest enemies in the game before actually encountering them, you too can edit out a dozen hours of failures from a gameplay recording and make one of the hardest games ever look passably easy, lol. The best thing about GnG's difficulty curve is that it is almost always fair still. You always have success at your fingertips. The failures are on the player almost every time. It is't just broken gameplay. It is entirely beatable if you take the time to learn the game.
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..
After you finish Castlevania SOTN, look for a giant yellow/golden skeleton called Paranthropus, this enemy will drop a Gauntlet and Ring of Varda. You can find 3 of these enemies in the room above where you fight a boss named The Creature in the inverted castle. You'll want 2 Rings of Varda. Also, in the inverted castle, go to the library and look for a enemy called Schmoo. This enemy will drop a sword called the Crissaegrim. After you get this new sword, defeat the Guardians in the room below where you fight Shaft. They'll drop an armor called God's Garb. I hope my comment here helps you on this game. Have a great day!! 😎👍
I just wanted to know what everyone thought about "fair" save points in retro gaming? Like spawn point saves, beginning of level saves? IMO it's the equivalent of leaving my NES on for WEEEEEEEEKS like we used to! Just curious, if you think it's cheese just explain why please :)
The Japanese version has no Continues unless you know the code for it. Which i didnt. One of the NES games ive never managed to beat unlike Contra/Battletoads/Ninja Gaiden. So yes without continues its really hard.
15:20 No, I think what really happens is that the game has ran out of slots to spawn the boss, since you jumped over all the armor stuff and you left some of them behibd and they don't despawn, those are using slots the game has programmed to keep their data and position, so when you grabbed them you free some of the slots that those were using and so the boss can spawn now.
More like a bug, where the game works as intended but the developers didn't see the problem it would have for a player to leave items behind. I see glitches more like a game trying to handle something that was not intended to be managed that way, reaching a point of corrupting data or total crash of the game.
-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.
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 👊
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.
@@cedric1138 Contra, Metal Gear, G&G, Battletoads, Spanky’s Quest, and so many other NES and SNES games were beaten on a Saturday a piece at a friends house. Ridiculously hard games were the norm. Especially compared to modern games.
“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.
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.
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
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.
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 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.
If you choose 'continue' after you beat the 2nd playthrough, you get a 3rd playthrough. It starts at the final boss, but just kill him and see for yourself how it looks once it poops you back to level 1. And if you beat loop 3, loop 4 is pretty insane.
The dragon in level 4 not spawning was because of the game memory. It was filled and so the enemies stopped spawning. If you grab an item it resets it. If you grab the moneybag earlier on the bridge it will keep that from happening. Also you missed an armor in level 3 right where you lost armor. You jump off that ledge to the left to spawn it.
So the fire powerup at 8:30 in the video actually won't spawn if you don't go to the top floor of the building. Once you go up one of the top ladders, it appears.
The invisible projectile at the third boss fight is the NES hardware limitations. Think of each rite of pixels as a scan line. One line can only display 8 sprites (which are usually 8x8). When a character that large throws a projectile, it results in more sprites present than the hardware can display. That’s also why sprites tend to flicker on busy levels.
Great tips but I would like to note that in the second stage in the infamous goblin house you can kill the difficult right side goblins from the left side of the wall and if you don't go to the very top of the house it won't even spawn the fire! This makes the part very easy if you can handle the crows
Indeed, the entire "debunking the difficulty" could be ended at 5:00. Once you got the trick for "red devil" down, game isn't really that difficult anymore :D
Not really. The red arremers are way harder in some places than others. The first one is nothing compared to the one you have to fight in the last level. It's all to do with the level layouts and whatever else is going on around you.
@@conorneligan7694 Nah, it doesn't matter. Once you know what make him do a beeline over the top - it's just a point of not freaking out. Moreover, the most tricky devils aren't on last level, but ones on the huge staircase in the middle, where uneven ground make it tricky. Tricky, but that's it. Before knowing how to control devil's AI, game seems literally unbeatable. After that - it's just a matter of slightly above average difficulty. Last level isn't an exception.
