A playthrough of Capcom's 1993 action-adventure game for the Nintendo Game Boy, Makaimura Gaiden: The Demon Darkness (魔界村外伝 The Demon Darkness). Makaimura Gaiden is a Game Boy conversion of Gargoyle's Quest II: The Demon Darkness for NES (
), which was the sequel to the 1990 Game Boy game Gargoyle's Quest (
). Though the original NES game got an official English release, the upgraded portable version stayed in Japan. I am playing the game here with a patch that replaces the Japanese text with the script from English version of the NES game. You can find more info at
if you're interested in playing it yourself. The Gargoyle's Quest series was a spin-off trilogy of games rooted in the Ghosts 'n Goblins universe, concluding with Demon's Crest for SNES (
). Instead of playing as the knight Arthur, these action-RPGs put you in control of Firebrand, the flying dragon enemy from Ghosts 'n Goblins that has probably killed you (and everyone else) a million times over. I already spoke about Gargoyle's Quest II in good detail when I uploaded the NES version, so check that out if you want to know more about the core game. The Game Boy version is on par with the other quality ports Capcom of NES games that came out in the early 90s. If you've played the NES game, most of this game will feel very familiar, but there is some new content that makes it worth a revisit. There are two brand new stages in this one, and while they're optional, you do get a couple of nice bonuses for completing them. One of them allows you to separate your spirit from your body so that you can see what's ahead of you without putting yourself at risk, and the other gives you a new homing projectile attack. The addition of both is welcome, and it seems that they were designed specifically to help mitigate any issues caused by the Game Boy's small screen and lower resolution. These new features don't make up for the screen crunch completely, but they do indeed help to reduce the number of blind jumps and cheap hits you'll have to endure. The new stages are also pretty nice because they help to extend the length of the game. They don't add a lot, but at least this one isn't as short as the NES game was. That was always one of my biggest gripes about the NES game - as fun as it was, it was over before you had the chance to really get into it. The game looks and sounds similar to first Gargoyle's Quest did, but there are some nice improvements. The sprites are big, clear, and better detailed than in the original, and the lack of color gives the game a better sense of atmosphere than the garishly colored NES game. The music sounds just about as good as it did on the NES, too, and it nails the gothic vibe perfectly. If you enjoyed the NES version, I'd recommend checking this one out. It's not a huge departure, but the new content makes it worth tracking down. *Recorded using a Retroarch shader to mimic the look of the original hardware. For more Halloween/horror-themed games, check out my playlist!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3gSj_kh1fHuN8U3j4lnYxDOPIpgoQN _____________ No cheats were used during the recording of this video. NintendoComplete (
punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
