Ghouls 'N Ghosts Amstrad CPC

Arthur returns! The fearless knight is back in this stunning sequel to Ghosts 'n' Goblins (voted among the top 10 games of 1986). Three years have passed since the evil ones came to do their dirty work. Now they're back and they've captured Princess Hus, but our valiant knight Arthur is charging to the rescue against a formidable array of gruesome enemies.... — Cassette cover

Ghouls 'n Ghosts is a platform game/run and gun developed by Capcom and released as an arcade game in 1988, and subsequently ported to a number of other platforms. It is the sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins and the second game in the Ghosts 'n Goblins series.

Gameplay

The gameplay for Ghouls 'n Ghosts is similar to that of Ghosts 'n Goblins. The player controls the knight Arthur, who must advance through a series of eerie levels and defeat a number of undead and demonic creatures in his quest to restore the souls stolen by Lucifer (Loki in the English-language Mega Drive and Sega Master System versions), including the soul of his lover, Princess Prin Prin. Along the way, Arthur can pick up a variety of weapons and armor to help him in his quest. While the core gameplay remains the same as its predecessor, the game now allows Arthur to fire directly upward and directly downward while in mid air.

By jumping in certain spots, players can cause a treasure chest to erupt from the ground. By firing his weapon at the chest, players may uncover new weapons, gold armour or an evil magician that changes Arthur into an elderly man or a helpless duck. The gold armour allows players to charge up the weapon to release a powerful magical attack. Each weapon has its own special attack.

There are five levels and Lucifer's chamber at the end, considered a sixth level in itself. To defeat the game, Arthur must complete level 1 to 5 twice. Upon completing level's 1 to 5 the first time, Arthur is taken back to level 1 again but this time a special weapon appears during the game. To enter Lucifer's chamber the player must have this special weapon equipped and defeat the penultimate boss.

Ports of Ghouls 'n Ghosts were released in Europe in 1989 for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. These ports were all handled by Software Creations and all omit a great deal of detail from the arcade version even on very capable 16-Bit machines like the Amiga.

Source:Wikipedia