GAME CLEAR No. 68 -- Gargoyle's Quest

Gargoyle’s Quest (1990, Game Boy)

Alt. Titles: Red Arremer: Makaimura Gaiden (Japan), Gargoyle’s Quest: Ghosts’n Goblins (Title Screen)
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Clear Date: 12/20/21
Clear Platform: Analogue Pocket

This constitutes another game checked off toward my goal of completing every Ghosts’n Goblins game. And what a good one it is!

Gargoyle’s Quest is a neat little action platform game with RPG-lite elements that really just checks all my boxes. It reminds me a lot of Dragon Quest 1 in terms of its aesthetic and brevity (both of which I consider positives of DQ). You assume the role of Firebrand, who is one of the asshole Red Arremer enemies from GnG. But he’s the chosen one among them, and you must help him unlock his full potential by traversing the Ghoul Realm (which he calls home) and reclaiming various artifacts.

So you travel from town to town using a traditional overworld map. The townspeople of the Ghoul Realm will guide you as you decide where to go next, and the local leaders will generally send you on quests to recover items that will improve your skills or stats. You repeat this process and eventually battle the evil main antagonist so you can free your king and everyone will love you. Very basic concept, but it’s executed well and is very cute, so I’m not complaining!

Best of all, though, is the fact that instead of top-down, random encounter dungeons, the “dungeons” are platforming stages. Just like in the source games, Firebrand can fly and shoot fireballs. He must use these abilities and others he’ll acquire along the way to dispatch the many enemies comprising the Army of the Destructor, who seek to subjugate the Ghoul Realm. At the end of each stage is usually a challenging boss that will really require your best effort. It’s a challenging game, but I would expect nothing less from this series. And to be clear, it’s markedly easier than the games Arthur stars in.

This game just rocks. It’s got a whole bunch of stuff going on that’s really right up my alley, and I’m glad it all gelled well. I really look forward to playing the other two games in the series.

OH and this also marks the first game I’ve played through entirely on my Analogue Pocket. I don’t want to go into a full hardware review just yet, but I will say it was a great way to play this game. The device features a “Pinball Neon Matrix” color palette that is exactly what it sounds like (red and black like the old digital pinball screens). I thought it worked really well for a game that ostensibly takes place in hell or something like it. In any case, it’s just neat to have the option to play around with that!

Anyway, more to come on the Pocket later probably. I have a pending customer service request regarding a minor issue with my device that may dramatically affect how I view the device/company, so I don’t want to say much more before I hear back about that.

But Gargoyle’s Quest is great.