Ghosts'n Goblins (Arcade)

So Arthur was chilling with Princess Prin Prin in a graveyard when she suddenly gets nabbed by a giant red demon. Now Arthur has to go through six hellish stages - twice - and defeat Astaroth to get her back.

MORAL: Do not take your girlfriend to a graveyard for a date.

Sub-Pages#

Prototype Info Prerelease Info

Debug Switch#

The first Japanese revision has a debug mode of sorts: flip Dip Switch 2A and Arthur will be invincible! This does not work on any other revision.

Unused Music#

Track 39 is a short two-second tune that was used in the prototype after defeating a boss.

Unused Graphics#

An alternate design for the Time indicator. This uses a unique graphic, while the final version just uses the standard font.

It's a cursor. The only place this could be used is the name entry screen.

Unused interrobang and double exclamation point graphics. There's only one point where the latter would be needed, but the game uses two single exclamation points instead.

Programmer Message#

A hidden message is on the audio CPU, starting at 0x003E. Its formatting has been changed for better readability, as the original message has no line breaks.

THIS PROGRAME IS PROGRAMED BY TOSHIO ARIMA , IF YOU NEED SAME INFORMETION 
THEN FONE 0726-74-0943 , OR  2-14,YAWATA MACHI, TAKATSUKI, 569 OSAKA JAPAN

Regional Differences#

To do: There's more.

Title Screen#

Japan	World	US

The game is known as Makaimura (魔界村, "Demon World Village") in Japan.

The US release by Taito is same as the World set one, but the copyright disclaimer is different: the 1985 copyright year is rendered in Arabic numerals rather than Roman numerals in other versions, "Capcom" is changed to "Taito America Corp.", "All Rights Reseved" is changed to "Licensed from Capcom Co., Ltd."

What you see if you stop the emulator when screen is written at location 2146. The "GHOST'N GOBLINS" (ghost singular!) text appears as text, briefly before being overwritten by the graphic font, as shown in this World version screenshot

There is a text hidden below the actual title graphics, maybe as a stand-in before the game was completed?

Cross#

The Cross weapon from the Japanese version was changed to a Shield. This is a purely cosmetic change; both weapons have the same properties.

Stage 6#

Japan	Other

The last section before the two Satan bosses was changed to make the climb up a bit easier. In the Japanese revisions, there are three sitting Red Arremers and one Arremer (in the bottom-right corner) that's invisible until the player gets close enough.

Every other version has one less Red Arremer, their positions have changed, and they all pop out if the player is close. Every cranny with one ogre originally had two in the Japanese game.

Revisional Differences#

Around February 24, 2026, a previously unknown Ghosts 'n Goblins World set was discovered and subsequently added to MAME. As a result, the World sets were reorganized and renumbered.

The newly discovered ROM was designated as World 2, prompting a shift in the existing set order:

• The original World 3 set was reassigned to World 1
• The newly discovered set became World 2
• The original World 1 set was moved to World 3
• The original World 2 set was moved to World 4

So as it stands. there are eight recognized revisions: three Japanese, four "World", and one US. The order appears to be (using the MAME ROMset names) Japan A, Japan C, World 1, U.S.A., World 2, Japan G, World 3, World 4.

• makaimur: Makaimura (Japan revision A?)
• makaimurc: Makaimura (Japan revision C)
• makaimurg: Makaimura (Japan revision G)
• gng: Ghosts'n Goblins (World? set 1)
• gnga: Ghosts'n Goblins (World? set 2)
• gngb: Ghosts'n Goblins (World? set 3)
• gngc: Ghosts'n Goblins (World? set 4)
• gngt: Ghosts'n Goblins (US)

Debug Switch#

As noted above, the invincibility dip switch only functions in the first Japanese revision.

ROM/RAM Check#

In all versions except the first Japanese revision, the integrity of the ROM and RAM are checked before displaying the title screen.

Sound Test#

The first Japanese revision has two errors in the Sound Test. First, a track can only be played once per button press (in other revisions, they can be played multiple times without switching). Second, music will never stop playing once it's started, diminishing the usefulness of the Sound Test. In other revisions, the music stops if a sound effect is played.

Boss Scroll Bug#

In some versions, scrolling a boss offscreen will destroy the boss object and the game will act as if the boss was killed. This is easiest to do in Stages 4 and 5.

Attract Bug#

The attract mode is pseudo random. In World version 1 at least, if you leave it on for many hours, it will eventually crash at the level 1 gate.

Alarm Bug#

In all three of the World board sets, there's a bug with the "low time" alarm: Once the alarm starts, it can never stop, even if the player enters a new part of the level and the timer resets.

Stage 6 Unicorns#

One	Two

Some revisions add an extra Unicorn at the start of Stage 6, which makes it harder to get past them without taking a hit.

Ladder Skeleton#

Far	Near

Present in all international revisions except World 2, the last skeleton of Stage 6 is either right next to the ladder or a block away from it. If the skeleton is near the ladder, the player will have to climb up to wake it up, then climb back down to avoid taking a hit.

Stage 6 Boss HP#

The two Satan bosses have different HP values between revisions. In the Japanese revisions and World 2, they have 4 HP each; in the other revisions, they both have 8 HP.

References#