Two hits and Arthur is running in his underwear. Welcome to 1985.

On the gut pick, Ghosts 'n Goblins only gets ahead of 23% of games. The criterion by criterion breakdown explains the gap. Attachment sits low, fun sits lower, and art style falls ahead of just 11% of titles. No surprise: a 1985 arcade machine built to eat your coins one at a time isn't playing on the field of emotion or modern art direction. One line holds firm though, and it's a beauty: the soundtrack, ahead of 68% of games, on more votes than any other criterion here. That graveyard theme crosses forty years without a wrinkle. Desert island and rediscovery land exactly at the median, controller feel just under, all on few votes, so treat it as early signal.

Against contemporary difficulty, the kind that drops you back at the nearest checkpoint, Capcom's brutality speaks another language. It punishes without explaining. Some call that unfair. Others call it folklore.

So, who's it for? For you if you like hitting a wall and coming back out of principle, and if a soundtrack alone is enough to carry the trip. Much less if you want a game that wishes you well.