Ghouls N Ghosts came out on the Sega Genesis at a time when Nintendo had nothing to compete. The Nintendo Entertainment System was showing its age at this point. The games Sega was bringing to their newly launched Genesis console seemed pointedly chosen. Like Sega understood marketing, finally, and were poking at the chink in Nintendo’s armor – arcade conversions. Sure, the NES had plenty of arcade ports, they were often drastically different from the arcade original. Ghouls N Ghosts on Sega Genesis was close, it was good. Fans have made it better though.
Almost unfair to compare
Some gave us hell when I compared Ghouls N Ghosts on Sega Genesis to Super Ghouls N Ghosts on Super Nintendo in the first issue of Retro Gaming Magazine. By that token it may be a little unfair to compare a 34-year-old port to a more recent update. Yet here I am.
Graphically, the modder is making the game much close to the arcade original. This means darker graphics, less cartoony looking. The original featured color choices that probably made sense back then.
The devil is in the details
For comparison’s sake, look at the video embedded above. You will notice more details in the background. Trees are more decayed. Crosses feature chips in the wood where rot has taken its toll. There are tons more details changed – the door lock behind the first boss for example.
Little things make this graphics hack quite interesting.
According to Indie Retro News, Sega had to cut back significantly when bringing Ghouls N Ghosts to the Genesis. To the tune of a 5 megabit cartridge. I can see why they cut the corners they did.
That does not excuse the choices made in color selection though. Sheesh. Some are just horrid.
Currently, only level one has been reworked. The fans are working on level 2 now according to the Sega-16 forum post.