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Ghosts N' Goblins
For the Nintendo Entertainment System by Capcom
Released 1986
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Dzzy Strategies #1 Original draft written Dec. 31, 1999

This Guide is (c) 1999-2005 James Dziezynski
(bruplex@yahoo.com or james@jamesfaqs.com)

My site: www.jamesfaqs.com

Updated: June 16, 2005 Version 2.0

Version 1.0 A very bad list of tips, hastily written.
Version 2.0 Completely rewritten and actually edited this time!
Version 2.1 Added new findings from the GNG research lab, including where to
find the time decrease disk.

This FAQ may not be used without the written consent of the author, James
Dziezynski. If you'd like to host this FAQ on your site, please email me at
bruplex@yahoo.com or james@jamesfaqs.com.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Table of Contents
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Introduction/FAQ Update

1-Game Overview
1A. Our Hero Sir Arthur
1B. Weapons of War
1C. Items
1D. What's So Bad About Being a Bride of Satan Anyhow?

2-The Enemies
2A. Who's the Boss?

3-Walkthrough
3A. Stage 1
3B. Stage 2
3C. Stage 3
3D. Stage 4
3E. Stage 5
3F. Stage 6
3G. Stage 7 (or 6-B) The Final Boss/The Second Time Around

4-FAQ/Secrets and Cheats (AKA: Yes, you have to play through twice.)

5-Comments and Conclusions

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Introduction/FAQ Update (November 22, 2004)
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Greetings my Internet friends! Pull up a chair, take off your coat, and make
yourselves comfortable. Welcome to my overhauled Ghosts N' Goblins FAQ! Things
sure have changed a lot since New Year's Day 2000 (the day I originally
submitted this FAQ to a relatively unknown gaming site called Gamefaqs.com).
With all the things that have come and gone in the gap between then and now,
one thing remains true: Ghosts N' Goblins is one heck of a tough game.

As I tend to be one of the more vocal supporters of the 8-bit era, I've
constantly insisted that Ghosts N' Goblins (also known by many as Ghosts N'
BLEEPIN' Goblins) is a very beatable game. There are dozens of other games
surpassing it in sheer difficulty and level of frustration. GNG isn't that bad,
right? Well, like an idiot, I decided to actually try to play through this
classic again for "old time's sake" and to prove it is not as hard as people
claim it is.

I barely made it to the boss of the second level after an hour of playing.

Looking for guidance, I turned to my own venerable but aged FAQ and found it
sorely lacking. I attribute the deficiency of detail to the fact I played
through the game on NES itself, no easy task. At the time, I wasn't privy to
the world of emulation. It was intended to be a basic self-help document and
fill a void on Gamefaqs (people were begging for an FAQ for GNG). I didn't go
too deep into strategy, nor did I really want to. A majority of the unedited
FAQ was written in between service calls at my old job at the now-defunct
planetoutdoors.com.

So I did the best I could as I played through on my brand spanking new top
loading NES. Trust me, even if you like this game you aren't going to want to
play it over and over again to solidify your strategies, especially when you
have to get through levels 1, 2, and 3 before getting back to level 4.

Thankfully, I now have access to several emulators that offer precious save
states. (My personal favorite is the FCE Ultra). Emulators are the greatest
things to happen to FAQ writing since sliced BIOS chips. Now I can actually
figure out more detailed methods of beating the levels instead of saying stuff
like "hopefully you aren't dead at this point". Wanting to improve the quality
of my FAQ, I dove back into this NES masterpiece, ready to face all the red
demons Capcom could throw at me. As a later game would say, back I went into
the world of survival horror.

I do this all for you, the adoring public. ^_^

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1-Game Overview
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I'm not sure if I love or hate Ghosts N' Goblins. It has bad play control, high
difficulty, dinky music, and can be soul-crushingly frustrating. On the other
hand, it does offer you the chance to see a man cavorting around in red,
Speedo-like underwear and dedicated gamers who make it far enough are rewarded
with some of the most hilarious Japanese to English translations in 8-bit
history.

I was in 7th grade (Winter 1987) when my Mom was nice enough to get me Ghosts
N' Goblins for having a great report card. In hindsight, maybe I should have
gone for straight C's. Keep in mind I didn't WANT Ghosts N' Goblins, I wanted
Kid Icarus, Mega Man or almost any other game. Being that all the titles I
wanted were out of stock and ANY game is better than no game, Ghosts N' Goblins
it was. Thus began my relationship with this devilish game.

At first I remember being disappointed in GNG, but not wanting to act like an
ungrateful, spoiled, little snot, I went ahead and played it. Slowly I was
drawn into the choppy animation, bizarre characters, and brutal challenge. My
enjoyment of the game evolved. I can remember sitting in class, itching to get
home and make it one level farther, proof that somewhere in my brain a genuine
fondness for the world of Satan and his minions was well in place.

Therefore I dedicate this FAQ to my good ol' Mom, who had no idea her purchase
would still be relevant some 15 years later. Oh and Mom, I apologize for those
nights in the wee hours of the morning when my less-than-gentlemanly comments
on where that bastardly Red Demon may stick it woke you, Dad, the cats, and the
neighbors up.

*************
1A. Our Hero
*************
In Ghosts N' Goblins, you play the part of a brave knight, who is never named
in the instruction manual. Later games in the series identify him as "Arthur"
but in this incarnation he is known only as "The Knight". Knowing the poor
quality of Japanese-to-English translations in Ghosts N' Goblins, it was better
they didn't try to give him an English moniker. It probably would have come out
as "Mighty Rapid Knight" or something equally bizarre.

Our game opens as the knight and his girlfriend are enjoying a romantic picnic
in a graveyard at midnight. I know what you are thinking: what kind of loony
takes his girlfriend on a date to the graveyard? And who IS this girl, some
kind of blue-haired Goth? It turns out she is none other than Princess Prin-
Prin (see what I mean about bad translations?), generic sweetheart of the
knight. Despite the seemingly creepy setting, our knight is already stripped
down to his underwear, meaning he might have been onto something with his
choice of date location.

As our demure lady and her underoo' wearin' hero lounge amongst the tombstones,
a big scary demon materializes in the sky and kidnaps the Princess. Not to
sound cynical, but getting busy in a graveyard seems like an invitation for
Satan to mess with you. He was probably just wandering this mortal coil,
collecting the souls of the damned when he sees these two playing smoochie-
moochie in the boneyard. If Lucifer had really wanted to live up to his title
of "sinister trickster", he should have stolen the knight's armor instead of
the Princess. How would brave sir whatever-his-name-is explain that one? Though
on second thought, he spends a majority of the game in his underwear anyway. We
can assume our hero is fairly liberal and wouldn't be bothered having to walk
back to the castle bereft of clothes. Hey, if you have the body to show off in
your crimson loincloth, you might as well.

Following the bold abduction, Mr. Knight realizes he needs to get off his
skinny butt, throw on his suit of armor and rescue the Princess. Given how hard
this game is, he might have been better off letting her become a shape-shifting
bride of Satan. Instead of feeling "strongth" welling in his body, he could
have chosen to dauntlessly go to Hardie's and soak his sorrows with a double
bacon cheeseburger. Sometimes Satan gets the girl and there's nothing you can
do except drown your sorrows in a cholesterol-fueled burger binge.

************
1B. Weapons
************

Here's your available arsenal as you battle the forces of pure evil.

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WEAPONS UPDATE NOTE: Apparently, all weapons hit for the same amount of damage.
There is no "stronger" weapon than another. As far as damage is concerned, they
are all equal. The only differences I've noticed:

Axe-Will fly through an enemy after scoring damage. This usually is more
detrimental than helpful!

