Ghosts ’n Goblins (NES version)

There’s substantial joy in some of the combat encounters in “Ghouls ‘n Ghosts”. Enemy attack patterns require lateral thinking by the player, and there is some fun in finding the right way to approach a new enemy. It’s too bad, though, that “Ghosts”, by dint of having a lives system and the hero having basically 2 HP, doesn’t allow room for foresight, experimentation, or strategy, and while there’s something appreciable about later encounters, it’s virtually impossible for all but masochists to reach them without some sort of cheating (invincibility, manual rewind, whatever). Probably should’ve stolen a cue from “Mega Man”.

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