@@Med1umentor >slightly above average difficulty what games are you playing lol, I've beaten this and it might the hardest game that I have. I did do it on 3DS which might've had some input lag compared to if I was playing it on original hardware but I can't imagine it makes the arremers that much easier. It's hard to consistently nail them. The last one is hard because of the combination of the double shot (on the second loop) and the big man firing down at you. Plus he activates before you get off the ladder, so he has a headstart on you. But yeah, the stage 3 ones are tough.
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. 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
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.
7:56 This section isn't as hard as you made it out to be. The fire only spawns if you use the top right ladder, so, if you have to get the extra armour on the top floor (which you don't need to visit to progress), you can just get down from the left ladder. As for the goblins on the bottom right section of the building (1st and 2nd floor), you could've just killed them earlier from the left through the wall: they can throw projectiles at you, but they can't run after you and body you, so it's pretty easy to dispatch them. You can definitely leave the building while wearing your armour
One of my most favourite game as a kid. First playing it at the corner-store, then getting for Christmas with my NES in 86. Times were so different, my friends and I did think this was hard, we thought it was awesome. Absolutely loved the Switch version, that one is more difficult !
All those hidden armour spots are very much an arcade thing. You'd learn about stuff like that by watching other people play, and the knowledge would gradually get passed around.
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.
![Ghosts 'n Goblins [Any% NES (2 loops)] by Laxxus - #ESASummer24](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/uUGMgyW9db0/mqdefault.jpg)
![Ghosts 'n Goblins [Any% NES (2 loops)] by Laxxus - #ESASummer24](/img/tr.png)
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!”
And then you have to beat those levels twice to actually get the real ending!
Idk if you’ve beat it if not go back bro defeat that damn demon after words I bet you feel like “first beat the game” after beating it “Take over the world” lol I tell people if you grew up in that time it wasn’t easy but if you do it now you want to tell everyone..as a kid you would gat mad respect now it’s like crickets sound” lol … much respect ✊🏾
😂
Which never made any sense, as long as you get the shield the end boss should be defeated when you beat him.
Ever since Ryu modeled for the main character, he hasn't stopped pushing this game. I think he gets royalties.
XD lmao.
Ryu from street fighter is a real person ?
We didn’t have the internet when this came out. No idea where the hidden armor was. Died a million times as a kid
We figured it out though. Having most of them spawn by either jumping or kneeling may seem random, but it's actually a decent method since the player will first discover them by accident while playing the game. Once you know that something spawns there, then it's not too hard to figure out the trigger. In the NES days, if was often either jumping, kneeling, or hitting something in the stage. ("Wall meat" in Castlevania, anyone?) ;)
For those that don't know, the famicom version is more difficult. Enemies are faster and you have no continues.
Famicom version has hidden continue: hold right and press A or B three times, then Start.
Other thing I noticed is that the famicon version seems to a bit more laggy, something to do with the fequency, I can't really tell. But like, when you shoot the goblin you can't stun lock it as efficiently as in the US version. The european version is the easiest, cause the response time is the best and you can stun lock enemies much easier. In fact, that's the only version I managed to beat.
I was wondering about there being continues and weird speed. I was like this isn't my ghost n goblins from my childhood.
@@adamrmoss Wish I knew that much sooner.
This is the original darksouls . I came real close to beating it then I said forget it 😂😂😂😂😂
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
I just use save states i know it's cheating but it makes the game so much easier
Yeah, it's like the only way to beat the game is with the collective knowledge of millions of people finding very niche strategies and then compiling it. As if no normal person would find this game easy without extremely obscure knowledge.
@@magicbymccauleyI remember that I did finish it when I was young. I do not remember using any tricks. I think I was just good in avoiding projectiles and enemies.
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.
For some reason I could never get the first armor in stage 3 to spawn
@@ryukahr That's funny because I vaguely remember watching you on twitch when you tried to beat this game the first time and you managed to spawn it lol. Anyway, these debunking difficulty videos are the best. Keep 'em coming.
In fairness knowing stuff like where the armor is and the enemy patterns makes it far easier.
I beat this with only the guidance of the manual and it's fucking ridiculous.
On another note I never knew that second armor was there in Stage 3. I thought there were only 5 suits of armor in the game.
This comment should be pinned. The random elements is what make this game difficult.
"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
@@mbagle ???
@@isaacwilbourn3362 Sorry. i think I was replying a separate comment and clicked on yours by mistake. I remember a Spammy comment but it wasn't yours. Sorry.
