History VideoGame / GhostsNGoblins

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: "THIS ROOM IS AN ILLUSION AND IS A TRAP DEVISUT BY SATAN. GO AHEAD DAUNTLESSLY! MAKE RAPID PROGRES!" After defeating the ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'' FinalBoss, Arthur is forced to replay the entire game, on a harder difficulty level, to get the genuine end. This is a tradition kept for the later games, with the second loops adding special weapons that Arthur needs to carry to the end to fight the TrueFinalBoss.

* BalefulPolymorph: A magician who likes to hide in treasure chests casts magic that turns you into many different things depending on game/armor status, including a girl, duck and seal that all can't attack, and an old man that can... but slowly. Another transformation is a bee whose "flying" hitbox can actually be beneficial and allow you to walk across lava. In the first game, the magician hides in grave stones and turns Arthur into a frog.

** Breaking open a treasure chest in the games that have them can spawn a magician enemy, who will quickly fire a BalefulPolymorph spell and vanish if you don't kill it instantly.

* VideoGameRemake: ''Resurrection'' can be seen as a partial remake since it heavily calls back to the first two entries in the series with its selection of enemies and locations, and having no double-jumping. However, there are many new weapons and spells for Arthur, and the TrueFinalBoss is [[spoiler]]Hades from ''Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins''[[/spoiler]].

* VideoGameRemake: Unlike ''Ultimate'' in 2006 which tried to update the designs of certain locations, characters, Princess Prin-Prin being the most notable differentiation, and how the little introduction and ending cutscenes went; ''Resurrection'' in 2021 really tries to equate innovation with keeping it as a classic as possible: all characters, locations and little cutscenes are pretty much strictly based on the very first game in the series, the Arcade release in 1985.

** Even though it immediately breaks upon touching fire, Arthur is given invincibility and may jump out of the fire, which means he can cross the fire without extinguishing it. Why does that matter? It's because during the second loop, there is one unavoidable fire trap that spawns a Red Arremer if the fire goes out, and Emboulden is the only way to not trigger that trap.

** Regardless of the difficulty, you have infinite lives. And you can shut the game off and continue at the stage where you were at (which is to be expected of a modern video game release, even one that emulates a classic NintendoHard one).
** The collectible Umbral Bees can be exchanged for upgrades, and those investments can be rescinded freely, encouraging the player to try out various upgrades without having to worry about committing to certain builds.

* AscendedMeme: In ''Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection'', the [[AchievementSystem challenge]] for reaching the game's true ending is named [[AWinnerIsYou "Congraturation"]] [[note]]including the quotation marks[[/note]].

A costume based on Arthur appears as DownloadableContent in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', while Arthur himself appears as a Spirit for those who have save data of ''Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection'' (and will be available to the public at a later date).

* BlindIdiotTranslation: The NES version is full of this, as evidenced by the quote at the top of the page. The arcade version isn't ''quite'' as bad; it still has the same mangled grammar and syntax, but at least everything is spelled correctly. [[spoiler:''Resurrection'' gives a little nod towards the series old mangled english days, in a otherwise grammar accurate game released in 2021, the perk for clearing the True Ending route is aptly called "Congraturation"]].

* OrpheanRescue: Arthur's goal in the second game (still SaveThePrincess, however, because that's who he wants to rescue).

* WombLevel: The fourth level in ''Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts'' is called "The Ghoul's Stomach." (Also known as "The Demon's Insides" 魔物の腹 in Japanese). It's appropriately spooky. Doubles as both a GimmickLevel in its first section with the changing gravity and heavy use of sprite rotation in both sections, and an AutoScrollingLevel in its second where you board swinging platforms and avoid deadly gas spewing from demonic viscera. The autoscrolling is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] since you're ''inside'' a demon. This stage is followed up with an [[OrganTheft ice world]].

-->''[[{{AWinnerIsYou}} CONGRATURATION]]\\

* IHaveManyNames: Barring {{FanNickname}}s, Astaroth is often called "The Devil" in manuals, Hades in the GBC port, and Gondiaz in early Japanese materials.

* ChainReactionDestruction: Bosses like to explode in that manner in ''Ghouls n' Ghosts''.

* StockMoneyBag: The series takes place in a medieval setting. Despite that, dollar bags are found for ScoringPoints.

* MeaninglessLives: One of the few mercies of the series is that you have effectively unlimited tries as long as the system is on, as getting a game over doesn't reset your checkpoint and there are usually infinite continues. While ''Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts'' attempts to have limited continues, you have to be actively trying to run out, since you get them by collecting the common money bags.

** The American release of ''Ghouls 'n Ghosts'' has armor appear more commonly in chests, less HP for bosses, and more checkpoints per level. However, this comes with a trade-off: since every boss now has a checkpoint before it, you can't get Gold Armor or change weapons before the battle, and since Ohme in Stage 4 requires a ranged weapon, if you get there with the Sword [[UnwinnableByMistake it's unbeatable]].

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Most of Princess Prin-Prin's appearances give her blue hair, a bit odd for the medieval setting.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: According to Tokuma Shoten's official guidebook to ''Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts'', Arthur's age is 28 in that game, which would've made him 21 in ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'' and 24 in the original ''Ghouls 'n Ghosts''. This is lampshaded in Arthur's bio in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''.
-->Though he looks like an old man, he's really only 28 years old.

* DifficultyByRegion: The American release has the mercy of MeaninglessLives, but the Japanese version has no visible continue option (you have to use controller commands when pressing start).

A costume based on Arthur appears as DownloadableContent in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate''.