Gargoyle's Quest

A spinoff from the Ghouls n' Ghosts series, Gargoyle's Quest is the first part where you play as Firebrand,who acted like a regular enemy before starring in here. Tasked with defending the Ghoul Realm, he goes on a quest.

Consisting of two main gameplay segments, one is the overworld map with it's villages and NPC's, the other are the side scrolling parts with opposing monsters to defeat. Fireband is able to shoot fireballs, jump, fly and stick on walls.

Throughout, you will be able to improve your abilities, which will give you more options at the pause menu, where health vials are available too. While fighting against several bosses and moving around, eventually you will have to defeat King Breager and take back the realm.

Gargoyle's Quest is a fun gothic horror title.

Rating: 6.6

Prequel towards the former, Gargoyle's Quest II: The Demon Darkness is a prettier and better experience. With similar gameplay, once again Firebrand must go on a quest to keep things from becoming less chaotic.

It continues to have a macabre fantasy setting, this time with a bit more of RPG elements, such as Magic being introduced, and more NPC's who need to be talked to. Ironically, in Ghosts n' Goblins, Fireband is able to fly and move much faster than in his own games.

He is no snail though, and his movement is quite unusual and yet at the same time a solid pack for his 8 bit adventures.

Rating: 7.0

Here is where an average series, suddenly got a huge boost. A Capcom gem which is a mixture of Ghouls n Ghosts, Mega Man and Castlevania elements. Demon's Crest is very appealing for it's gothic atmosphere and for playing as a villain, hailing from the Gargoyle's Quest games.

 

The graphics are also top notch, your enemies are varied and interesting, and there is enough gameplay to keep action platform fans satisfied. However, Demon's Crest does let you able to beat the game quicker than expected, because apparently most of the content and/or abilities, spells and skills are optional.

 

With an immersive and good polished soundtrack, and the ability to let Firebrand transform into several other forms, I do wish that the game was longer considering it's production values, but alas, having something is better than nothing.

Rating: 7.5

(Also a quick shout out towards Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, a difficult but a more fun to play SNES version rather than the NES one)