Although many people are familiar with the Red Arremers, the notoriously persistent enemies from the Ghosts 'n Goblins games, not many seem to be aware that one particular Arremer also starred in several games of his own. The first Gargoyle's Quest was released on the 3DS Virtual Console a while back, and now we've finally received the second entry; curiously it's on the Wii U VC and not on the 3DS with its predecessor.
In the Gargoyle's Quest series you take control of Firebrand, one of the many Red Arremers that tend to torment Arthur on his adventures. Surprisingly, Arthur is completely absent from these games, and you don't even fight any replacement good guys — you actually fight other bad guys that are trying to take over the Ghoul Realm, which is normally a peaceful place, all things considered.
Although these titles do contain some references to their sister series, the gameplay couldn't be more different. At its core this is still a platformer, but it plays completely differently and also adds in many RPG elements. For starters, there's an overworld map that you can walk around, with towns and other places to enter and explore, along with fellow demons to talk to — if you enter an action stage, it switches to a traditional sidescrolling view so you can platform to your heart's content.
During platforming sections you'll get to take advantage of the familiar abilities all Red Arremers have: flight and fireballs. The flight mechanic is quite interesting — when you jump into the air, you can press a button to start hovering, after which a meter will start to drain, also restricting you to moving left and right. Once it's empty you will fall, and it won't replenish until you hit the ground or cling to a wall again. Sadly, you can't perform those nice swoops that have killed Arthur so many times, but this still gets the job done. Your fireballs are fairly standard projectiles, but they do shoot out quite far.
As in most other RPGs, throughout the game you'll be able to find several upgrades that will make you a lot stronger. Naturally you'll be able to increase your health, but you'll also eventually be able to jump higher, hover longer, and even gain different types of projectiles, which you can switch between on the fly.
In the previous Gargoyle's Quest there was one other RPG aspect which could get annoying quite quickly — very frequent random encounters, throwing you into a miniature stage with one or two enemies to beat every time. Thankfully, this has been done away with for the sequel, making overworld travels a lot less cumbersome.
As you might expect, this game being on the NES instead of the Game Boy means that the graphics and audio have received a bit of a boost. Aside from the fact that everything is now in colour, the levels and characters are ever so slightly more detailed; of course, not having the Game Boy's screechy sound chip can only be a plus, with the music this time managing to sound quite gothic, which fits very well.
Conclusion
Although Gargoyle's Quest II does have the advantage of being on a stronger system than its predecessor, it plays things relatively safe, making some minor improvements and keeping most of the gameplay exactly the same. This, of course, is not necessarily a bad thing — the first game was great, making the similarity in this entry something to be praised and enjoyed.
Comments 26
I really thought this would come to 3DS
Great review
Man i wish this was on 3DS!!!
Will get! Great review, btw.
I wish this was in the ****ing US...
i NEED this in my collection
What was that snes title?
Freakin sweet!!! I'd like to see this on the 3DS eshop as well(it'll probably happen eventually) but man am I glad it's on the Wii U!! It's gonna look great on the gamepad!!
By this point, Wii U and 3DS really should share all VC titles, one-to-one: Same library, and multi-platform sharing.
Drives me a bit nutty trying to remember which VC games are on which system.
And while I'm on a rant, where on Earth are TGX-16, NEO-GEO, Genesis and (for goodness sake) SNES on 3DS???
Awesome want this !!!!!! 😃
I still need to beat the first one, but I'm looking forward to this. Capcom used to be so awesome...
@vonseux Demon's Crest.Fantastic graphics and gameplay but it's tough as nails.
Thats why we have save states.
@CanisWolfred You and me both. But it's not a long wait, at least!
I've been dying for this ever since we got Gargoyle's Quest a few years back. It's a series I remember existing, but which I never bothered with as a kid. Now I've beaten that one multiple times and cannot wait to dig into the sequel. (Hopefully sequels...)
I find Demon's Crest to be a great platformer, similar to a Megaman or (more recently) Shovel Knight. The graphical upgrades, increased animations, branching paths, multiple endings and fun platforming doesn't miss the overworld elements much, but it's a nice diversion that makes Gargoyle's Quest 2 one of the NES' top 30 games. Very worthwhile purchase. I gave it a four out five while ranking it 26th on my all time NES list.
Posted up singing protest songs outside of Reggie's house until we get this in NA.
@Philip_J_Reed Wait, wait. Is there a NA release date for this?
@WiiULoveSquid: I think it will, seeing as we have Street Fighter 2010.
@Stu13
Whoops, my mistake. Ignore me.
I was always familiar with the Ghost and Goblin games, but I never knew that one of the main bad guy got its own game until I found out about it on the 3DS. I may check this out. I also like using Firebrand on UMVC3.
Just finished downloading this but it's gonna have to wait till I'm done with Hyrule Warriors. Can't wait to play this as both Gargoyles Quest and Demons Crest are brilliant games.
I really wish Capcom would return to this and the Ghouls n Ghosts games.
Damn, I got excited and checked for this in the US eShop.
This game along with Demon's Crest and Castlevania X make great October releases. I'm hoping for that time frame for NA and other regions.
doesn't look super hard
What's the difficulty like? The first was so much easier than the series that inspired it; how does this one stack up?
And how's the level design? The Game Boy original had some thoughtfully designed levels (though nothing to write home about), although I felt that the small screen led to a few too many leap-of-faith jumps. Does the NES afford this sequel better, larger and less unfair stages?
@andrea987 Off Topic, but yay Sherlock Hound villain!
Alright, I know Wii U isn't as well established, but the favoritism is getting annoying. They really need to start linking the versions so you can go portable if you want. Especially if they work in a big discount on the 3DS version after getting Wii U. There; get your Wii U love and extra sales you weren't even trying for and probably wouldn't happen at all if both were full price.
Tap here to load 26 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...