I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cruised through the first playthrough of Ghouls N’ Ghosts. I know every little trick, every little maneuver, to get where I need to go in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to make it through the second playthrough. I think I’m still sore at realizing the first play-through didn’t beat the game. Anyways, if you’re looking to try to battle through Ghouls N’ Ghosts yourself, we’ve got a nice little collection of tips and tricks that should help you reach the end of the first playthrough. But from there, you’re on your own.
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1. Secret Armor In The Village Of Decay
In The Village Of Decay, you face against the bouncing creatures that remind you of demonic turtles. And once you’ve gotten past them, you were lucky to still keep your armor in tact. Or else you weren’t so lucky and lost your silver armor—but don’t fear. There is a way to get some armor back on your naked body. Once you make it past the hungry sand pit creatures, don’t wander too far from the platforms tethered to the ceiling hanging over the pits. Inch your way towards the spinning torch until you see a random chest appear on the end of the wooden platform. About 80% of the time, this chest will hold armor for you. Sometimes, you might not be so lucky.
2. The Best Weapons For Game Completion
I used to swear by the weapon, what I called the Flying Saucer. It’s disc-shaped and colored sea-green and makes a sci-fi-like sound effect when it’s thrown. This weapon can be picked up easily in Baron Rankle’s Tower, which is the level where you are riding a rising platform. If you play this level over and over, you will eventually get the “discus” as it’s actually called. Now once you’ve obtained the discus in Baron Rankle’s Tower (sometimes you can get it earlier on in the game, but it’s rare), it’s safe to use that weapon until you reach The Crystal Forest. At this level, you want to start looking around for your second weapon. The second weapon is the dagger. It is possible to play through the game with the dagger alone, but the discus always helped with certain bosses. The problem is once you get into Lucifer’s Castle and go to fight Lucifer, I found it nearly impossible to kill him with the discus. It was that heart-wrenching moment where you realize you have the wrong weapon to beat the game. Don’t make the same mistake I did.
3. Avoid Bad Weapons At All Costs
While I have pointed out some of the best weapons for completing the game, I should note there are a couple horrible weapons you should avoid at all costs. One of them is what I call the Blue Fire. Allow me to explain. I’ve always called this weapon the “blue fire” because it really is just a blue fire that trickles out like magic and spills to the ground, lighting it up in blue flame. This weapon is probably the worst weapon you could get in Ghouls N’ Ghosts. It has hardly any range and is useless against airborne enemies (and there are a lot of these in the game). If you want to kill someone from afar, it won’t work. This weapon is pretty much a death sentence and if you ever come upon it and can’t jump over it or get around it, kill yourself before you gain this weapon. You’ll thank me later.
The second weapon you need to avoid at all costs in the ax. It’s not a terrible weapon, at least not as terrible as the “blue fire.” It is ranged and you can kill enemies from afar—sometimes. What makes this weapon so difficult is the angle it is thrown. Throwing directly upwards isn’t the problem, it’s when you throw it forward is when there’s an issue. The ax isn’t thrown straight; instead, it’s thrown at an upward angle. So any enemies that you are in front of don’t really get hit by the ax unless you are pretty close to where they are standing. This is especially annoying in the part of The Execution Place where you have to kill the deadly flowers growing out of the ground that spit skulls, because unless it’s blooming above you, you won’t kill it.
Finally, the last weapon I recommend you avoid is the sword. Melee weapons just don’t work in Ghouls N’ Ghosts. If you’re at the end of The Crystal Forest and battling the boss with the gross glowing hearts, there’s no way you are reaching those hearts with a sword. Just, don’t put yourself through the misery.
4. The Quickest Way To Kill Headless Golem
Cyclops(Headless Golem), as I like to call him, is the first boss you battle at the end of The Execution Place, which is the first stage. There’s a trick in how to kill him almost immediately. You have to run forward and spot his face so that he’ll start walking towards you, so once you do that, run back and immediately start jumping up and down and shooting as quickly as you can. You’ll hear the weapon hit his face and the second he gets to you, he should die. It’s one of the easiest battles in the game with hardly any harm done. It’s just having the knowledge that he puts his head on the ground to spit fireballs at you and then raises it a little to spit more. So if you’re jumping and shooting, you’re getting him both while he’s on the ground and in the air. Just don’t get hit by his fireballs.
5. Killing Astaroth
Astaroth comes in two waves in the first playthrough of Ghouls N’ Ghosts. First, he appears by himself, so it’s easy to kill him. But then, he appears again with a twin and they stand on each side of shooting a line of fire. Now there is a little secret sweet spot where you can crouch where neither stream of fire can touch you. Crouch here once you find the spot and shoot continuously until the first twin is killed. Then there’s no reason to use the sweet spot anymore since you no longer have to worry about two Astaroth’s crowding you.
6. Killing Beelzebub
When battling Beelzebub at the end of the first playthrough of Ghouls N’ Ghosts, make sure you have the dagger as your main weapon. This is the only weapon I’ve been able to kill him with and the only weapon I’ve seen someone else kill him with (which is why I decided to try it myself). The discus will take forever, although I have never tried using the lance. Beelzebub is going to be all about his pattern. Once you understand the pattern of the flying creatures (bees?), you’ll start to understand the best times when to take your shot.
7. You’ll Never Lose Progress Unless You Want To
The great thing about Ghouls N’ Ghosts is that it has an infinite Continue. So for all those newcomers out there, when you come to the screen that asks if you wish to continue, you can say yes as many times as you want and never lose your progress in-game. It’s just a matter of how long you can handle dying over and over again. This is what you’d call a classic version of Dark Souls. You’re always bound to die in Ghouls N’ Ghosts and it’s notorious for being incredibly difficult. That’s why I pride myself in finishing the first playthrough in about 15 minutes. Now if I could just get through the second playthrough and kill Lucifer...