Cross-Can destroy most projectiles fired by enemies.
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*Javelin*
Being the decathlete that he is, our knight begins the game with the javelin.
Relatively speaking, this is one of the better weapons. It flies fast and
straight and is useful against most foes. The only drawback is that you are
limited to a maximum of three shots on screen at one time.

*Dagger(or as the instruction manual calls it, the "Sword")*
The dagger is the hands-down winner for best weapon. It's fast, small, and
accurate. A flurry of daggers makes up in speed what is lacks in strength, as
the dagger is slightly weaker than other weapons. Against flying enemies (who
almost always die with one hit) the dagger is especially useful.

*Flame*
This "weapon" goes down as one of the worst offensive threats of all-time in
ANY game. The damning feature of the flame: it flares up when it hits the
ground. Flames from the conflagration are too weak to injure most enemies and
even worse, you cannot throw any additional fireballs while the first one
fizzles out. The flame flies in a slight arc, just high enough to soar over the
heads of close-up bad guys. It should come as no surprise that the flame is
highly endorsed by Satan and his sinister followers.

UPDATE: You can throw two flames at a time. Believe it or not, this is a fairly
good weapon against the red demon.

*Axe*
Chunky and clunky, the axe is essentially the extinguished counterpart of the
flame. It flies in a similar arc and you can only toss two at a time. Obviously
it lacks the "instant campfire" aspect of its fiery cousin, though it must be
noted the axe will continue through any enemy it makes contact with. The axe
won't show up until the second half of the game and even then, it's a fairly
rare find. Thank God!

*The Cross (or, as it actually looks like, the Shield)*
There are two good things about the cross: it can destroy enemy bullets and it
is the only weapon you can use to truly beat the final boss of Ghosts N'
Goblins. It's also a good rapid-fire weapon. You won't see the cross until you
have progressed far into the game (enemies start dropping it on level 5).
Unfortunately, the cross has a very limited range and is ineffective against
the Unicorn/Cyclops boss (who, might I add, is ALSO wearing red underwear). If
Satan was smart, he'd keep a couple of those guys around as body guards.

*******************************************************
1C. Items
*******************************************************

A look at the items you'll find en route to your date with Satan.

*Money Bag*
Worth 500 points! Be careful when picking up money bags in the later stages
because blue demons have a habit of hiding "in" them!

*Stone Soldier Statues*
These statues are worth either 200 or 400 points and come in two different
versions. There is also a "Cyclops" version found on level 3.

*King Statue*
The King statue is worth a whopping 10,000 points!

*Frog King Statue*
The Frog King looks just like a regular King statue but has the unfortunate
side-effect of turning you into a helpless amphibian for a few seconds.

*Yashici*
A red and white disk that gives you 5,000 points

*Time Extend Disk*
It looks similar to a yashici but it flashes. Gives you 100 points and adds 30
seconds to your timer.

*Time Decrease Disk*
Worth 100 points and takes 30 seconds off of your timer. I have never seen this
item, but I assume it looks just like a time extend disk but has negative
effects.

UPDATE: To find the time decrease disk in level 1-2, duck on the single
platform surrounded by water that doesn't move in the beginning of 1-2. The
time decrease disk will be brownish and flashing.

*Magician*
The magician appears if you hit a tombstone or certain walls multiple times
(you can try this out on stage 1 if you like). The magician throws out a spell
that turns the knight into a frog if it hits him. If you are quick you can
defeat the magician for 2,000 points.

*Armor*
Extra suits of armor will cloth the naked knight and enable him to take another
hit. This rare item is usually found by exploring out of the way places. I
don't believe armor is ever dropped by enemies.

*Extend (1-up)*
Another rare item, the extend adds one life to your count. Essentially it is
useless since the game gives you unlimited continues, but if you are going for
a high score it may be worth the effort to pick it up. It resembles the
knight's helmet on a stick.

*******************************************************
1D. What's So Bad About Being a Bride of Satan Anyhow?
*******************************************************

This game is often hard for the wrong reasons. One of the key strategies to
beating this game involves running away from the harder enemies, such as the
stern-featured red demon. It takes a mere two hits to turn your hero from
shining superstar into a pile of bones. Despite his bravery, our hero is
disturbingly fragile.

You can bet the bad guys in GNG were licking their chops to see who could be
the first to skeletonize our feeble hero. Many times it's the first or second
enemy of the level. From the randomly materializing blue demons to the pajama-
adorned graveyard zombies, this game is truly a bad guy's delight. If you have
the guts to beat this game, keep an eye to see if The Prince of Darkness
himself was one of the programmers in the end credits.

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2-The Enemies
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Here's a compendium of the creeps you'll encounter as you try to save Prin-
Prin.

*Zombie*
These blokes are pretty much your run-of-the-mill undead beings. They "wise
fwom theiw gwaves" adorned in red pajamas, go for a short walk, and sink back
into the ground. Occasionally, they will carry jars with statues or new weapons
so keep your eyes open for zombies with bulging bellies.

*Fire Spitting Plant*
The name says it all. This bad guy is a big floral mouth on a stem that spits
out something resembling a fire ball.

*Purple Bird (Raven 1)*
Purple Bird seems harmless enough as he flies merrily about in a jerky wave.
But, much like the birds of other NES games, a mere brushing of his feathers
will knock Arthur into the nude or even worse, into a pile of bones. It's a
well known fact kids who played too much NES have a chronic fear of birds.

*Red Bird (Raven 2)*
Part St. Louis Cardinal, part homing pigeon, the red bird waits for Arthur to
approach then launches himself homing missile-style when the knight is close
enough. He is a rare fiend who you'll only see in one or two places.

*Flying Knights*
These guys first appear as a trio in the middle of level 1. Because they are
impervious to frontal attacks, you are better off avoiding their sweeping
flight pattern then trying to destroy them. If you really feel a need to knock
them out, note that they are vulnerable in the back once they have flown past
you.

*Red Devil (AKA Red Demon)*
Forget Satan, this is the fiend you'll be seeing in your nightmares! The Red
Devil wears a pouty, snide, irritated expression on his face, a good indication
he should be left alone. Man, does he get angry if you disturb him! In most
cases, if you can avoid tangling with him you'll be better off. Once he gets
going, prepare for an assault of dive-bombs and fireballs. He's fast on the
attack and tough to hit.

The best way to "defeat" him is to line your screen up so only his elbow is
showing. Hit him and quickly run to get him off-screen. When he is gone and
you're certain he is not pursuing you, hang out for about three game-seconds.
When you return to the spot where he was sitting, he should have vanished.

If you do have to engage this bully, try to get in a few hits while he's
sitting still. The minute you tag him, he comes to life. Generally, 4 hits with
most weapons will bring about his demise. If you have flat ground, running away
from him while he's airborne will often bring him to the ground. As he skitters
on terra-firma you can usually get in a few shots before he takes to the sky
and resumes his dive bombing routine.

*Forest Ghost (AKA Flying Burrito)*
The NES Strategy Guide says this flying foe "attacks with a spear make out of
green onion". I'm not sure how one can fashion an onion to resemble a spear,
but then again I didn't make Ghosts N' Goblins. He gives a delirious squeal
when he materializes out of thin air, presumably because such an act is fairly
painful.

*Petite Demon (AKA Screaming Mimi)*
Mimi is little blue and white demon that resembles the vengeful soul of a
deceased squirrel. They have a habit of appearing at bad times so be on alert
when things get "too quiet".

