Introduction
It’s been over twenty years since the original Ghosts ‘N Goblins first made an appearance in the arcade scene, and after all this time Capcom decided that they would bring back this medieval side scroller with the release of Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins on the Sony PSP. When the Princess Prin Prin was captured, it’s up to the legendary knight Arthur to overcome a whole slew of inventive monsters on his heroic quest. Featuring a revamped item system, tons of new battle weapons, and three difficulty levels to choose from, Ultimate GNG on the PSP is a satisfactory remake of a classic game.
     

Ultimate Presentation
As far as the GNG's presentation goes, the effective menus and visual renovations make for some welcome changes. Throughout the game you need to deal with equipping new items, managing magic spells, and even keeping warp staves in order, and luckily the in-game menus are easily navigable and very easy to grasp. This, in conjunction with the relatively quick load times, makes GNG a simple game to pick without having to read through the manual. As far as the actual graphics appear, this game delivers a prime example of how developers can blend 2D and 3D aspects. GNG is still the same 2D scroller at heart, but the new visual appearance sports 3-dimensional character models, animations, and backgrounds to help liven up your journey. On the audio side of things, the developers didn't do anything substantially innovative in this area. Basically, the soundtrack consists of the same style beats you could expect to hear from any previous title in the genre. In addition, the sound effects are often repeated and don't vary a whole lot from one another either. As a result, throughout the game's entirety you can expect to hear similar weapon noises, monster cries, and that same dreaded death music over and over again. Nonetheless, the sound department does keep that retro feel alive, and for that some credit is deserved.
    

Arthur’s Back and he’s better than Ever
While Ultimate GNG is in fact reviving a classical game, that didn’t mean the developers had an excuse to skimp out on new features. Thankfully, Capcom included a bunch of new features in order to make GNG a respectable title by today’s standards. If you're entirely new to the series, you should be aware Arthur is much different from your typical hero in that he doesn't possess a definite health bar. Instead, he wears a suit of armor that will eventually break away, revealing Arthur in his boxer briefs, once this happens one more hit means certain death. To help keep the gameplay balanced, there are Novice, Standard, and Ultimate difficulty modes to help accommodate for your skill level. On Novice mode it takes more hits to remove your armor and you can spawn back to life right where you died just in case. On the Ultimate mode, a single hit will remove your armor and dying will force you to restart all the way back at the beginning of the level. The benefits in the easier game modes can make it easier to button mash your way through the game, but it takes a great amount of precision, patience, and overall skill to complete the Ultimate challenge. As far as the control scheme goes, Arthur doesn't handle quite as well as one could hope. His most notable folly is the fact that he can't change direction in mid-air without performing a double jump. This problem can make it exceedingly difficult to jump over any minor obstacle in your way, so you'll find yourself backtracking to take a running jump over any inconvenience all too often. The double jump is learned after obtaining special boots early on in the game, and even this will only let you switch your direction entirely while suspended. Another problem occurs when enemies are coming in at you from an area that isn't straight ahead or right above you. You can't really aim diagonally, so again it takes some practice to learn how take down incoming flying enemies. Still, once you learn to see past the jumping bug and get a good feel for how the game controls, you shouldn’t get overly frustrated when playing GNG.
    

To help compensate for any control issues, the new and improved Arthur also sports plenty of new moves to face any challenges that lay ahead. For example, now our hero is able to equip a shield that will protect him from incoming projectiles by simply pressing down on the D-pad. Furthermore, Arthur can also hang from ledges, in which case he has the option to either pull himself up or drop down. This can come in handy at certain times when the mid-air immobility would normal be a nuisance, and it's also a very helpful tool when dodging enemy fire. Other new moves include a momentary hover maneuver and a dash that will quickly sprint you away from a foe. Best of all, the knight also managed to stumble upon loads of new items including armor, weapons, and even spells. The Boomerang Scythe is a favorable weapon that will track down enemies, therefore allowing you to take down those tricky enemies while also letting you to grab items that would normally be out of reach. A Crossbow will release a barrage of arrows that can annihilate anything in your path, while the fire bombs can leave a hefty explosion behind. Basic knight weapons including lances and swords are also available, but the real heart of the weaponry lies within the inventive items such as the Vine Whip. Special power pick-ups can also increase various weapon attributes, such as spread or damage, to help give you that much needed edge. While the gameplay formula certainly sounds promising from the start, GNG doesn't have a whole lot of depth which can make the game feel repetitive and tiresome in the long run. If you keep your eye out during the first few initial levels you may or may not come across hidden gold rings that have a mysterious meaning. Well, at a section in the game it is revealed that a certain number of rings are required to continue to the latter part, and as a result you'll be sent back to the beginning to find the lost rings. Because of such, if you don't explore every last nook and cranny on your first trip through, you can expect to play the same levels two or three times in succession. Luckily, finding hidden warp staves within a level will let you hop from stage to stage, but it just seems unimaginative to have to search the same levels over and over again in order to progress.
 
Conclusion
As a whole, Ultimate Ghosts ‘N Goblins on the PSP offers a solid 2D style game with 3D enhanced graphics which alone is enough to warrant a purchase if you’re a big fan of this genre. Furthermore, the in-depth weapon systems and hidden areas throughout the world can make the game feel fresh several times through. However, the occasionally clunky controls can make it difficult to attack foes or maneuver around obstacles at times, which can be bothersome when health is a serious issue. For the most part, if you can manage to see past a few minor control flaws and don’t mind revisiting levels from time to time, then Ultimate Ghosts ‘N Goblins will keep you busy for hours on end.

Gameplay 15/20
Graphics 16/20
Sound 15/20
Value 16/20
Preference 16/20
Overall 78/100