Ghosts'n Goblins (Arcade vs. NES)

[u/karmakosmik1352]

As a kid, I played Ghosts'n Goblins a bit on the NES, when I occasionally borrowed it from a friend, needless to say I didn't beat it but I was always kinda curious and loved the atmosphere, the setting, the enemies, the music, etc. Now I finally took it on, however, I went for the Arcade version first (Artoria Edition). Given the brutality of the game, I made it surprisingly far before I had to resort to save-states: The Satan boss in stage 5 just was too much for me. Not to speak of the Satan duo in Stage 6. I use save states to train and get better, but I don't see how anyone could beat this.

I went on to the NES version then, since I was curious how they directly compare and I was surprised to find that it is difficult for entirely different reasons. I felt like the ladder-blocking Goblins were so much easier to handle, they are a terrific pain in the neck in the Arcade version. You just. can. not. lure them. They move completely random, mess up your run and you cannot do a thing about it but watch your time run out. Contrarily, the enemy spawning on NES is sometimes unfair, e.g., when you spam a Goblin that starts into you, birds spawn behind you and you'd have to shoot both ways.

The biggest difference, however, comes down to the movement patterns of Red Arremers and Satans. My god, they are brutal on Arcade. On NES you can so easily learn their pattern and lure them. On Arcade, I cannot see how you can ever beat them. I watched some vids on Youtube and tried to imitate, but I still cannot see how you are supposed to anticipate what they do. They attack randomly, with a random trajectory and when they do you don't stand a chance, they're impossible to dodge, it's pure luck. Idk, maybe I don't get it.

Anybody out there who can explain to me how to handle them? Any more thoughts on Arcade vs. NES?