If you’re a gamer looking for a challenge, look no further than the GBA port of the classic Super NES game “Super Ghouls ‘N’ Ghosts”. It is easily the hardest videogame ever made, and is likely going to be an exercise in frustration for all but the most expert gamer. In fact, in the dictionary next to the word “frustration”, there’s a picture of this game … no foolin’.

For those not familiar with the “Ghosts” series, you play the character of Arthur, an intrepid knight off to rescue the Princess Guinevere from the evil Sardius. Along the way, Arthur encounters danger in haunted graveyards, haunted shipyards, haunted castles, etc. It’s pretty much standard early 90’s fantasy story, but as you’ll find out in short order, the hero isn’t going to be able to just waltz in and rescue the Princess.

Part of what makes the game so damned difficult is that Arthur can only take two hits, the first destroying his suit of armor (leaving him in his boxers), and the second killing him. If that were it, it wouldn’t be so bad, but there’s also the fact that when Arthur jumps, you lose all control of the hero as momentum carries him to his landing. This makes it very difficult to avoid several types of enemies in the game, namely anything that throws projectiles or moves swiftly, or when the terrain changes on you when you least expect it. Capcom seems fond of using the control scheme to increase tension in their games (see Resident Evil), but this is pretty standard for old-school fare.

That’s not the worst part. At the risk of spoiling the “ending”, in order to beat the game, you must go through the game a second time (with harder enemies) since when you reach the end boss, you don’t have an item you need and are forced to go through the game a second time. It’s not a task for the weak of heart, because you’re going to die — a lot, repeatedly, and with little remorse.

There are plenty of different weapons to help you along the way, armor upgrades (a godsend!), and a new cartridge save feature that can help (a first for the series). But the only way to beat this game is to try and try again, since learning enemy patterns and the level terrain is critical. It surely wouldn’t hurt if you possess the mystic ability to “zen” the game as well, where you get into a sort of unstoppable groove. That’s when you can tackle the ridiculously hard “rearrange” mode, where you can pick your path through the game.

There’s really nothing to set this game apart in terms of graphics or sound, it’s a pretty accurate port of the first-generation Super NES version, even complete with some of the slowdown from its counterpart. There is one thing missing, though: the level skip cheat from the SNES version which required the second controller has been omitted.

There is some nice sprite scaling, but that’s about it for technical achievement. It’s the gameplay that makes it worthwhile. The landscape changes in midlevel, rising or falling just to keep you on edge. Hidden triggers (activated when you jump in the right places) reveal treasure chests containing weapons, armor, or devious magicians. Combinations of weapons and armor can give Arthur the ability to use some magical attacks as well as his standard weapons.

Capcom should have included one of those “bumper” things for your GBA, because it’s incredibly tempting to fling your handheld across the room after the 50th time you’ve died, but for those that can stick with it, there is no satisfaction like beating one of the hardest games ever. Not to mention that every other game starts to pale in comparison when you start breezing through them. Super Ghouls ‘N’ Ghosts will forever change your idea of what a hard game is.

Oh, and there’s “Hard” and “Expert” modes too, in addition to “Easy” and “Normal”. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.