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So you mean to tell me that there’s another arcade game, made by Capcom in the late 80s,
centering on a knight dude in a 2D hellish dungeon environment, having to beat down hordes
of monsters and the undead and weird fire-throwing dudes, proceeding generally upward and rightward,
and if he gets hit his armor gets blown off, and it’s NOT Ghosts ‘n Goblins? (Turns
out, the armor-getting blown off was a much more common thing, but that’ll have to wait
for my review of Midnight Wanderers.) Nope, it’s Black Tiger, which plays very similar
to Capcom’s staple horror platformer franchise, but mixes it up in one or two ways. Mostly
just two.
THE FIRST: You can buy upgrades! Enemies dissolve into currency which you can then use to buy
extra health, better armor, or more vicious flails. (The dirks you throw with each melee
attack seem to be constant, though.) And this is crucial, because the enemies grow more
and more resilient with each passing stage. Those ogre-looking shield-bearing jerks that
were fairly simple to dispatch in the first stage get a healthy upgrade in the second,
and unless you’ve got an upgraded whip-thingie you’re probably not going to survive. Upgrade
said whip, though, and they go down like the price of 100 Grand bars after Halloween. (They’re
good for about 45 Grand, give or take.) Still, there are so many dangers - slimes, falling
rocks, spike pits, snakes, exploding treasure chests, mummies, skeletons, weird skull-emblazoned
spinning plate things of doom - that it’ll take every last zenny you have to make it
through. (Man. Capcom really likes their zenny.) Occasionally you’ll come upon a petrified
old guy, who might dispense advice, cash, potions, or open up shop right then and there.
And then they get the heck out, because it’s freakin’ dangerous!
THE SECOND: Okay, I kinda lied. The rest of the game distressingly identical to Ghosts
‘n Goblins, the primary difference being a bit more player durability thanks to increased
armor capacity. Also, there’s the weird ladder-analog-to-ladder-analog climbing sections,
which are pretty unique. But for the most part, Black Tiger feels a sidegrade rather
than an upgrade. Kinda like Gradius and Salamander. I guess you could look at this as Ghosts ‘n
Goblins 1.5, as the actual sequel, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, hit arcades the year after Black
Tiger. It’s an interesting almost-spinoff, but ultimately feels a bit too derivative
for its own good, especially in the shadow of such a long-running and well-respected
series. But at least it welcomes me to dungeons. I can’t think of another game that has this
kind of courtesy... oh wait, Space Harrier. Never mind.