Has anyone beaten Ghost House?

[megasdkirby]

I came across a YouTube vid of a person "beating" the game. But as it turns out, he cheated because he seemed to have infinite energy. Bah! He claims that the game is really hard...but is it really?

I managed to beat the game when I was in my early teens, when I was 12 or so. I remember it was insanely hard, but not impossible as many put it. Just get the key and knife, and you are set.

Problem is, the later rounds are murder. Dracula just couldn't let you go. However, after much practice, and using both the light bulb and missiles trick, a strategy can be planned and executed with great success. The main problem, at least for me, was the THIRD Dracula...the guy would simply re-spawn every single time (sans level 1). So the missile strategy helped wonders here.

I do remember cursing when I finally DID finish the game...the lousy ending it had. Besides that, it was an enjoyable game that could be finished in an hour or so.

IMO

[megasdkirby]

Wow, it seems no one cares for this game!

It's a solid game. But what I don't remember is...how many times does the invisibility trick work? The one where I hop on a missle like 16 times? I know I can use the bulb thing 5 times per round, but I don't remember the other trick.

Where's the Ghost House love???

[Stan]

I think temporary invincibility will work as many times as you can pull it off. I agree, this is a great game, quite hard in the later rounds, however. I've gotten to four and then it goes downhill from there. I want to play the original (Monster Bash) some day, it looks interesting.

[Totoro]

This game is tough. I have a question. Is there a reason why Dracula re-spawns? Sometimes he does it over and over it seems!!!!! Game is OK. Music is top notch.

[grolt]

I played the first level or so just to try it, but I was turned off by it because it seemed like the other card games - repetitive levels that looked as if they'd just continue in a neverending loop. Cool to know it actually ends, though, and good story, kirb-o. I hope to eventually play it more in depth, but my initial impression was that it could have easily passed for Teddy Boy in Dracula World, or something along those lines.

[megasdkirby]

I think the main character's name is "Mick". I look at him, and he does look a bit like Alex Kidd. One reviewer said that he was a cross between Elvis and Alex Kidd.

The game only contains 6 levels. However, levels 4-6 are actually harder versions of the first thee levels, respectively. I am playing it again, and I noticed that the first three levels are a breeze. Level four gets harder due to the fact that Dracula is much faster. Same as level 5, though a little worse. Level six is when he goes full out kamikaze on the player, since he attacks relentlessly. I found a little tactic for the later levels, apart from the ones mentioned above. If I manage to finish the game, I hope to post a complete play through on YouTube. But none of that "no death, speed runs" crap.

Never heard of Monster Bash. I just did a search...is this a PC game? Read it was distributed by Apogee, just like other games (Wolf 3D, Jill of the Jungle, etc). Seems interesting too.

About Dracula respawning...I've noticed that this occurs from level 2 onwards. And it's always the third Dracula you meet, not a particular coffin. For example, level five: you can open two coffins anywhere in the mansion, but the third one will ALWAYS be a respawning Dracula. This is what makes the game very difficult later on, specially on the sixth level. This is actually the part of the game I despise the most. Once I beat him, I feel much better.

I also notice that, although you can open any coffin at any given time, depending on which you open in the later rounds, things can get harder fast. For example, imagine opening the coffins in an area where there are no light bulbs. Or worse, image opening a respawning Dracule coffin, in level five, in the basement, surrounded with flames! Worse if there are no immediate power ups to use while fighting Dracula.

Now I want to play the game...

[Stan]

It says something in the manual, I believe about how later Draculas are 'tricky' and don't die the first time. It's just to make the game more difficult. Caught me off guard the first time because I was standing next to him and he suddenly started about again and hit me. Monster Bash was an arcade title made by Steve Hanawa, I only found out about it when he explained it to me. They made Ghost House from its original premise.

[Melanogaster]

I guess I never spent more than five minutes on this one (or on our local hack, Chapolim) -- I think it's the classic rather-crappy-early-era-game that people are eventually fond of due to nostalgia (like me and TransBot). But I know people that really enjoy the game, so, just like grolt, I hope I can go deeper on it at some point.

[Tonto]

I found it difficult. I've never beaten it.

Also this is one of the best games on the sms, IMHO, naturally. Just has something about it which is wonderful and charming and very, very master system.

[edwithmj]

Ghost house is one of those games that I should get into but like Enduro Racer, I just can't.

[Bock]

I also really like Ghost House. Granted, I had it back in the days, but it's so full of tricks and ideas that I think it's genuinely a good game. It's just from the previous generation and some of you guys may not like it. Teddy Boy is also pretty interesting if you try to master it.

[theking21083]

I never beat Ghost House but have many fond memories of playing it when I was little. It's one of my very early memories of the Sega Master System. One day I would like to beat it.

[JB Rifta]

This game is one of my favs but as mentioned by others its so hard. I have never had the honor of finishing it, but I do enjoy the challenge.

[Tears of Opa-Opa]

I always liked this game, it was among the first games I ever got to play on SMS.


I used to play it a lot but never beat it.
So it actually ends? I always just figured it looped.

By the way, Monster Bash is on MAME for those who want to check it out. It's a cool game and it's interesting to see.


Edit: Weird, I just watched a video on youtube to see the ending and I never realized the bottles you see all over the game did anything. Some heal you while others take away health. You have to duck on them and line your mouth up with the bottle to get back a little energy but you can just keep doing it to totally refill. Crazy to think how much I played this game and never knew about that. Is that info in the booklet?

This video shows the refill trick at 4:21



Here's a video of Monster Bash

[brian]

Feb 7, 2011 20:18:53 GMT Tears of Opa-Opa said:

Weird, I just watched a video on youtube to see the ending and I never realized the bottles you see all over the game did anything. Some heal you while others take away health. You have to duck on them and line your mouth up with the bottle to get back a little energy but you can just keep doing it to totally refill. Crazy to think how much I played this game and never knew about that. Is that info in the booklet?

I don't know if it is or not, but I did not know this either... holy crap, that could make things a lot easier.