Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts Review

This is where the series finally earns its reputation rather than trading on it. The double jump adds a second commitment inside a jump you already committed to, which sounds like a small mercy and is actually a whole new discipline once the wind starts pushing you across a collapsing ship. The armour progression is properly designed here, with the golden set unlocking charged variants of each weapon and giving the pickups real stakes.

The presentation is superb: the pirate ship rising out of the sea in the first stage is one of the great console openings, and the mode seven flourishes are used for atmosphere rather than showing off. It is still merciless. Two hits kill, the bracelet is required to finish and it is buried behind the loop structure, and the game once again resets you to the start for a harder second run before the ending unlocks. Slowdown appears whenever the screen gets busy, which is often.