Retroview - Gargoyle's Quest

Source: Youtube Channel Sele1908

I remember playing Gargoyle's Quest on my cousin's Classic Gameboy and failing to get past even the first level.  Being the retro game that it is, the difficulty of the game was quite high as to challenge the player and having them fail time after time until they were good enough to overcome those obstacles.  Retro games were like that because they didn't have a lot of memory space to fit in a whole lot (not to mention development teams were really small).  So a lot of retro games were intentionally difficult and have certain game designs to make it last longer than it actually is for gameplay time.  With the addition of Firebrand in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I was reminded of the game (as well as Demon's Crest which is essentially Gargoyle's Quest 3) and decided to play it once again and try to complete it.  I took the time over the weekend to play through Gargoyle's Quest 1 (and had enough time to complete even GQ 2) to see if I can overcome the struggles I had with the game.

Sure enough, I was still having difficulties with the first level as there are always enemies and traps beyond the screen that the player just has to know or be extremely cautious of to avoid.  The player also starts off with only two drops of health, so it's really easy to die and having to start over.  Well, what's different now than when I played back then is that I'm a lot more patient and I'm able to learn from mistakes a lot faster (or at least I hope so).  I finally got past the first level and "BAM", it presents itself looking like an RPG.  When you walk around the world map, you'll go into random encounters like in Pokémon, Final Fantasy, or Dragon Quest, but the player will fight enemies in a small platform area and finishes when all enemies are defeated.  This mix of RPG and Action platforming reminded me of The Legend of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link.

So after about 2-3 hours of playing, I completed the game feeling satisfied that I was able to finish a game that I couldn't even get past the first level to when I was a kid.  Here are some of the things I noticed while playing:

Pros:
-The ability to fly presented an entirely new factor to the platforming
-The light RPG elements mixed the gameplay around and made it more than just a run 'n gun platformer
-Each level, concept, and ability was designed to compliment each other and had a purpose
-Gargoyle's Quest is hard, but it's fair (for the most part)
-It was fairly easy to figure out what to do next
-The music is atmospheric and memorable

Cons:
-A lot of problems with hit-boxes, you'd get hit by things that barely skim past your character's head or toe
-Some levels are unforgiving and losing all your lives means starting the whole game over
-Towns are boring with empty buildings and non-informative NPCs (mostly)
-The pacing of each dialogue drove me nuts, just watch 0:40-0:57, everyone talks like this
-There is a LOT of running back and forth.  You will revisit some areas two to three times
-Hated how the player couldn't hit anything outside the screen, which means having to get closer to danger

For the most part, I enjoyed playing the game.  The ability to fly along with the jumping was quite different and fun to do.  It's probably not a game I'd revisit soon again, but at least it was fun for that one playthrough.