Retro Gamer Ryan: RGR Game #010: Gargoyle's Quest

He looks a bit friendlier in-game.

Way to mess up a photo, Firebrand.

All right, folks, it's time for a new game, and a new system, now that I'm finished with Dragon Warrior III. Game number 10 (for those of you keeping count) is Gargoyle's Quest, an adventure platformer with RPG elements for the Game Boy. The story is simple enough: an evil army called the Destroyers, led by King Breager, has risen up against the Ghoul Realm, and only the gargoyle Firebrand can defeat them. The game is a spin-off of the Ghosts 'n' Goblins series, and Firebrand is actually not a gargoyle, but rather a Red Arremer. Word of this apparently never made it to whoever created the box art for the game, because Firebrand is a bright green there.

Since the Game Boy has such itty bitty screen dimensions (160x144), I've decided to blow up the screenshots by a factor of two in each direction. They should still fit two to a row if you're viewing the blog at a decent resolution.

The game starts with several ghouls rushing in to relay the terrible news of King Breager's attack to Firebrand, who is currently somewhere outside the Ghoul Realm (probably on Earth, from the looks of things). So he must first make his way through the dimensional portal, an enemy-ridden obstacle course connecting the two realms. Since Firebrand starts out very weak (two hit points, one shot on screen at a time, very limited flight duration), it's a bit tough to really get started in the game. I died several times on the way through the dimensional portal, and many more against the first boss.

First Boss: Zundo Druer

He's no tougher than any other fire-breathing flying fish with human hands you've ever seen, but given Firebrand's relative weakness at this point in the game, Zundo Druer can be a handful. He rises from the swamp below, travels in a straight line toward you, and drops back down while shooting fireballs at you. The toughest part about the fight is trying to navigate the chunks of wall scattered around the area, using them to evade him and line up attacks.

After losing several times, I finally started to master the art of flying short distances while shooting, and was able to defeat Zundo Druer. In the Ghoul Realm, I ran into both random and non-random enemy encounters, all of which dropped me into short action sequences with minor enemy battles. Each battle earned me one or more vials, which can be traded for talismans that serve as extra lives. I wandered for a bit, fighting enemies and earning vials, and eventually happened upon a town where I was able to save my game via a magic spell, also known as a password.