I mean, those two statements don't contradict each other...
@@mbagle You mean something like"Didn't ask,my content is better"?XD
lost in this entire conversation
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.
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 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.
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.
"you feel a strong welling in your body" but is the princess's body ready?
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).
is basically, less fun, but more chill (and tutorial)
It's basically how James (AVGN) is IRL
He’s gonna take u back to the past
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.
Same!
you got this
@@Ryu gotta do super ghouls and goblins
@@ChefRengar Don't forget about Ghost N' Goblins Resurrection on the Switch on legend difficulty.
@@ChefRengar Super Ghouls ’n Ghosts?
The only part of this game that peeved me was finally beating it, then finding out I didn't beat it😂
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!
Yes, all people have to do is USE STRATEGY and BOTHER TO OBSERVE PATTERNS instead or brute-forcing everything:)
Indeed a great game , It was one of my favorites as a kid even tho I don't think I ever saw level 3 back then. I didn't beat it until 30 yrs later , lol.
It’s the full commitment jumping. And the ‘attacks from all sides, get clusterfucked’ thing that happens all too often. Ryu’s video makes it look so easy it’s insane!
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..."
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.
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 believe demon's crest is a prequel to gargoyle's quest
I always thought it went Gargoyles Quest 2, then 1, then Demons Crest in terms of the lore. Once you get the Time Crest I believe there is a bit of dialogue with one of the townspeople where he freaks out that you have returned or something similar to that. I could be entirely wrong however.
@@Joshhow I might be confusing it for gargoyle's quest 2, i only played demon's crest to the end, the other ones i have yet to finish.
Demon's Crest is a sequel to the Gargoyle's Quest spin offs.
I love this series. Keep keeping on, liking the positive vibe
I need to start a series called "Bunking the Difficulty" to bring balance to Ryu's god gaming.
Actually, bunking would not be…well it wouldn’t be that…
First episode- Kirby's Dream Land- unable to get past the second level.
"You see these guys?"
*Points to Waddle Dee*
"These guys are DEADLY. I call them 'Muderators'. If you see Muderators coming, you RUN and you HIDE. In a bottomless pit."
Yes, because there aren't any UA-camrs who scream and rage at game difficulty. I can't think of a single one.
And for the record, I love the MaximillionDood Boss Rage series.
"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!!
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.
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.
Besides the way he showed?
The torch spawns if you come down the last ladder just before the ladder with the torch on top of it. If you take another route it won't spawn. Using the speedrunning skip is kind of overkill, given that it's very easy to get hit after that. He was extremely lucky in this video (unless there were other takes we didn't see). Often the Unicorn bosses just run into you and there's nothing you can do about it.
@@conorneligan7694 Yup I agree and that is the way I did it myself, by not triggering the torch and not taking the shortcut. You do have to hurry but you should have enough time to get to the end. Ah I should replay this game soon, been a while, that and Ninja Gaiden remain my favourite 2 NES games to beat!
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.
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 see what you're doing with this series. You're removing the stigma that these challenging games are "impossible" for the average gamer.
Yeah no shit lol
@@aschlamishowsup lol
Diggin the debunks Ryu!! Much love!!
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.
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!
Nice video! Love seeing these videos, i don't play these games myself but that makes it all the more fun to watch.
Always love these series, keep it up, my friend!
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! 😁🍻
If you study walkthroughs and gameplay videos, figure out what the best weapon is, learn where all the hidden items are, and learn the strategies for beating the hardest enemies in the game before actually encountering them, you too can edit out a dozen hours of failures from a gameplay recording and make one of the hardest games ever look passably easy, lol.
The best thing about GnG's difficulty curve is that it is almost always fair still. You always have success at your fingertips. The failures are on the player almost every time. It is't just broken gameplay. It is entirely beatable if you take the time to learn the game.
"Will you two stop saying 'knife' so much?"
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..
After you finish Castlevania SOTN, look for a giant yellow/golden skeleton called Paranthropus, this enemy will drop a Gauntlet and Ring of Varda. You can find 3 of these enemies in the room above where you fight a boss named The Creature in the inverted castle. You'll want 2 Rings of Varda. Also, in the inverted castle, go to the library and look for a enemy called Schmoo. This enemy will drop a sword called the Crissaegrim. After you get this new sword, defeat the Guardians in the room below where you fight Shaft. They'll drop an armor called God's Garb. I hope my comment here helps you on this game. Have a great day!! 😎👍
@@stacychamness9077 he didn't even ask for that lol
27:11 --> Just like in Kid Icarus!
