Makaimura for WonderSwan

Makaimura for WonderSwan is a handheld return to the arcade classic Western players know as Ghosts 'n Goblins. Knight Arthur sets out through a graveyard and beyond into demonic lands to rescue a kidnapped princess, armed with nothing but a lance and unbreakable resolve. The rules remain cruelly simple. The first hit knocks off his armor and the hero continues in his underwear, the second means instant death and a return to a checkpoint. Enemies appear in endless waves, flying demons disrupt jumps over pits, and weapons picked up along the way aren't always an upgrade, since a torch or a shield can turn out much worse in a given section than the basic lance.

Porting it to the WonderSwan mainly had to solve the problem of turning a wide arcade screen into a small, low-resolution display. The game therefore works with a more compact field of view, and the player often relies more on learned layouts than on what's actually visible ahead. Memorization, though, has traditionally been part of the fun in this series. The difficulty remains uncompromising, and even an experienced player counts on dozens of attempts before clearing the first two levels. The controls are thankfully precise, and the jump, which couldn't be adjusted mid-air in the original, keeps its characteristic rigidity, so every leap must be planned in advance.

From a period perspective, it was a sensible move. Bandai needed recognizable names at the console's launch, and Makaimura was one that Japanese players instantly associated with the arcade era. The title remained a Japanese exclusive, and outside Japan it's known mainly among collectors. Today it feels like an honest reminder of a time when games showed no mercy and death was part of the learning process. Anyone who likes tough platformers and doesn't mind repeating the same section will find here a concentrated version of the classic that, thanks to its short levels, surprisingly suits play in small doses. It's also a good illustration of how Capcom recycled its arcade classics across generations of hardware, and how little it had to change their substance for them to keep working.