Ghouls 'n Ghosts (1988) for the NES?

[ColecoFan1981]

Although there were only two Capcom Ghosts releases in the world of Nintendo (Ghosts 'n Goblins for the NES and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts for the Super NES) I cannot help wonder if Capcom could've released the original Ghouls 'n Ghosts for the NES? It would've benefited from their sound library they'd used in their other 1989 NES releases such as Mega Man II and Disney's DuckTales.

I'm led to believe they never did so for the NES, since Nintendo's main competitor, Sega, had already self-released Ghouls (under license from Capcom) for both its Genesis (1989) and Master System (1990) consoles.

Of course, all three of these Ghosts titles are different. Of the three, only the Super NES release, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, was never released in arcades.

~Ben

[Rob2600]

Could you repeat the question?

[ColecoFan1981]

Could you repeat the question?

I should have asked: do you think there could have been a port of Ghouls for the original NES 8-bit? Again, take into consideration the fact that this game was licensed to Sega for release on their Genesis and Master System consoles. And the old standby fact that Capcom could only release five titles per calendar year and just for the NES.

The games Capcom did release in 1989 for the NES were:
Mega Man II (6/89)
Disney's DuckTales (9/89)
Strider (7/89)
Willow (12/89)
(I can't think of the last one for that year--please help me)

~Ben

[Drixxel]

The more that I mull it over, it doesn't seem unreasonable to think that Capcom may have given an NES port of Ghouls 'n' Ghosts consideration, assuming a legal means to do so. There was work started on an NES port of Black Tiger that never came to anything, so it's not a stretch to imagine that preliminary efforts may have begun on other arcade-to-NES conversions from the period. That would seem plausible for Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, a game which inevitably received a smattering of ports to home computers and consoles in the immediate years following its arcade release. Also, I bet a Ghouls 'n' Ghosts NES port would have turned out quite interestingly - the SMS conversion certainly went in its own direction yet remained recognizable and fun to play.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I'm willing to bet the reason it didn't happen had to do with the limit of games third party publishers could make for the NES per year. Dai Makimura probably was considered, then delayed, and then cancelled. It came out on the Master System though, and as much as I like the NES, there's no way a potential NES version would have came out nearly as well.

[Edmond Dantes]

Black Tiger never made it to the NES? That... actually surprises me, because when I play it I can't help but think "this game would feel right at home on the NES."

Seriously, it just has that NES "feel." I'm not sure how to describe it.

[chrisbid]

I'm willing to bet the reason it didn't happen had to do with the limit of games third party publishers could make for the NES per year. Dai Makimura probably was considered, then delayed, and then cancelled. It came out on the Master System though, and as much as I like the NES, there's no way a potential NES version would have came out nearly as well.

this

plus, looking through the nes library there seemed to be a soft ban of arcade ports. it wouldnt surprise me if publishers were strongly encouraged to release console specific games rather than release arcade ports the same way sony discouraged 2D games on the PS and PS2.

[InsaneDavid]

I'm willing to bet the reason it didn't happen had to do with the limit of games third party publishers could make for the NES per year. Dai Makimura probably was considered, then delayed, and then cancelled. It came out on the Master System though, and as much as I like the NES, there's no way a potential NES version would have came out nearly as well.

There was no such restriction on Famicom games, where an NES port of Ghouls 'n Ghosts would have been born from. Also remember Micronics developed the Famicom / NES port of Ghosts 'n Goblins, which was really a quick and dirty arcade port as most of their games were. A couple years later Capcom is much more established making new Famicom properties rather than backporting their old arcade catalog, and I'm guessing that's where most of their resources were being concentrated. Also their overall quality had increased which would explain why they didn't just have a developer-for-hire do the conversion as with Ghosts 'n Goblins.