*Blue Demons*
Not the beloved Central Connecticut State University mascot, but a big headed,
cherub-like fiend who pops out of windows and emerges from moneybags. It's a
good idea to deal with these guys as soon as you can because they are
persistent little buggers. If they appear behind you, a good way to defeat them
is to leap straight up and let them fly under you. Knock him out as you come
down from your jump. He is the same powder-blue color as the unlicensed "Bible
Adventures" cartridge for the NES.

*Big Man*
Big Man: strong like ox, firm as wall, tough as steel, dumb as rock. He
features one of the more vile attacks in video game lore. When he is a floor
above you, he will squat down and, with a look of steely determination, proceed
to poop on you at an alarming rate. I suppose even one poop would qualify as
"alarming", regardless of its velocity. It takes 10 hits with most weapons to
knock Big Men out so make sure you have room to get off your attacks, as they
will charge at you after you've inflicted the first hit.

*Bat*
He flies! He's purple!! He's a bat! This spooky sucker drops down at you from
his lofty perch and soars in a straight line off the screen. I always enjoy the
"horizontal flight" aspect of NES bats, something that not only defies the laws
of physics but allows you to see the scary, menacing facial expressions on your
more vampiric bats.

*Tower Monster*
I like to call this guy "The Leaning Tower of Brunswick" due to the fact he
spits 16-pound bowling balls at you. Whack him when he turns red to inflict
damage. In the very last stage, he makes a guest appearance in Satan's bowels
(more below).

*Skeleton (AKA Skull Poppers)*
Disguised as harmless, inanimate skulls, these springy foes snap to life in
full form when you wander too close to them. Dispose of them from a distance to
avoid their jubilant dance of death.

*******************
2A. Who's the Boss?
*******************

At the end of each level you'll need to defeat the boss to progress to the next
level. Makes sense, right?

*UNICORN (AKA Cyclops)*
He's a spiffy dresser, wouldn't you agree? This beefy baddie is the boss of the
first two levels and makes some non-boss appearances later in the game. Much
like the Knight, he gambols about in tiny red underpants. You can usually knock
him out by ducking and mashing the "B" button. The only time you'll run into
trouble is when he gets inspired to trample you; luckily he tends to rely on
his "leaping without looking" strategy, making for an easy kill. Some pious
fluke of nature has rendered Unicorn immune to the "cross" weapon.

*Dragon (AKA Snake)*
A tough kill in any setting, the Snake is usually best disposed of with the
dagger or cross. The best way to take him out is to destroy his body segments,
then focus your attacks on his mammoth head. Note that the level-six version of
the Snake has juiced up on anti-javelin hormones; while you can destroy his
body segments with the javelin, they will not cause any harm to his head.
It is possible to destroy him by smacking him in the head and leaving the body
segments alone, though this tends to make the fight a lot harder. Snake is the
boss of levels 3 and 4.

GNG RESEARCH UPDATE: The javelin NEVER hurts the Dragon on ANY level.

*Satan AKA Lucifer*
This is the guy who started the whole mess. Oddly, Lucifer and Satan are two
separate entities. Lucifer is a super-sized bat thing that swoops down on the
Knight and fires threatening projectiles. He's a relatively easy kill as long
as you don't jump around too much and make sure to duck whenever Lucifer comes
flying at you. He's the boss of level 5 and makes an appearance with his twin
brother in level 6.

*The Devil AKA Satan*
In a fine twist of gaming irony, the final boss of this demanding game is a bit
of a pushover! It is very important that you acquire the cross weapon before
taking on Satan. If you defeat him with a non-cross weapon, you'll need to
repeat the game over from the beginning (Nooooooo!) because you were a big fat
cheater and used the stage select to reach him. Of course you have to play
through the game two times ANYHOW to get the true ending, but why make it three
or four times?

It must be said Satan has some nice threads and would look like quite the
gentleman if it weren't for the Leaning Tower of Brunswick lodged in his
stomach. Satan will never charge all the way left into the knight so as long as
you keep your distance and execute your assault with patience, you'll send
Satan to hell (?) before you know it. Or where ever it is that would offer
eternal misery for the Prince of Darkness, maybe Branson, Missouri?

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3-Walkthrough
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*************
3A. STAGE 1
BOSS: Unicorn
*************
Welcome to the world of survival horror! Following the abduction of his
beloved, Knighty leaps into his suit of armor and gets ready to kick some
undead butt. The boneyard has come alive with throngs of Zombies, leaving us to
ponder the TRUE answer to the riddle "How many dead people are buried in the
graveyard?" The first half of the level is easy enough. You'll want to blast
the pot-bearing zombies until one of them drops the dagger. Outside of a few
fire spitting plants, the only tricky enemy you'll encounter is the red devil.
The easiest (and cheapest) way to dispose of this sitting bull is to employ the
"elbow attack" method. Line up the devil on the far right of the screen, making
sure not to get close enough to bring him to life. Smack him in the elbow while
he's almost off the screen and dash to the left. Wait a few seconds in a spot
where the devil is off-screen. If you executed it properly, he will not pursue
you and when you return to the spot where he was sitting, he'll have vanished.

If you do have to battle him, make sure to get in at least one hit before he
starts moving around. Once he does, running without jumping to the left will
eventually bring him to the ground. Quickly turn to get in a hit or two and
dodge his swooping attack by running under him. Repeat this process as best you
can, trying to anticipate when he'll swoop next. Try not to jump needlessly and
be wary of the occasional fireball the red devil emits.

Once you've vanquished the red devil, you're a hop away from the continue point
of level one. Take your time lining up the leap onto the moving platform and
cross over the water gap into the forest of flying burritos.

Conglamorations!

You've made it to the first continue point of GNG. Now, even if you lose all
your lives, you'll resume the game from this point. This is an easy section,
but be ready for the occasional Flying Burrito that appears directly on top of
the knight. If you lose the dagger or javelin, keep killing the pot-bearing
burritos until they drop one of these weapons. The last thing you want is to
face the boss with the measly flame as your offensive medium.

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GNG RESEARCH UPDATE: There is a suit of armor to be found at the beginning of
this section (1-2). Simply jump around in along the first set of trees (As you
are approaching the second section of level 1, you will see the first series of
trees. Jump as you are going through the first tree.) Thanks to dclb1 for
finding this suit as well as the next secret-the time decrease disk!

The disk can be found by ducking on the non-moving platform surrounded by water
in the series of gaps at the beginning of stage 1-2. It is brownish in color,
takes away 30 seconds and gives you a whopping 100 points!
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Speaking of, the boss of this level is a single Unicorn. By that I mean he
appears unaccompanied; his dating status is unknown at this time. The preferred
weapon of choice is the dagger. Duck down and pop Unicorn in knee caps ten
times. Once you've defeated him, a magic key will float down and unlock the way
to level two.

*******************
3B. STAGE 2
BOSS: Two Unicorns
*******************
Congratulations! When you reach level two you're already farther along than a
majority of casual Ghosts N' Goblins players! A winner is you! But in the
immortal words of Han Solo, "Don't get cocky, kid". Stage two is considerably
harder than level one (or levels 4 and 5 for that matter.)

You begin the stage on a series of blue platforms. Immediately, Little Demons
fly out of the open windows and fly erratically at Arthur. It's a good idea to
smash the first two you see then make a mad dash up and to the right. If you're
feeling saucy, you can leap up and back to the left to a high platform with a
money bag. Grab it and leap back down to the platform where you start the level
to trigger a free life icon (a helmet on a stick.) This a relatively useless
gesture on the part of the game since you have unlimited continues but if
you're trying to go for a high score, knock yourself out. Actually, you
probably WILL be knocked out trying to get back up the platforms!

