It's an arcade game I can beat multiple times through. Unlike the NES version, the arcade version never-ends, but you get a "bad" ending every odd playthrough and a "good" ending every even playthrough, with the speed of everything increasing after each playthrough. At some point you're gonna lose just because everything's moving too fast, no matter how good you are.
I think the "correct weapons" aspect is BS though. Just because you don't have the right weapon at a boss you can't get past? This is even more BS on the NES version since every boss has at least one "incorrect" weapon they're invincible to. But even the arcade version needs a certain weapon to beat the last boss.
Game would be better if it didn't require you have certain "correct weapons" at different parts of the game.
As hard as Ghosts 'n Goblins is, Ghouls 'n Ghosts (the sequel of Ghosts 'n Goblins) is much harder by the way.
Fun fact. There's a secret code in Mega Man 7 in Shade Man's stage that, if you enter it, plays a remix of the Ghosts 'n Goblins song for the stage music instead of the normal music for Shade Man's stage.
