The Haunted Hoard: Gargoyle’s Quest (Game Boy)

There is perhaps no creature greater feared in the arcade game Ghosts ‘n Goblins than the Red Arremer. Standing out as a particularly difficult foe to overcome in a game already famous for its brutal difficulty, the swift and persistent demon no doubt inspired more rage and anger than even the game’s main villain, although that might partially be because he’ll be one of the enemies making it so you might not even see that final boss. While giving such a loathed monster his own game might sound strange, Gargoyle’s Quest at least likely picked the most recognizable monster to give a promotion to the leading role, and what’s more, getting to wield that power that made him such a pest is a bit of a thrilling prospect after no doubt seeing poor Sir Arthur crumble before the Arremer time and time again.

 

Gargoyle’s Quest features a particular Red Arremer by the name of Firebrand, one who looks a good deal more fearsome than the oddly green gargoyle on the box art. Residing in the Ghoul Realm where monsters and beasts peacefully coexist, a force from long ago reemerges. The Destroyers once almost conquered the land, but a gargoyle known as the Red Blaze defeated them. Years later, King Breager leads the Destroyers in a second attempt to rule the Ghoul Realm, but with no Red Blaze in sight, Firebrand tries to step up and protect his people. While Gargoyle’s Quest is primarily a platformer, there is a good deal of adventuring involved in the journey to take out the Destroyers, the player routinely visiting monster villages to receive aid like passwords for continuing, healing items, or information on important quests necessary for reaching new areas.

There’s not often too much to do in a town so it doesn’t slow things down much and it does add a little break between the more involved levels, although a bit of a poor choice was made in having traveling across the world map lead to random battles. These come in very few formats, aren’t that difficult, and you’re healed up afterwards, truly feeling more like interruptions after you’ve learned how to handle each one probably after your first encounter with that type. While they do wear down the times enemies do block your path and trigger similar fights by way of just repeating the formula, they aren’t too much of a hindrance to your adventure and the game’s major stages are more involved and unique to make up for these minor battles.

 

In a regular stage of Gargoyle’s Quest, Firebrand’s powers are truly put to the test. When your journey begins, your gargoyle has some fairly limited skills, but he already has a useful range of options for covering ground. He can flap his wings for a time, letting you cross gaps or hover over dangerous terrain, but more interesting is how the limited flight mixes with his wall cling ability. Most walls allow Firebrand to latch on, Firebrand’s flight meter refilling instantly and you can either jump upwards after or find a new area you wish to fly from on your new perch. The flight is mostly just limited horizontal travel, but the stages are able to mix it and wall clinging well so that they can be a bit more complex. At times you’re scaling up large shafts or tentatively plunging down into perilous pits. Others you’re trying to find posts to rest while avoiding flying enemies or making sure you have just enough flight time to avoid plummeting to your doom. Even before you face unique enemy types like skull bushes that launch projectiles or ghosts that only appear once you near the platform they hide in, Gargoyle’s Quest has made its navigation more layered by requiring good use of your movement options but also giving it some room for your own experimentation. Some areas do offer high roads, other times you might find it easier to fight a foe while in the air despite the risk of running out of wing power. Even just that safety net of being able to flap away if you find yourself in a tough situation helps, and as the adventure goes on, your power grows, allowing for longer flight times and increased flexibility as areas start to really test your ability to weave through pointy crystals and flying foes.

Gargoyle’s Quest is certainly difficult, but Firebrand’s power helps mitigate it, and his means of attack grow in power over time too. Starting off with a simple fireball he spits forward, you can take out most of the early enemies you encounter quickly enough, but later foes require you to use the new attacks you earn along the adventure. For the most part, these are just stronger fireballs, but they do have additional functions like an attack that break through blocks. The most interesting though is the attack that also launches a waxy substance that can cover up the spikes on walls so you can cling to them and use them for navigation as well. The gradual growth in attack power is certainly satisfying, but the added navigational tool is a nifty addition to some late game exploration.

 

You’ll gradually gain some more health over the adventure as well, the early game bosses able to be a bit tougher despite their simpler designs because you can’t afford to get hit while later ones still require identifying how they move to avoid losing despite your greater room for error. Unfortunately the final bosses are more waiting games than exciting conflicts, but there is a good degree of challenge before then to make up for it as you are able to feel strong as Firebrand while still needing to respect even the most basic hooded fiend walking about due to the game having a strong sense for fiendish but mostly fair enemy placement. Levels also contain a good deal of Vials off to the side to test your greed, these useful as currency for buying extra lives but you might just lose a life trying to grab them. Game Overs do send you back to the last town provided you spoke with the password zombie, but individual stages usually give you some time to recuperate after and become easier to clear once you know what lies ahead so that difficulty remains tangible but manageable.

THE VERDICT: A bit of flight, a wall cling, and some fireballs is all Firebrand needs to be an unexpected hero who is fun to control. Gargoyle’s Quest can lay out levels that are somewhat complex and rather challenging because you have good tools for navigating them and there seems to be a generally strong sense for how to place the dangers in your path. Visiting towns is mostly just a nifty cooldown rather than something that adds a good deal to this spooky adventure and the random battles feel frivolous, but when in a major stage or facing down a boss, you’ll find your skills put to the test while Firebrand’s strength prevents this from being as frustrating as the Ghosts ‘n Goblins games he came from.

 

And so, I give Gargoyle’s Quest for Game Boy…

A GOOD rating. The late game bosses that aren’t that interactive and a few hazards like some drills that are very hard to slip past do make some of the game’s final moments weaker, but beyond those and the repetitive albeit sparse random battles, Gargoyle’s Quest usually serves up a good range of level concepts that prove good hosts for Firebrand’s power. Your wing power is limited well to make for some tense hovers early on but when you are asked to fly into the unknown you can often count on there being solid ground so you aren’t blindly throwing yourself into danger. Gargoyle’s Quest is more than able to toss trouble into the area you can see without it feeling oppressive, the player needing to be careful about how they hover and line up their attacks but the difficulty isn’t so punishing that you feel disheartened when you do slip up. Taking out the random battles wouldn’t hurt the game at all, there are already forced battles on the map that allow all the fight formats to show up anyway and they wouldn’t grow stale if they were the only times you see those quick skirmishes crop up. The villages could be deeper and give you more things to do with your Vials to make acquiring them more meaningful, the random battles rewarding paltry Vial rewards likely meant to feed your extra lives if needed but it’s an inelegant solution that only drags things down with unexciting interruptions. The levels do their job well though and aren’t so large they grow confusing despite the many angles you can travel, so even though losing lives sets you back, it’s usually easy to charge through what you saw from last time as needed. There is a mid-level healing option you can acquire one of at a time, giving the player more room for error that helps make up for some tougher spots while making some of the late game boss waiting more tolerable since you won’t lament slip-ups so much if you can heal them away.

 

Gargoyle’s Quest is an entertaining Game Boy adventure that does a good job of putting you into the world of monsters for some fiendish fun. While the Red Arremers you detest in Ghost ‘n Goblins were certainly more flighty and fast, Firebrand here is still powerful and capable, his movement handled incredibly well and everything from level design to enemy encounters are enhanced by being designed to oppose him but not to an obnoxious degree. When you trigger a trap to release a rolling iron ball you have options to escape in time, when you spot a monster on a perch you want you can figure out a good means of taking them out without too much risk to yourself. Firebrand is a good fit for the Ghoul Realm, this monster’s heroic journey a nice new path for the fearsome fiend.