In any case, you're going to have to head right eventually, so hop up as high
as you can and work your way over. When you reach the highest platform in the
area (near some fire spitting plants) you'll trigger a red yashici worth 5,000
points. Big deal, I know. I'm just letting you know it's there. Take a flying
leap from the high platforms onto the floating platform. It will begin to drop
as soon as you hit it so take a quick step and jump off onto safe ground.

The good news is that the stage's continue point is just past the earthen wall.
The bad news is that it starts getting a lot tougher from this point.
Continuing on to the right you'll come across the "haunted apartments"
inhabited by blue demons. It's best to keep running when they initially appear
and attack them once they have leveled off their flight patterns. Stand and
fight the two or three demons that appear before hopping over the small gap of
water into the house of big men.

*NOTE: If you are really stuck with a bad weapon, I.E. the flame, you CAN keep
fighting the blue demons until they drop a better weapon.

You'll notice that from this point on, purple bird after purple bird will begin
flying at you in tricky, arcing patterns. These buggers can show up at the
worst times so try and time your advances with respect to when the birds will
appear (they will regenerate at regular time intervals). Beside the birds, the
house is inhabited by 8 big men, each of whom requires 10 shots to destroy.
There are five levels to the house. Here's an ASCII map of the big man house.

Numbers 1-8 = Where big men appear and the order you should kill them, 1 being
first, 8 being last.

Pillars are walls, not ladders. Ladders are not shown.

FLOOR 5
|X(leap here for emergency armor) |
|_________8(kill only if needed)________________|
FLOOR 4 |
| |
|_____________6____________________7____________|
FLOOR 3 | | |
| | | |
|_____________5__________|_|______4_____________|
FLOOR 2 | | |
| | | |
|_________________2______|_|______3_____________|
FLOOR 1 (ground floor) | | |
| | | |
||start _____1___________|_|____________________|

The first big man you fight will be fairly obvious. Crush him and head up the
ladder to battle big man number 2. Speaking of, be careful that big men on the
floors above you don't do number 2 on you. Vile I know, but in this stage it is
a real danger!

To this day, I still haven't found a surefire way to get the big men to move
away from the ladders you need to ascend. You'll need a bit of room to get off
the ten hits needed to kill them. The best I can offer is to face the opposite
direction you want the big man to go when you are below him. The purple birds
will still appear on a regular basis, so be ready for them while you are
waiting for the big men to clear out. Advance when you think you can get up the
ladder and get in the needed shots without being hit.

After killing number 2, head right to the wall and kill number three through
the wall. This will make your descent on the other side a lot easier. Climb up
and kill number 4 through the wall (making sure number 5 if safely off screen.)
Do away with number 5 while avoiding the birds. If you've taken a hit at this
point, you'll want to climb up to the 5th floor and get a fresh suit of armor.
You may want to kill 6 before doing this but don't go too far right. This may
trigger 8 above you and make getting the armor a lot more difficult.

Climb up to the 5th floor (only if you need the armor), go as far left as you
can, and leap. Voila! A shiny new suit of armor will appear. If you feel so
inclined, go ahead and destroy big man 8 but be warned: DO NOT descend the
third, rightmost ladder back to floor 4. When you start to climb down, the game
will trigger a flame weapon that rests directly on top of the only ladder down
on the right side of the walls. You have two choices if you trigger the flame:
pick up the flame or die. Oddly enough, dying is a much better option since
you'll probably die along the way because of the flame's ineffectiveness. If
you want to get a new weapon, you'll have to fight blue demons for a long time
so I say: it's better to die than get the flame!

Climb down ladders 1 or 2 (from the left) on floor 5 and polish off the final
big man, number 7, on floor 4. Now that you will not trigger the flame, scamper
down to the first floor and head right.

Alright, you're through the house of the big men! Excellent! But this being
Ghosts N' Goblins, of course there's more trouble afoot. First off, remember
the "earthen wall" before the house? That's the only continue point in this
stage so if you die here you have to make it through the house of Big Men again
(doh!) You may also notice your timer is very low at this point. You may even
have lapsed into the "panic dream" music that is triggered when your timer gets
below 20 seconds. You're going to have to move quickly past the first two
floating platforms, being careful not to let the red bird swoop in for a hit.
When you reach the next gap of three floating platforms, hop on the first and
go as far right on it as you can. Standing on the far right as the platform
rises will trigger a time bonus icon from high in the haunted house. You can
leap from the first platform when it reaches the highest point and snag the
much-needed time bonus on the solid ground below, which will add one minute to
your timer.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
*NOTE ON TRIGGERING THE TIMER BONUS*
I've noticed that you need to actually see the time bonus drop on screen for it
to appear when you reach the solid ground. This is why I advocate standing as
far right on the first platform as possible, letting it carry you to its apex,
and leaping down to collect the bonus on solid land. Watch out for the blue
demon at the top window of the house. I don't believe you have to jump to
trigger the bonus but if you stand too far to the left on the first platform,
there's a chance the bonus won't show up at all. Also, if you leap across the
platform too low it may also not appear. It stinks to die at this point because
you'll have to continue at the beginning of the big man house, so try to get
the timer to give you enough clock to finish the stage.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

You'll have to dodge or attack one more red bird, then clear two more sets of
floating platforms. On the second (and final) set, I would suggest making a
short hop onto the second platform, letting it reach its highest point then
leap for the safe ground heading to the home stretch of stage 2.

Your boss this evening will be a duo of Unicorns. Their specialty tonight
includes shooting bullets and stomping you to death. Hopefully you still have
your trusty dagger when you confront these two beefy chunkheads. Take them out
one at a time. The first Unicorn will hop over you after a few hits; be ready
to turn around and attack! You'll be able to get off more shots if you stay
standing, so only duck if Unicorn fires first. Trigger the second Unicorn after
the first is destroyed. The second one will sometimes leap over you. More
often, he'll stand in place, dancing about and firing a few bullets at you.
Return fire with haste, as he WILL charge you after a few seconds. After
beating these two capricious fiends, the sacred key will float down and you'll
be off to stage 3!

*************
3C. STAGE 3
Boss: Dragon
*************

*Guide map to the red demons in 3-2*
*http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/file/ghosts_n_goblins_nes_l32.png*

Stage 3 is divided into two sections: the yellow and the blue. You begin things
in the yellow zone. Essentially, this is just a warm up. Your first goal is to
reach the stage continue point which is located where the yellow cave walls
change to blue. Because this first part is an easy section, I won't be too
wordy. Use the zombies to regain the dagger if you have lost it and remember,
with the tower monsters, it doesn't matter where you strike them. As long as
they are red, they will receive damage. They are impervious to all weapons when
they are white.

Now, onto the meat of the stage--the blue section. To quote Homestar Runner
(after he ate a small bug) "The good times are over!" The passageway to the
boss is clogged with red demons and one wrong step can get you in a world of
hurt. HOWEVER, if you follow the correct path you can make it through the stage
with only one direct encounter with the dreaded red one.

To start off, take care of the stray bat that begins the blue stage and scroll
right. Uh-oh! Here's the first of many red demons. You'll have just enough room
to perform the "hit and run" tactic. If you've forgotten: you can hit a red
demon as you are escaping off screen (in this case to the left). If you did it
right, he will not pursue you. Run away and wait. He'll be gone when you head
back over. Just to be safe, I like to wait a full five seconds before
proceeding (if you are continuing, your timer will be about 3:16 when it's
safe).

*NOTE: With most of these red demons, it's best to leap left and hit them as
you drop in the air.

