Gargoyle's Quest (Game Boy) review"From dominating hapless knights to taking over the underworld: A success story!" |
Eventually, life became pretty boring for the demon known as Red Arremer. His main hobby was emotionally and physically torturing the brave knight Arthur. That poor guy was limited by a general lack of mobility and really struggled with advanced concepts such as actually aiming the weapons he threw at monsters, which made it child's play for Red to hover out of reach before swooping down to remove the knight's armor (and then his flesh) before flying off, chuckling all the while.
Ah, the masochistic hell of playing Ghosts 'n Goblins! It's a game where the most famous aspect is arguably that one specific enemy, a somewhat rare monster so physically superior to your knight that the very first encounter with one (taking place partway through the game's opening level) could easily be considered the make-or-break point where a lot of players realized they were in way over their head. Red Arremer: a demon so dominant that Capcom decided to release a series of games, beginning with the Game Boy's Gargoyle's Quest, focusing on him single-handedly conquering the underworld. Because if you can toy with a noble knight and make him appear to be an impotent child, exactly what is capable of standing up against your might?
More than I thought! Turns out that in Hell, Red (or Firebrand, as he was named for American audiences) isn't the only formidable demon in town. If Arthur is the best warrior Earth has to offer, it's probably a good thing these demons are embroiled in a civil war, or all the good citizens of this planet would be huddled in caves and ruins, hoping against hope they can survive a bit longer before being rooted out and devoured. In this case, the cause of the conflict is a chap named King Breager, who has taken over Hell, or as it's known here, "the Ghoul Realm", and…wait just a minute…
You know, the amazing thing about this game is that it was actually released in America AND earned NES and SNES follow-up titles in Gargoyle's Quest II and Demon's Crest, respectively. Back in the day, Nintendo of America was very against religious references, so they must have put in a LOT of work to make this one "safe" for us. The demonic Firebrand, known as RED Arremer, became a gargoyle who, according to the box art, is actually green. Hell became the Ghoul Realm and a particular powerhouse's name became Rushifell, which still is "Lucifer", only pronounced with a drunken slur. Go on and try it; pound down a bunch of shots and mumble "Roo-shee-feh" until you pass out or whatever. This review isn't going anywhere...
Staff review by Rob Hamilton (October 18, 2019)
Rob Hamilton is the official drunken master of review writing for Honestgamers. |
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