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This is a conversion of a Capcom arcade hit from last year - the sequel to the classic Ghosts 'N Goblins. As in its predecessor, the player in Ghouls 'N Ghosts is cast as a knight on a quest through the spooky cohorts of the local demon, who has captured a princess. He's an athletic sort of chap, and even though he's wearing heavy plate armour he can run and jump like a frog on amphetamines. For protection, he keeps a magic weapon about his person at all times.

These weapons come in chests which have to be shot open to reveal their contents. They range from rapid-fire dangers, to razor-tipped throwing shields, but to add further to your arsenal, there's magic armour which lets you "power-up" and unleash mega-destructive spells.

Wicked sorcerers also like to hide in the chests, though, and if one is released he casts a spell which can change our hero into an arthritic old man or a duck for a while.

The first part of his mission sees the knight crossing a scrolling graveyard, fighting against the wind in a stormy forest and then climbing a mountain, a trip which pits him against grim reapers, goo-vomiting ogres, groping tentacles and skull-spitting plants. If the knight runs into a baddie his armour is knocked off and he has to run around in his Y-fronts until he can pick up a new suit!

At the end of the first stage the knight has to fight a far-from-jolly green giant. If he can get past him his quest then takes him past windmills, across ropey rope bridges and shaking ground, over pits of flame, and up on a rising floor onto which crawl huge, legless knights.

That takes you as far as level three, but what is beyond that I cannot say because Ghouls 'N Ghosts is a flipping hard game, about as tough as the coin-op in fact. The monsters are just so mean, and every time the knight gets killed, he's sent back half a level! But in spite of the difficulty, I find myself unable to leave this game alone. Because you have to be on your toes every picosecond, there's a real sense of challenge and you have just got to keep playing if only to see what the next bit looks like.

The graphics are arcade perfect, right from the scrolling scenery (check out the swaying trees, the flying leaves and the pouring rain in the forest on stage one), to the nasty ghoulies and end of level demi-demons. But even the graphics are surpassed by the eerie pipe organ music and stunning sound effects - they are simply incredible.

In the light of the first few Megadrive releases, I had some doubts about whether it would be a serious competitor for the PC Engine, but those doubts are now gone. Ghouls 'N Ghosts might cost over forty quid, but since you're basically buying exactly the same game that's in the coin-op cabinet, I can't really call it expensive!

A perfect arcade conversion, undoubtedly the best 16-bit Sega title yet. Let's hope this is the shape of things to come!