Continue right, fighting off the flying burritos. You'll encounter a second red
demon. Repeat the hit and run tactic and make your way to the ladders. If you
are feeling greedy, you can take the first ladder and snag the money bag off to
the left but I highly advise going no farther up. Once you head up the shorter
ladder to the right of the money bag and start walking right, you will trigger
an invisible red demon. The safest route is to avoid the first (lowest) ladder
altogether and head up the second ladder on the ground level. Half-way up this
ladder you'll trigger a frog-king statue. If you want to climb down and grab
it, go for it-this one won't turn you into a frog. Do not head any farther
right once you snag it, however, or you will end up in an alcove with two red
demons waiting! Go back up the ladder and head right.

On the second step you leap up onto, go to the middle of the step and jump
straight up. This triggers a blue demon hiding in the money bag. It's best to
dispense of him at this safe distance. Let him come to you. Nudge right another
pace on the same step and leap straight up a second time and trigger a second
blue demon out of the money bag.

NOTE: If you are in your underwear at this point, you can acquire a new suit of
armor by leaping left from the left corner of this second step to trigger a
fresh suit! You can do this at anytime you are bereft of garments, but
obviously you can only do it once per life.

At the top of these "stairs" is another red demon. Again, use the hit and run
tactic. When he's gone, go right and take a leap from the top of this platform
to trigger a 5,000 point bonus disc. Grab the disc on the bottom step and leap
as far as you can to the right. You'll drop by a red demon and few money bags.
It's best to fall quickly, as you don't want to encourage the red demon to
swoop down from above. Don't worry; our springy knight cannot be damaged by
falling great distances. Tiny red birds yes, falls of 200 feet no! At the
bottom, you're forced to fight a red demon. If you stay against the left wall
you'll be able to get in one or two hits by leaping up and hitting the demon
before he flies. Once he gets airborne you need to careful. Just to the right,
there's a frog king statue that WILL turn you into a hapless amphibian (bad)
and a flame weapon that drops just beyond that (worse). You'll need to avoid
these while combating the red demon. A good idea is to stand still when the red
demon goes into the air and let him make the first move. Time your leap to get
over him when he dives at you. Turn around and try to finish him off as he
comes at you from the left. Don't move too far right, you want to avoid the
items, especially the flame, at all costs!

After you've defeated the red demon and leapt over the statue and flame, walk
SLOWLY to the right. There is a glitch that is sometimes triggered by going too
quickly to the right that will result in you taking invisible damage as you
reach the boss of the stage. Bring the dragon gradually into the picture and
wait for him to come to life. With the dagger, he only requires five hits to
the head to kill him (NOTE: the instruction manual says 8 hits will kill him).
This isn't a hard battle if you stay cool and run away from the direction the
dragon is drifting. If you die here you go all the way back to the beginning of
the blue zone, so do your best to make this a quick battle. If it's any
inspiration, the next stage is going to be MUCH easier than this one! Defeat
the dragon, grab the key, and carry on.

NOTE: If you've accidentally picked up the flame, it is possible to beat the
dragon with it, however, if you die it's going to be hard to perform the hit
and run trick against the red demons when you go back through the stage.
Luckily, you can fight the flying burritos at the start of the stage and one
will eventually drop a dagger or javelin. *GNG RESEARCH UPDATE: IT IS VERY RARE
for the forest ghosts to drop any items in this level. It happens, but it may
take a very long time!

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
GNG RESEARCH UPDATE: The javelin will never, ever hurt the Dragon! If you have
it when you get to him, you'll have to pick up the flame as your weapon to
injure his head
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

*************
3D. STAGE 4
Boss: Dragon
*************
In a rare moment of mercy (or bad programming), we get a reprieve from the
outlandish difficulty of GNG. While I wouldn't classify stage 4 as "simple"
it's a heck of a lot easier to get through than the previous two stages.

The level opens as several eyeball rafts are darting back and forth. Your
initial goal is to ride these eyes to the continue point. A good tip to keep in
mind: the highest platforms are the safest and tend to travel the farthest, so
aim to get on them as soon as you can. If you ride the highest platform across
the middle of the stage you'll trigger an extend (1-up) on the ground below.
It's not worth much to drop down and retrieve it, especially because the hops
back up to the appropriate eyeball rafts can be a challenging endeavor. Take it
or leave it. Either way, you'll need to keep heading right.

As you progress, you'll see a red demon waiting on the ground below you. He
marks the end of the raft section. Leap from your platform to the ground and
make your way right to the beginning of the rickety old bridge. Don't worry
about fighting the red demon yet, just make it to the beginning of the bridge
(it's the continue point for the stage). For once, you'll actually have enough
room to give the red demon a good fight. Turn around and give it your best
shot. If you die, it's not a big deal since you'll have already made it to the
continue point.

*NOTE: Not to be a party-pooper, but is the last instance of a mid-stage
continue point in the game! Enjoy it while it's here!

The second part of the stage is a straight run along an old bridge. There
aren't many obstacles to avoid, but you need to be aware of where you trigger
the little demons that rise from the lava. Deal with them one at a time as they
appear as not to get overwhelmed. There are small flaring fires at certain
places along the bridge as well. These are best cleared by hopping over them,
though it is possible to walk over them if you time your passage while the
flame is subdued. Proceed cautiously and don't make unnecessary moves. Let the
few enemies on the bridge come to you.

Be wary of the frog-king statues that drop down. You aren't an effective
warrior in green skin! Toward the end of the run, there is a static red demon.
Use the hit and run technique to do away with him (if you hopped over the frog
statue, returning to where it is marks a good, safe place to let time tick off
and ensure the red demon is really gone). Once he's no where to be seen, the
only thing standing between you and your precious key is the boss.

A single dragon guards the gate to Satan's castle. Use the same techniques as
the level three boss and you should have little trouble clearing the way to
stage 5. Five swift hits to his cranium and you'll be on your way!

*************
3E. STAGE 5
Boss: Lucifer
*************
Get ready to rumble in level 5 because Satan is bringing out the big guns! No
more being cautious! It's time to make rapid progress and stay on your toes.
There's a glut of never ending little demons and flying burritos that are going
to dog you all level. Unlike stage 4, you won't need to destroy every fiend you
confront. Knowing the "appearance cadence" of your enemies is vital; pay
attention to the intervals and you'll have a good sense of when to run and when
to fight.

Also note there are no continue points. If you die, it's back to the beginning
for you! The stage isn't long but it can be very intense; don't expect any
sympathy from Capcom!

The route I propose for this level is the most efficient and best suited for my
style of play. I've tried a bunch of different ways and this one seems to be
the safest. I've outlined the best way up in this map:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/game/587303.html

Start off by bypassing the first ladder and fight your way right to the second
ladder. Climb it then quickly climb the next ladder just to the left. Even
though a flurry of foes will be closing in, I find it best to get up to the
higher platform, knock a few of them out (such as the bats and little demons)
and keep moving. As long as the forest ghosts and little demons aren't directly
threatening you, ignore them. Speed is your friend!

Hop the gap, duck and shoot the skeleton before he can pop up, and head left to
the next ladder. Take it up and go right to the next ladder. An axe will drop
just before the ladder; hop over it (unless you are upgrading from the flame).
Get up the ladder and you'll see a red demon sitting to the right. There's no
need to mess with him, so leave him be. Climb the ladder to the left.

You have a couple of options here.

*******************************************************
PERILOUS ROUTE
REWARDS YOU WITH: 5,000 point bonus disk and free life.
*******************************************************
If you go right and "horseshoe" around the red demon by going down the ladder
to the right, an "extend" (1-up) will drop as you are in the middle of your
descent. You can grab this without disturbing the red demon but you'll still be
harassed by flying burritos and little demons. From here, you can climb and go
right. Go up the far right ladder, take a step left and ascend the next ladder.
Half-way up, a 5,000 point bonus disk will appear below you. There's nothing
else to see here, though hopping on the eyeball floats to return to the left
gives you some space from the big men you'll have to inevitably fight.

