I was casually browsing through the Play Store when I stumbled upon the original version of Ghost‘n Goblins for Android. I was stunned. Anyone who has played this game can attest that this is an insanely difficult game to play on a controller, so the fact that it’s here, playable on a mobile device via virtual buttons, is just mind blowing.

I’m not going to pretend that I beat the game. Nope. I think it might be impossible without a Bluetooth controller, but I did bash my head against the wall enough to tell you that it’s actually a pretty faithful port. And that the controls actually didn’t hinder my near non-existent skills anyway. In fact, the controls are almost competent.

If you’ve never played GnG, it’s an old school side scrolling platformer that originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. It’s an old game but a fun one. You play a knight who is on a quest to save his kidnapped lover. You’ll go from several levels lancing lances at all kinds of evil and undead creatures.

As I mentioned above, the game is brutally difficult, but also very fun and rewarding. It’s a game I think a lot of people would have trouble making significant progress on because it the control layout on the game’s screen is a little awkward, and until you get used to not pressing the down and up buttons on accident, getting stuck and probably dying, you’ll likely, well, die. It’ll be frustrating, but at $.99, I think it’s worth a fair shot for platformer fans.