Never knew there was so much from that game in this one =D
Nice video!
I just wanted to know what everyone thought about "fair" save points in retro gaming? Like spawn point saves, beginning of level saves? IMO it's the equivalent of leaving my NES on for WEEEEEEEEKS like we used to! Just curious, if you think it's cheese just explain why please :)
This series has given me so much hope in beating these games. THANK YOU 😊
The Japanese version has no Continues unless you know the code for it.
Which i didnt. One of the NES games ive never managed to beat unlike Contra/Battletoads/Ninja Gaiden. So yes without continues its really hard.
I cant believe you actually did this one!! Dude you are a legend.
Zelda II in 2 parts?
15:20 No, I think what really happens is that the game has ran out of slots to spawn the boss, since you jumped over all the armor stuff and you left some of them behibd and they don't despawn, those are using slots the game has programmed to keep their data and position, so when you grabbed them you free some of the slots that those were using and so the boss can spawn now.
So it's a glitch
More like a bug, where the game works as intended but the developers didn't see the problem it would have for a player to leave items behind.
I see glitches more like a game trying to handle something that was not intended to be managed that way, reaching a point of corrupting data or total crash of the game.
-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.
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 👊
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!
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.
I agree with you ryu. Making any hard game easier is all about knowledge. Which in early games is everything.
Love this series, and I'll continue waiting patiently for Battletoads :)
I want to play this game again now 😂Another great video man, i love the debunking series.
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.
No one ever sailed through Ghosts n Goblins
@@cedric1138 Contra, Metal Gear, G&G, Battletoads, Spanky’s Quest, and so many other NES and SNES games were beaten on a Saturday a piece at a friends house.
Ridiculously hard games were the norm. Especially compared to modern games.
Not even that hard, any of those games. Unlike Souls games, but even those are a matter of acclimation.
Said Noone ever lol
@@RedHairdosouls is easier.
“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.
"Get the knife" is one of those classic lines from old youtube history, just like "You can just walk over it".
I just booted this up last night! Thanks Ryu!
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.
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
This series is fun to watch. Are you gonna do the SNES version, too?
he played and beat that on 1 or 2 twitch streams like 4 years ago or something....
don't think that playthrough is still there though.....
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.
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'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.
Get the knife!
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.
It gets quite hard if you keep doing more and more loops. I've never heard of anyone getting further than loop 7.
@@markxv2267 Holy f, that's nuts. Grats! Any idea where the loops "break" and just become repetitive or crash the game?
Hmmm, I didn't notice Loop 3 as being any more difficult than Loop 2.
@@mikethered123 Wouldn't be surprised if it breaks only after loop 255 (FF in hexadecimal).
@@Animebryan2 someone should make a TAS for it and test it out
This series is a great idea. I'm loving the vids. Keep it up.
Yess i remember requesting this from you. So glad its here so i can atleast have a shot at beating it !
YES YES YES, I’ve been waiting for this 😍🔥
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 😂
If you choose 'continue' after you beat the 2nd playthrough, you get a 3rd playthrough. It starts at the final boss, but just kill him and see for yourself how it looks once it poops you back to level 1. And if you beat loop 3, loop 4 is pretty insane.
THERE'S FOUR LOOPS!?
@@DarkYuan There's unlimited I think. It gets faster and faster.
@@jay_cee583 No. It's four loops.
@@magicbymccauley I've been to loop 12 myself. We talking the nes version?
The one for master system, with the tornado monster, and the burning village, is so much harder than this one.
DDD
Digging the Debunking the Difficulty! Thanks Ryu, this game is so (hard) easy
The dragon in level 4 not spawning was because of the game memory. It was filled and so the enemies stopped spawning. If you grab an item it resets it. If you grab the moneybag earlier on the bridge it will keep that from happening. Also you missed an armor in level 3 right where you lost armor. You jump off that ledge to the left to spawn it.
I cannot believe the title. Ambitious, indeed!
It only took me 23 years to see how all 5 levels look like. Damn I feel accomplished.
