Ghouls'n Ghosts

Ghouls'n Ghosts is the arcade sequel to Ghosts'n Goblins, and it is the one that made the series' cruelty feel deliberate. Running on Capcom's CPS-1 board, it is one of the best-looking games of its year and one of the least forgiving.

You are Arthur again, and the premise is worse: the game opens with the Princess already taken and your armour already gone. The upgrade is a genuine improvement over the original - Arthur can now throw his weapon upward and downward as well as forward, and he can call down a chest from mid-air to reveal a weapon or armour. Two-hit deaths remain: one hit strips the armour, the second turns him into a pile of bones. The level design is built around that fragility, with narrow ledges, respawning enemies placed on the exact spot you need to stand, and bosses that occupy most of the screen. The CPS-1 board gives it large, detailed sprites and a real soundtrack, which is part of why it is remembered as much for how it looks as for how hard it is.

• ▸Arthur can throw upward and downward, not just forward
• ▸Summonable chests that drop weapons and armour mid-air
• ▸Two-hit deaths - one hit strips armour, the second kills
• ▸CPS-1 sprites and a soundtrack far beyond the 1985 original