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»Famicom Mini: Makai-Mura
"A decent port, but it’s outshined by an earlier release."
If there’s one thing I really like about holidays,
it’s keeping traditions. Things like eating Thanksgiving dinner with
the family or watching A Christmas Story ad nauseum on Christmas Eve. I started another tradition: reviewing Ghouls ‘n Ghosts games for Halloween. Last year, I covered the extremely obscure Makaimura for Wonderswan and already this year, I’ve taken a crack at the GBA port of Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts.
This year however, I’ve decided to double up and take down another of
these classics: the Famicom Mini release of the original Makaimura.
What is this, you ask? Well, just try to think of the Famicom Mini
series as Japan’s Classic NES Series collection, only it had a wider
selection of titles. As for Makaimura, well, that’s just the Japanese title for Ghosts ‘n Goblins, the game that started it all.
Players
take on the role of Sir Arthur, a brave knight and the beloved of the
blue-haired Princess Prin-Prin. As the game’s introduction illustrates,
the two are having a nice picnic...in a graveyard...in the dead of
night...with Arthur clad in naught but his infamous boxer shorts.
Oooooo-kay. Anyway, as the two enjoy this unorthodox scene, a demon (in
the employ of Lucifer himself, no less) appears, swoops down and
kidnaps poor Prin-Prin. So Arthur, obviously dismayed at this turn of
events, dons his infamous armor lying just beside him, and heads off to
defeat Lucifer’s demonic hoard and save his beloved. Yeah, it’s pretty
weird, but it’s better than most gaming storylines of the day.
The gameplay is completely unchanged from the original Famicom Disk System, barring extremely minor features. Players
traverse through the demon world and runs through it, awkwardly jumping
over and hurling lances at such threats as blue-haired albino zombies,
ravens and flying demons (star of another such classic series,
Gargoyle's Quest), among others. Arthur can only take two hits, the
first leaving him in those iconic boxer shorts I mentioned earlier,
while the other leaves him as nothing more than a pile of bones. There
are extra armors along the way, but they’re a fairly rare commodity.
There are also additional armaments available to Arthur, such as the
swift dagger, the powerful cross and the nigh-useless Torch. These are
a far more common sight, and along with the aforementioned extra
armors, commonly found in treasure chests hidden throughout the realm.
I’m
fairly certain that unless you consider the original PlayStation the
first console you had any experience with, you already know all of
this. The real questions are as follows: is this an accurate port of
the original Famicom version and how well does it hold up after all
these years? Well, in the first case, yes, it is a pretty good port of
the original. The controls are as responsive as they were in the
original, there’s no slowdown, and it’s a perfect translation from the
original FC game. On the other hand, the game itself doesn’t really
hold up as well as it did back in 1986. It was a good game at the time,
but unlike certain other games of that era – the original Super Mario Bros.
quickly comes to mind – its charm has been diluted by its sequels.
Indeed, what the original Ghosts ‘n Goblins did, the two Ghouls ‘n
Ghosts games did far, far better.
Unfortunately, the visuals haven’t aged quite as well as the game
itself does. The fact that they’re on a far smaller screen doesn’t help
matters much either. Sure, they make a decent conversion, but combine
the simplicity of the graphics with the relatively tiny (at least
compared to the original intended screen – that of a TV set) screen of
the GBA, and well, let’s just say the end product isn’t pretty. The
fact that this combination also makes the game hard to decipher doesn’t
help matters much either.
The same goes for the audio. Sure, the NES belted out some good tunes
back in the day, but in this release, they really show their age. On
the plus side, it is a fairly accurate rendition of the original
Famicom version’s soundtrack. Unfortunately, that’s really the only
plus I can assign to it, though at least the sound effects are pretty
accurate as well.
Makaimura's replay value is the hardest
aspect to judge. On one hand, it’s Ghosts ‘n Goblins, which means that
two playthroughs are required to finish the game, but on the other
side, a better version was released a couple years prior: the Game Boy
Advance port of Chou Makaimura (known in the US as Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts),
which had not only the original game, but also an arranged mode that
increased the replay value significantly. Considering the fact that
this game came out long before this Famicom Mini port (not to mention
its additional features), well, let’s just say the choice is obvious:
go with the “older” release. Honestly, there are only two foreseeable
cases I can see for picking this one up: either you prefer the original
NES/Famicom version and the old NES cart just isn’t cutting it for you
anymore or you’re a Ghouls ‘n Ghosts maniac and need to own every
incarnation of the game ever released. If you fall under either of
those criteria, then go ahead and buy it. Otherwise, there are some far
better choices out there, especially when it comes to portables. Don’t
believe me? Check out some of the other versions I reviewed.
Article by: Wolfdogg
Posted on: Oct. 31st, 2007 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| If it’s not a perfect port, then it’s extremely close. Too bad the game didn’t age well. |
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Graphics |
| The small screen doesn’t help to clarify the already-simplistic graphics. |
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Sound |
| The sound’s pretty much a perfect emulation of the original Famicom version. That’s the good news...and the bad news. |
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Replay Value |
| Eh, it’s good for a quick run-through, but it was outclassed years ago. |
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