Best way to put it is this series isn't Debunking the Difficulty of games, it's Demystifying the Difficulty.
My friends and I will often say, “I feel strongth welling in my body.”
Hell yes this is one I've been waiting for
You have amazing patience. I used to grind on these games back in the day. Well done.
So the fire powerup at 8:30 in the video actually won't spawn if you don't go to the top floor of the building. Once you go up one of the top ladders, it appears.
I'd love seeing you debunking either "The Goonies II" or "Faxanadu".
Anyways, many many thanks for this content, your community just love that
The invisible projectile at the third boss fight is the NES hardware limitations. Think of each rite of pixels as a scan line. One line can only display 8 sprites (which are usually 8x8). When a character that large throws a projectile, it results in more sprites present than the hardware can display.
That’s also why sprites tend to flicker on busy levels.
"Wannna cut steak with a plastic spoon? No get the knife. They'd put me in an asylum. 'Get the knife, get the knife" XD
love the series, dude! Keep up the great episodes!
Yea I didn't get very far in this game back in the 80s and I'm willing to bet I'd still not get very far and I'm okay with that. Fuck this game
You actively motivated me to complete this game!
Great tips but I would like to note that in the second stage in the infamous goblin house you can kill the difficult right side goblins from the left side of the wall and if you don't go to the very top of the house it won't even spawn the fire! This makes the part very easy if you can handle the crows
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 :).
There's another hidden armor in the blue caves. At 11:20 (right before the two white devils spawn), jump from the left corner and an armor will spawn.
The ending text for NES games is always a grammatical treat!
Great video man. Classic game. Thanks for the play through.
Indeed, the entire "debunking the difficulty" could be ended at 5:00. Once you got the trick for "red devil" down, game isn't really that difficult anymore :D
Not really. The red arremers are way harder in some places than others. The first one is nothing compared to the one you have to fight in the last level. It's all to do with the level layouts and whatever else is going on around you.
@@conorneligan7694 Nah, it doesn't matter. Once you know what make him do a beeline over the top - it's just a point of not freaking out.
Moreover, the most tricky devils aren't on last level, but ones on the huge staircase in the middle, where uneven ground make it tricky. Tricky, but that's it.
Before knowing how to control devil's AI, game seems literally unbeatable. After that - it's just a matter of slightly above average difficulty. Last level isn't an exception.
@@Med1umentor >slightly above average difficulty
what games are you playing lol, I've beaten this and it might the hardest game that I have.
I did do it on 3DS which might've had some input lag compared to if I was playing it on original hardware but I can't imagine it makes the arremers that much easier. It's hard to consistently nail them.
The last one is hard because of the combination of the double shot (on the second loop) and the big man firing down at you. Plus he activates before you get off the ladder, so he has a headstart on you. But yeah, the stage 3 ones are tough.
last level is still ridiculously hard
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.
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
Editing skills of a god
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.
7:56 This section isn't as hard as you made it out to be. The fire only spawns if you use the top right ladder, so, if you have to get the extra armour on the top floor (which you don't need to visit to progress), you can just get down from the left ladder. As for the goblins on the bottom right section of the building (1st and 2nd floor), you could've just killed them earlier from the left through the wall: they can throw projectiles at you, but they can't run after you and body you, so it's pretty easy to dispatch them. You can definitely leave the building while wearing your armour
One of my most favourite game as a kid. First playing it at the corner-store, then getting for Christmas with my NES in 86. Times were so different, my friends and I did think this was hard, we thought it was awesome.
Absolutely loved the Switch version, that one is more difficult !
my new favorite series from Ryu
I see what you did there
All those hidden armour spots are very much an arcade thing. You'd learn about stuff like that by watching other people play, and the knowledge would gradually get passed around.
First game I owned 35 years ago...in kindergarten. Can confirm the hardest game I've ever played hands down.
You never had Top Gun on NES?
@@dspsblyuth I definitely had Top Gun.
@@ChildofLight777 were you able to land on the carrier?
@@dspsblyuth Yes, although I don't recall ever beating the game. So you have a strong point.
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.
Red dude is called Firebrand
Congratulations 👏🏽
The NES was notorious for bad interpts lol
7:58 fire doesnt spawn if you dont go to the upper level. Thanks AVGN! Yet another tip learned from the master.