Ghosts'n Goblins

Ghosts'n Goblins is the game that defined the term 'Nintendo hard' before the phrase existed - and it was never a Nintendo game. Capcom's 1985 arcade original strips Arthur of his armour with a single hit and gives him exactly two lives to work with.

The structure is six stages of side-scrolling combat ending with a boss, and the mechanical cruelty is specific rather than random. Arthur can only throw his lance horizontally, so airborne enemies require a jump throw at exactly the right height. Zombies rise out of the ground at fixed spots and kill on contact, which means the safe route through a graveyard is a memorised one. And the whole game has a deliberate second loop: beating Satan once does not finish it, because the true ending requires a second playthrough with a specific weapon - the cross - which you have to find without any hint that this is the case. It was ported to the NES the following year and became the definitive version for a generation, but this arcade original is faster, harder and considerably more detailed.

• ▸One hit strips Arthur's armour, the second kills him
• ▸Zombies that rise from fixed spots and kill on contact
• ▸A hidden second playthrough required for the true ending
• ▸Horizontal-only lance throws that demand exact jump timing