Retro Corner: Ghouls N Ghosts (Sega Genesis) Review · 9:01pm Oct 28th, 2018
A new edition of Retro Corner is up as we take look at Genesis port of Ghouls N Ghosts. Porting from any studio has been a practice trade since the early 80s from most publishers. Just like it is today with publishers bringing PC games to the consoles, back then it was Arcades to home systems. During the Golden Age, consoles were trying to emulate the Arcades in many areas. Most of the time the 16-bit systems got used for such things as companies like Sega, Capcom, Konami and Acclaim usually ported them over. For the Genesis, that was their marketing during the first two years and it revolved around bringing the arcade experience home. That was before Sonic became their main marketing icon but even after that Sega didn't stop bringing this experience to the Genesis. That's how gamers got Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter II and Streets of Rage on their system.
For the review, the game is a port of the Arcade title that got released in 1989 during the Genesis' launch window. The first year of a console cycle never sees that many key titles for its lineup for obvious reasons. For the Genesis, that's actually true as it weren't be until 1991 when Sega starting getting notable games. However, Sega sold the Genesis on being a console that had Arcade quality titles available in the system library. GNG got featured in these ads and Sega had a side by side comparison for each game they listed. Unlike the 8-bit systems, the 16-bit consoles enable developers to almost retain what the Arcades had. Despite the consoles' limitations, these studios managed to bring a near identical gaming experience as seen from GNG. Of course, more arcade porting would follow on to the Genesis years after Sonic debuted as their mascot.