******************************************************************
SAFER ROUTE
REWARDS YOU WITH: Getting through the level and armor replacement.
******************************************************************
If you quickly climb the ladder just left of you, you'll have to dispatch of a
big man with 10 hits to move forward. Take care of him and head to the ladder
to left. Above you is another big man and not a whole lot of room to fight him.
The best strategy here is to watch the big man two levels above and time your
advance to fight that guy, completely avoiding the big man on the shorter
platform. When the time is right and you have a clear path up to the higher
level, run right by the lower big man, climb up, and take care of the upper
level big man.

Head right and hop a ride on the eyeball raft. In perhaps the only act of
kindness in the whole game, standing on the eyeball platform as you near the
far side will cause a suit of armor to materialize. Grab it if you need it and
head right and up the ladder. Though this section is usually clear of major
enemies, there's a strange glitch that will sometimes "teleport" a big man into
the rocks on the right. If here's there, fight him.

Continue to head left and clear the "darkness" gap. You'll fight one final big
man here, but you should have plenty of room to get off the required shots. Go
up the ladder, head left, go up one more ladder, and go right. You may be
tempted to explore the two ladders to the right that head down but alas, there
is absolutely nothing down there. No bonus points, no weapons, no shortcuts.
Take the one ladder that is available up, head left and hop a small gap. You
can take either of the two ladders here up to the top platform, where a single
Lucifer awaits.

This is an easy battle, so don't be intimidated by the fact Lucifer looks like
a red demon on steroids. Make sure to duck anytime Lucifer swoops. As long as
you don't accidentally begin to climb down a ladder, ducking will always be a
safe position when Lucifer soars over you. The only thing you need to watch out
for is Lucifer's bullets, which you can usually outrun. You'll need to jump up
to get in hits (Lucifer is invincible when his wings are closed). Be careful
not to jump around more than you need to and be aggressive. Each Lucifer only
takes 8 shots to kill. A good strategy is to run from Lucifer as he comes at
you and duck at the last possible moment. When Lucifer positions himself in the
air after the attack, he'll often be the perfect height to whack with a flurry
of daggers with a straight-up jump attack. Using this technique, you can
sometimes kill him in one pass!

Once he's gone, gird yourself with a loincloth of courage because the next
level is the toughest one in the game, perhaps in NES history!

******************
3F. STAGE 6
BOSS: TWIN LUCIFERS
******************
This is it-- the hardest level of arguably the toughest game on the NES! Level
6 combines all the things that make Ghosts N' Goblins difficult with an added
twist: glitches galore! The bizarre occurrences that plague this level almost
seem intentional, perhaps to add an element of the supernatural? Not only will
enemies often materialize out of thin air, the infamous "poison ladder" makes
an appearance. This is a ladder that causes damage if you climb it at the wrong
time (as well as triggering an invisible red demon, doh!) Beside the normal
headaches, you'll have to figure out how exactly to "unglitch" the level. Thank
goodness I've done all the hard work for us, huh?

The first thing you should do is ensure that you have the dagger to start this
level. If you don't have one, hang around with the flying burritos that appear
at the very beginning of the stage and defeat them until one drops a dagger.
Even if you have to run out the timer to grab one, it's going to be worth it.
While it's possible to get through the stage with other weapons, this is going
to be your best bet.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
A Note on the Advantage of the Acquiring the Dagger
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
As you make "rapid progress" through level 6, the game tries to trick you into
getting certain weapons. To quote Admiral Ackbar, "It's a trap!" These weapons
are often ineffective against the foes you'll be facing. For example, the level
starts by offering you the javelin, which is great against Unicorn but will not
damage the Dragon's head, meaning you'll need to pick up a new weapon to move
on. So, the game offers you the cross to polish off the demonic floating
cranium. Seems good, right? Well, once you have the cross, you'd better not die
because when you restart the level, you'll find the cross doesn't phase
Unicorn! It's like the bad version of the circle of life.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Make it by both of these guys without dying and the game tries to trick you
into getting the flame, which is about as useful as a wet tissue. As you near
the end of the level, the game once more tries to bait you into grabbing the
axe. You must avoid it because the only way to move on to the final level is to
complete the stage while in possession of the cross. If you defeat the bosses
of this level and grab the key without first getting the cross, you'll be
whisked back to the start of level 5 and have to work your way through all that
madness again.

In short, it's best to use the dagger for most of the dirty work (red demons,
Unicorn, and Dragon) and backtrack to pick up the cross exclusively to fight
the bosses and continue on to the final encounter.

OK, let's start our walkthrough! With precious dagger in hand, knock out the
skull poppers and head up the ladder to Unicorn, making sure to ignore the
javelin. Those dreaded burritos will continue to materialize at slow intervals;
pay attention to their "appearance cadence" as not to get hit midway up the
ladder. When you confront Unicorn, he won't move until you strike him or wander
too close. It's not a bad idea to go a little to the right before unleashing
your dagger assault; this gives you a little room to breathe if Unicorn
charges. It takes ten hits to knock him out. Fire fast and furiously and
remember to duck any bullets he throws out.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
GNG RESEARCH UPDATE IMPORTANT!!!: In the below paragraph, I state it's not
worth going on if you are hit because there is no more armor in level 6! Well,
it turns out there IS! You'll still have to defeat the Dragon without being
hit, but after you do, head up and left until you are on the level where there
are some platforms with gaps between them. There is a ladder up to the right of
where you come up, heading to a non-gapped floor. Before heading up this
ladder, go to the left most part of this platform and leap up. Armor will drop
across the gap! Grab it by leaping the gap but be careful not to get too close
to the sitting red demon!
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

If you take a hit from Unicorn, you may want to die on purpose and retry the
level from the beginning. It's very difficult to clear the rest of the level in
your underwear. If I don't have my armor after this confrontation, I'll let
something kill me and start over. I don't believe there are suits of armor to
be found on this level.

Assuming you are still well girded in your armor, continue up the ladders to
Dragon. Of all the boss guardians on the level, he's the most predictable and
fairly easy to defeat with the dagger. Run to the far right and hop up the
"earth" colored stairs until you are at the farthest top right of the screen.
This is a great place to safely attack Dragon once he awakens. Jump up and
unleash a flurry of daggers as he flies around. It will take 5 direct hits to
the head to kill him, so aim for skull shots. You shouldn't have to move from
your refuge to defeat him, just be aware of his stray bullets. Be aggressive in
your attacks. If you take too long, the dragon will eventually sniff out your
hiding spot and you'll have to run for it.

If you are stuck with the javelin at the onset of this fight, you will have to
grab the cross mid-battle to defeat the dragon. You can knock out body sections
with the javelin but it's useless against the head. Run to the left on the
purple floor to trigger the cross. Grab it and you'll have to get in five close
range head shots to finish the dragon. Without the dagger, this can be a very
rough fight to emerge from unscathed, but it is possible to win.

After you defeat Dragon, head left. Screeching burritos will again appear once
he's gone. Be on your guard as not to take a cheap hit from them. Hop down from
your perch on the earthen stairs and take the first ladder up you see. As you
run across the floor, you'll probably trigger the rare cross weapon. It is
IMPORTANT that you do not get the cross at this point. Don't worry, it's not
going to disappear-this isn't Megaman! You'll see the logic for this in a
little bit.

