The new game offers quite a bit of explanation of what's going on, even though it's not needed. Ghosts 'N Goblins is about moving from the left to the right, jumping often, and getting ever closer to the imperiled princess. When it was on the NES, this game represented excellent visual detail and endearing artistic choices for the time. Arthur was just goofy enough, with his gangly legs and stout torso, to root for. If he was any cuter, he'd be at the same level of cute that makes some characters hard to stomach. The PSP Arthur, and the rest of the game, capture the identity of the original perfectly. Visually, Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins is a perfect upgrade and the game seems right at home on the PSP.

At the start, you'll have a suit of armor, an unlimited number of lances to throw at enemies and the ability to jump - that's all that stands between you and the bad guys, which include the undead and other assorted gothic evil. If you get hit by or touch any enemy, the suit of armor is ripped clean off and Arthur is reduced to running around in his undies. If you get hit again, you're done for.

Upgrades await you, of course. You'll find boots that let you double jump, weapons like boomerang blades, daggers and more lances. The new game also adds shields, which can be used to block attacks - a function completely foreign to the original game, which forced you to avoid all enemy contact. Also new is the idea of powerful magic, which can now be used to fry whole screens of enemies. Grabbing ledges and pulling himself up is something else Arthur couldn't do before, but together these new options offer flexibility that brings Ghosts 'N Goblins up to date with other platform games.

A new take on a classic that hasn't been remade in a long time should be a guaranteed good time. But the first sign that you're in for trouble will be when you make your first jump. Once you jump, there's no going back and you have no control over Arthur. You can't turn, so every blind jump is guesswork until you memorize the entire level and pattern of the bad guys. This was a lot more normal a long time ago, but now it's cause for controller throwing. This being a PSP game, that would be bad.

After a lot of replaying and memorizing to complete the first five levels (out of six), you'll have to do a lot of backtracking to previous levels to find the number of gold rings you need to move forward. That means replaying levels that weren't all that fun the first time. There is a graveyard )and considering the opening level of the original game, there had better be one in the remake), castles and other levels that defy description. There are falling stairs, crumbling stones and dangerous fluids rising from below, but the variety isn't great enough to motivate players to go back and do it again. The game is about repetition and strict memorization.

The original Ghosts 'N Goblins was famously difficult, so it's hard to fault the new game for being difficult, too. The difference is that the new Ghosts 'N Goblins is difficult in manufactured ways - controls and structure - which force replays of previous levels. There are, undoubtedly, people in the world who will gobble up the challenges of Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins. But the rest were probably looking for more fun and less frustration with their dose of nostalgia.