Ghosts 'n Goblins — stories left

In a popularity poll of Gamest readers covering all arcade games (1991), it placed 36th, and it is described as "a high-difficulty game that made Capcom's name known at a stroke". It was later ported to various hobby personal computers and home game consoles, and sequels and related titles were produced (#Reception, #Ports, #Series titles).

Cumulative sales of the Family Computer version were 1,640,000 copies.

3 of the titles are also included in Capcom Classics Collection for the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation Portable.

In the Gamest Mook The Best Game (1991), it placed 36th in a popularity poll of Gamest readers covering all arcade games.

In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by the magazine Family Computer Magazine,it scored 20.19 out of 30, as listed separately.

As of 2026-3-31, cumulative worldwide sales of the series were 4,800,000 copies.

It was in development as the 3rd title in the series, but was cancelled.

The NES version was a best-seller, with 1.64 million units sold worldwide.

Ghosts 'n Goblins was followed by a series of sequels and spin-offs eventually becoming Capcom's 8th best-selling game franchise, selling over 4.4 million units.

Fujiwara has said that developing this game was more fun than Commando, but he has also said that a considerable amount of fatigue builds up after development, so he would not feel like making a sequel straight away.

The success of Commando (1985) and Ghosts 'n Goblins have been credited as the products "that shot" Capcom to "8-bit silicon stardom" in the mid-1980s.

Computer Gaming World called the NES version of Ghosts 'n Goblins "an excellent example of what the [NES] can do ... while hardly groundbreaking, [it] represents the kind of game that made Nintendo famous".

Writing in 2007, Marcel van Duyn of Nintendo Life gave the game 7 out of 10 stars, declaring that it provided "appeal and enjoyment" to fans of the series, while criticising its platforming and finding that it was "less fun than its contemporaries".

In a 2011 review, Lucas Thomas of IGN opined that the game was so hard it would be a "waste of time" for most players, as they would not be able to justify the eight-dollar price tag the game had at the time.

Planned in 1994 - PlayStation (cancelled)

Scheduled for release in 1997 - NINTENDO 64 (cancelled)

Announced in 2003 - PC (cancelled)

Release date unknown - PlayStation 2 (cancelled)

An original Family Computer sequel called Makaijima had been planned as the follow-up to Ghosts 'n Goblins, before Ghouls 'n Ghosts, but it was cancelled for various reasons. It was mentioned in the "Mariko Morishita's Mysterious Unconfirmed Game Information" column in Famitsu at the time.

It was among the top ten highest-grossing arcade games of 1986 in Japan and the US, as well as the year's sixth best-selling computer game in the UK, with the Nintendo Entertainment System version selling over units worldwide.

On home computers, it was the top-selling game in the United Kingdom for two months during July–August 1986, and it went on to become the sixth best-selling game of 1986 in the UK.

Ghosts 'n Goblins was followed by a series of sequels and spin-offs eventually becoming Capcom's 8th best-selling game franchise, selling over 4.4 million units.

The Famicom version was released on June 13, 1986, and was the first Famicom game to utilize a 128 KB cartridge.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Makaimura as the second most popular arcade game for the last two weeks of September 1985, before it went on to be the fourth highest-grossing table arcade game during the first half of 1986 and the overall tenth highest-grossing table arcade game of 1986.

The original arcade version of the game was also included in the compilation Capcom Generations Vol.2: Chronicles of Arthur for the PlayStation (in Japan and Europe) and Sega Saturn (in Japan only), which also contained Ghouls 'n Ghosts and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts.

The PC-8801 and FM-7 versions were released by ASCII, and the Game Boy Color version was released outside Japan only.

The version released first had a timer-related bug that made an endless pattern possible, so a corrected version was released.

In addition, the name of "Red Arremer", who appears in this game, comes from the name of Toshio Arima, then a Capcom employee in charge of programming. The artwork was finished first, and because the character resembled Arima, he came to be called "Red Arremer" within the development department before anyone noticed.

An original Family Computer sequel called Makaijima had been planned as the follow-up to Ghosts 'n Goblins, before Ghouls 'n Ghosts, but it was cancelled for various reasons. It was mentioned in the "Mariko Morishita's Mysterious Unconfirmed Game Information" column in Famitsu at the time.