Scale up the ladders on the left part of the screen. Make sure as you climb not
to disturb the red devils that are sitting in the alcoves along the way. Don't
mess with them and they won't (usually) mess with you. SEE ABOVE GNG RESEARCH
UPDATE TO SEE WHERE THE ARMOR IS HIDDEN! Do not stray toward motionless devils
as you ascend the ladders. One step too close will bring them to life. Keep
moving up until you come across a complete floor with a big man and skull
popper waiting on the next level above.

Be VERY careful to jump over the flame weapon that the game presents as you
approach the ladder. It is futile to employ the flame in such a tough level.
Should you accidentally pick it up, run down and grab the cross from the left
hand section of the lower purple floor. The cross is not a good weapon for the
next few enemies but it's light-years better than the flame. The dagger is
still the weapon of choice at this point.

The big man above you is the "X-factor" of the level; there's a lot that can go
wrong if you are too indecisive or too trigger happy in dealing with him. In
order to cleanly defeat him, he needs to wander far enough from the top of the
ladder to give you room to rattle off the ten shots needed to kill him. You
cannot take a step left when fighting the big man because it will trigger the
skull popper. You cannot go right because it will trigger the red devil. You
will need to coerce the big man to wander away from the ladder by walking
around on the level below him. It's important not to waste too much of the
clock getting him in the perfect spot. Remember, time is against you. Ideally,
he will wander far to the left of the ladder and you can unleash on him from a
safe distance when you ascend.

More commonly, you'll have to attack him as he approaches from the right. Be
very careful because any stray daggers that hit the red devil will animate the
flying ghoul. Count your hits (aloud if it helps) and do not fire more than the
ten daggers needed to beat the big man. When you've defeated him and you're
still standing at the top of the ladder, crawl back down about three rungs then
back up. Doing so prevents a glitch that sometimes gets the skull popper
hopping on the upper level (above where you just fought the big man).

Take care of the skull popper on this level and continue on to the left. Take a
deep breath and prepare yourself for the trickiest part of the level: head to
head combat with the red devil. Even though he is not a certified boss, this
stands to be the hardest fight of the stage. Arming yourself with a little
knowledge is a wise idea before tangling with your winged nemesis.

Above you, you'll see a red demon to the far left, one skull popper, one big
man, and a second red devil to the right of the ladder. Climbing three-quarters
up the ladder will bring the devil on the right to life. You'd have to be
insane to try and fight him up above, so quickly climb down and make your way
to the far left hand side of the screen. He's going to perform his trademark
swooping attack, so get your distance from him and try to be moving away as he
dive bombs. When he's hovering over you, run to the right and try to get him to
land on the ground. With daggers, this is usually a great time to get in 2-3
shots, as the initial hits tend not to scare him back into the air (unlike
other weapons). With the cross, you'll be in trouble as most single hits will
send the devil airborne. Keep moving away from him and try to time your runs so
he doesn't knock into you.

VERY IMPORTANT!! Once you do beat him, DO NOT climb up the ladder to deal with
the big man and his pals. Everything may look clean and clear, but climbing the
ladder at this point will activate an invisible red devil on the far upper left
of your screen. This is a disaster and will negate all of your hard work up to
this point. Worse still, if you climb directly up the ladder without stopping
you'll receive "invisible damage" at the top from the "poison ladder" and the
hit will knock you close enough to the sitting red devil on the left to inspire
him to join his furious friend in the attack. In a flash, you're stuck with no
armor on a floor with two red devils, a big man, and a skull popper for good
measure. I don't care how good you are, this is a losing proposition! Even if
you can get down to the lower floor, you're still facing two angry red devils
at one time.

To summarize: if you climb the ladder at this point, you're doomed.

There is another good reason to ignore the climb up at this point-you still
need to get that pesky cross! Head down, down, down, the ladders to the left
part of the purple floor where you fought the dragon. If you haven't already
prompted the cross to appear, walk around between the two ladders to make it
drop. On a good run, you'll have between 1:45-2:00 left on the timer as you
snag the cross. If you're running below 1:30, you may have a hard time
defeating the twin Lucifers before the clock runs out.

Return to the scene of the red devil battle, leaping over that stupid flame one
more time as you climb up. When you get back to the big man, you'll see the
once-invisible red devil is now very visible and calmly sitting a level above
you. Now that you can see him, he won't come to life when you get up the
ladder. Wait for adequate space from the big man. Quickly ascend and defeat
him. Keep in mind the cross will destroy any bullets that he fires off at you,
so once you have him lined up you can fire away without fear that he'll catch
you off guard with a shot. There are a few poppers to deal with along the way
and the occasional burrito, but most of the really hard work is done. Hop over
the axe that graciously falls in front of you prior to the ladder up to the
boss fight.

Climb up to the top level where you'll see the two Lucifers waiting. It's good
to have a minimum of 1:15 on the timer for this battle so that you don't rush
any of your tactics. The trio of the ladders is a hindrance because they might
cause you to accidentally descend when you mean to duck. If you do so, Lucifer
will swarm on you in a flash. There's also an invisible pit on the far right
that will drop you down right in front of a testy red devil. Not good! Keep
your battle on the solid bricks and to the left.

With those tips in mind, make sure to prompt one Lucifer at a time. As long as
you are not directly below him when he swoops, you'll be able to duck and avoid
his attacks. If you use this simple strategy, the only things that can really
hurt you in this battle are his bullets.

Be patient and wait for him to stop where you can whack him a few times.
Remember, the cross can destroy bullets, so use that to your advantage when you
can't leap over a projectile. Running away or destroying the bullets is a
better option than exposing yourself to Lucifer's lunging claws while
attempting to leap out of the way. After defeating the first boss repeat the
same strategy on the second. As long as you have roughly 40 seconds left for
the second battle, you should be safe time-wise. If you are closer to 30
seconds when the second battle begins, be aggressive with your attacks because
the timer is ticking! Don't lose heart if you are short on time. It is possible
to kill Lucifer in one pass if he lines himself up in the right spot and you
can rally off your shots fast enough.

There is no more crushing defeat than when your knight dies waiting for the key
to descend because time runs out! Stay aggressive until both Lucifers are
overthrown. Hopefully, you will have at least 7 seconds left when you finish
off the second Lucifer. As you catch the lofty key to the final stage, give
yourself a pat on the back. You've just overcome the three most intense minutes
in NES history!

If you have the cross, prepare to move on to challenge the ultimate face of
evil! Or shall I say the ultimate faces of evil. If you are holding any other
weapon, you are treated to a delightful, poorly translated message that vaguely
informs you that the cross is the only weapon you should have at this point.
Without it, you'll be whisked back to the beginning of level 5 at the castle
entrance. Yuck!

******************************************
3G. The Final Boss/The Second Time Around
******************************************
While not technically listed as a level, stage 7 (or 6-b, whatever you want to
call it) is a one-on-one battle with Satan himself. Given how hard the previous
six stages were it's a pleasant surprise how much of a pushover the author of
all lies is! You have to use the cross for this battle (unless you cheated and
used the level select code, in which case you'll have the javelin but won't be
able to get the real game endings).

You have a safe spot to the far left, so stay there to avoid attacks. Jump up
and hit Satan in the head about 20 times to defeat him. It's really as easy as
that! Be patient and don't rush your attacks. When you beat Satan, you'll
receive an unintentionally hilarious comment regarding that fact that this
"room" is a trap and illusion devised by Satan. What's not so funny is that
you're going to have to play through the whole game from the beginning a second
time to get the true ending where you save the girl and peace returns etc.

Your second time through the game is only slightly harder than the first.
Enemies are a little bit faster (especially the zombies and flying burritos)
and a little more aggressive. You have to clear all the stages, make it to
Satan with the cross a second time and beat him again. Only then will you see
the fruit of all your labors: your beloved blue-haired beauty in your arms. If
you can do it without cheating (that includes save states!) congratulations!
Consider yourself one of the finest NES players in the land!

