You’ll remember last year, I started October with a review of Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts. At one point, I noticed an enemy that looked familiar… (*reel effect, flashback to mentioning Firebrand.*) Those of you more familiar with classic Capcom series might have known that I was talking about the main character from Gargoyle’s Quest. So, October once again starts with *Capcom time*as I review Gargoyle’s Quest for the Game Boy.
The game will start off with a rolling text telling you the story about a warrior of long past named the Red Blaze who stopped an invading army of creatures from another universe. You then start the game playing as Firebrand when a few other guys come in to tell you the king of the Ghoul Realm has been attacked by an army (why 3 people are needed for this is beyond me). They ask Firebrand to return to the Ghoul Realm (from where, I don’t quite know) to save them all since he see is pre-determined to be the new Red Blaze (probably because, despite what the North American cover art says, he’s RED).
So yeah, the story is pretty straight forward and honestly has very little impact on the game. You’ll basically just have to get from start to finish with very little interruptions for plot except for the occasional dialog explaining the history of the villain and Red Blaze. It does feel like it’s been put on the back burner, yeah, but anything more would feel like they’re trying too hard and ill-fitting for this game.
The game play is an interesting mix. It obviously has an RPG inspiration; you have an overhead view of most of the cities, where you move around, talk to people and unlock your next quest. You also have a monetary system in place and you’ll find additional weapons and upgrades to help you out. However, the game also has a strong concentration on platforming. The actual “meat” of the levels consists of side scrolling stages with spikes, waterfalls, pits and enemies, including ghouls, bugs, odd eyeballs, fish bones and ghosts who look like KKK clan members. You have a great arsenal of abilities to get past these areas though. Let’s start with the fire breath: a straight forward projectile attack. Then there are Firebrand’s wings, they aren’t just for show; press the jump button again and you can suspend yourself in air and float around for a limited time. Landing or sticking to a wall completely recharges this, which gets me to my next point. Firebrand can cling onto walls, and once again, that’s an awesome ability, but in here, it’s essential and even better than usual. On a wall, Firebrand can shoot at enemies, his fly meter gets recharged and you can jump off, but pressing jump and up can make you climb a wall.
Now, at the start of the game you might think “Is this it? Friebrand is weak and he doesn’t move well…” But as I’ve said, you get upgrades which will let you jump higher, fly farther and the fire breath gets upgraded in too cool a way to spoil for you (it really kicks the platforming up a notch). That is really where the RPG elements kick in too. Think of it like a more basic version of Zelda 2: you can’t really get very far with just platforming, as you need to uncover certain secrets and talk to the right people, but the real levels are in the platforming areas. As a matter of fact, this game has similar random encouters on the field too… Coincidence?
Gargoyle’s Quest is a really good game, but not for everyone. It suffers from kind of a slow start honestly, and Firebrand moves rather slowly too. The RPG elements might also be of a nuisance to people just looking for a Ghost n’ Goblins style platform game. The music doesn’t add much really either (it feels stock, which is surprising for Capcom) and the story is really flat and basic. However, this is still a bit of an overlooked title, though it’s been rereleased on the 3DS Virtual Console, so maybe new gamers will pick it up. The platforming stages are great; despite not being as smooth and fast as, let’s say, Jackie Chan’s Action Kung-Fu, all the elements and game mechanics make it fun to figure out and play. Also the graphics are all really good, especially for this 8-bit system (Firebrand looks bad ass!). If you’re into platformers that really try to be different, then I’d say this game is for you. I give Gargoyle’s Quest for the Game Boy 8 levels out of 10.
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