Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts - One Credit Challenge, Level 3

This is definitely an old-school game where you can memorize the sections and, in that way, find the best way to get through a level. The randomly spawning enemies just make it that much more difficult.

I greatly impressed myself by getting to level 3 on one credit. Getting the right weapon helps tremendously. For pretty much all of Level 1, I like the bow. For stage 2, the axe is probably the best weapon in the beginning, though just about any weapon but the bow will do (unless you have one of the armors that powers it up). In the second section of level 2, the dagger is definitely where it's at. The dagger remains pretty good for the beginning of stage 3, in the second section you want the bow again.

After losing my last life toward the middle of stage 3, I continued and kept playing until I beat the stage. Stage 3 actually isn't that difficult and I have hope I can make it to stage 4 on one credit before the week is out.

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts - One Credit Challenge, Level 2

The GnG series (Ghosts 'n Goblins, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and newcomber PSP game Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins) is notorious for its difficulty. Really notorious. The games are fair, but they are frustrating because they require such precision. Hence it is this week's one credit challenge.

So what makes these games difficult? Well they pretty much all have these play features:

You start out in a suit of armor. One hit from any enemy removes that armor and reduces you to your boxers. Another hit kills you. Also, these games require you to fully commit when you jump. Once you hit the jump button, you are jumping and will land in the place decided by your direction at the time, facing the way you were when you jumping. This isn't a Mario game - there is no way to adjust the trajectory or direction of your jump mid-air. Also, there are always randomly spawning enemies on a level so you cannot purely memorize where everything is, but must be cognizant of where the randomly spawned enemies are.

The game is bright and colorful. It has great music and a variety of weapons you can use. It is fun, but it also makes you throw your controller at the wall in frustration.