One thing is for sure: this will be the LAST date these two have in a graveyard
at midnight.

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4-FAQ/Secrets and Cheats
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Let me start off with:
YES YOU HAVE TO PLAY THROUGH THE GAME TWICE!

Q: I played through the game and I didn't get the real ending? What gives?
A: If you haven't read it in any of the 14 times it's mentioned previously, you
have to play through the entire game two times to get the true ending. The
second run through is slightly harder than the first and you still have to
defeat Satan using the cross weapon! Play through a second time (without
turning your NES off) and you'll rescue the lady and get the real ending (and
some more bad translations!)

GNG RESEARCH UPDATE: Playing through a third time (by choosing "continue" after
playing through a second time and getting the game over message) yields the
"bad ending" and playing through an incredible fourth time gets you the real
ending again!

Q: Hey, I beat Satan twice and I still don't get the ending? What's going on?
A: Are you cheating? Be honest! If you use the stage select code (listed in the
cheat codes section) it's not going to count as a fair fight. You can get the
"bad ending" (IE what you see the first run through) but not the real ending.
I'm not sure if you can use the stage select, beat Satan and then play through
again from scratch to get the ending but I'll check it out when I can. And
considering it took me 5 years to update the original version of this guide, my
best advice is just to play through without any codes if you want the real
ending!

Q: Can you explain to me invisible damage? Thanks.
A: The best I can tell, invisible damage happens when you scroll the game too
quickly and it doesn't have time to designate the space you are going to as a
"safe" section. It's a glitch in the game and it can really suck. I've
encountered it before the dragon boss in stage 3 and on the "poison ladder" in
stage 6.

Q: IS this the hardest game on the NES?
A: Actually, no! If you practice the levels (this walkthrough should help) it's
not too hard to be able to get through everything on a regular basis. There are
a lot of harder games! A few that come to mind: Battletoads, Lifeforce,
Gradius, Rush N' Attack, and Super C to name some. Also, I find the SNES sequel
to this game, Super Ghouls N' Ghosts to be a bit harder than Ghosts N' Goblins.

Q: Those red demons are eroding my will to live. What can I do to deal with
them?!
A: Though it's mentioned many times, the best thing to do is leave red demons
alone if you can. When they block your way, use the "hit and run off the screen
tactic". Get in one hit from as far away as you can and run off screen. Wait
for 3-5 seconds and return to the spot where the demon was. He should be gone
and you're in the clear to move on. Think of it as compensation from Capcom for
the endlessly regenerating enemies in the Mega Man series.

GNG RESEARCH UPDATE:
Markyjoe from Gamefaqs adds this strategy to defeating the red demons:
"Hey Bruplex, I know a good and easy was to kill Red Demons. You can even use
any weapon with it without using your elbow strategy. First, go near a Red
Demon but not too close that it starts to attack you. Next, throw your weapon,
jump, and throw again but you need to be very quick. After that, as it goes up,
run the opposite direction, jump and face him and shoot two more weapons at
him. He'll fly into both of them and die. I used this strategy when I first got
up to level 3 and those Red Demons were really ticking my nerves."

Q: Any idea why the translations are so comically bad?
A: In Stephen Kent's The Ultimate History of Video games, he alludes to the
first batch of Capcom's NES games. As you may expect, these companies rushed
the ports of the Japanese versions to the US NES console from the Famicom
without a lot of quality control. Because the games were already tested game
play wise, the translations were an afterthought.

Keep in mind the most famous game translation of all time, Donkey Kong, came
from Miyamoto's efforts to translate "stubborn monkey" into English!

Q: I hate the enemy names you came up with for your guide, why can't you just
use the real names?
A: What can I tell you? Every time you see a forest ghost I see a flying
burrito! Actually, most of the character names were taken from the Official NES
Player's Guide released in 1987. The instruction manual names are listed in
parenthesis in the enemy section. Because there are only about a dozen enemies
in the game, I'm sure you'll have no trouble deciphering their clever code
names.

Q: Where can I find this game?
A: I assume you mean the actual NES version, not the ROM. EBay is always a
great starting place, as is Amazon.com. You can usually get this game for about
$3.99 for just the cart or about $12.00 complete. There is also a harder to
find Game Boy Color re-release that I haven't played yet, but it's about $20 if
you can find it.

And www.google.com will help you find ROMS, which are only legal as a backup
for the actual cartridge. Heh.

Q: How does the NES home version differ from the arcade version?
A: The NES version is a little easier and featured slightly abridged versions
of the stages. Obviously, the graphics are not as good as well.

Q: Those level maps are pretty cool; how did you make them?
A: I used the FCEUltra NES emulator to capture the screen shots (most NES
emulators will have this feature). I pieced the screenshots together in
Photoshop or Fireworks, depending on where I was when I was making the maps.

Q: What is a "bruplex"?
A: A Bruplex is a cat, currently living with my parents in Wolcott,
Connecticut. He was born in 1994 and was originally named "Bruprecht" after a
part in the Simpsons Christmas special where a little girl at the school
pageant explains that "In Germany, Santa's helper Bruprecht gives presents to
the parents of good children and whipping rods to the parents of bad children".
This scene has been cut out of the current reruns but is still on the DVD
original release. Anyhow, my friend Mike Pelkey couldn't say "Bruprecht" so I
modified it to "Bruplex" because it's easier to say and sounds cool. Most
people call Bruplex "Brewski" though I contend that is only his street name.
He's a black and white tabby cat.

Q: What are the other games in the Ghosts N' Goblins series?
A: I'm not sure of the arcade/PC/MAC titles. Home consoles had the following
titles (if I forgot one email them to me):

*NES*
Ghosts 'N Goblins (this game)
Gargoyle's Quest 2

*Sega Genesis*
Ghouls N' Ghosts

*Super Nintendo*
Super Ghouls N' Ghosts
Demon's Crest

*Game Boy Color*
Ghosts N' Goblins

*Game Boy Advance*
Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts

I know there is an arcade version and a few PC titles. I think there may have
been Saturn and PC Engine titles somewhere in the works too.

Send your questions about GNG to bruplex at: bruplex@yahoo.com. Please title
your email Ghosts N Goblins Question. Thanks!

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Cheat Codes/Secrets
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Level Select:
At the title screen do the following:
Hold down Right, pres B 3x then press Up, and release it. Press B 3 more times.
Press Left, then release and press B 3 more times. Press Down, release, then
press B 3 more times. Finally press Start

See the bonus message:
Successfully complete both of the quests, and then press A, B, Up, Down, A, B,
Left, Right at the game ending.

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5-Comments and Conclusions
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Whew, there it is all updated and pretty! In closing a few thoughts:

1-I made a few maps for this game, you can find them hosted at www.gamefaqs.com
or on my personal site www.jamesfaqs.com. Hopefully, I'll be able to get them
up on vgstrategies.com as well.

2-This should be the "final revision" but if people have new questions for the
FAQ or I forgot something obvious I will update it. Please email me if you find
the old, horrible version of this FAQ as I'd like to replace it with this
version.

3-If you have any other questions, please read the FAQ/walkthrough first and if
it's not there shoot me an email: bruplex@yahoo.com. You can email me with
comments as well.

4-Thanks to: Marc Dziezynski, Jody Pratt, Jeff Veasey, and all of you who love
the NES 20 years into its life! Long live the 8 bit lifestyle!

I hope this FAQ helped debunk the myth this is an impossible game and I hope
you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Live long and prosper.
James Dziezynski AKA bruplex
June 15, 2005

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