76. Jigoku Meguri (Taito, Arcade (PS2), 1988)

Jigoku Meguri is literally translated as "hell tour", and that's not a bad description of the game. You play as a Buddhist monk journeying through a Japanese version of hell, fighting all sorts of ghosts and demons along the way.

Gameplay is not extremely different than something like Ghosts 'n' Goblins, you have a jump and an attack button, and being touched by any enemy instantly kills you. Fortunately, you have the ability to throw buddhist prayer beads at an alarmingly fast rate. The beads are more like orbs, as they start out basketball size but increase to be about the same size as your character after a few powerups are collected.

Through the few levels of Jigoku Meguri that I played I did not get to any boss encounters. The level design rewards slow, cautious gameplay, which is not my favorite, and the difficulty really increases once more obstacles start to accompany the hordes of enemies. The platforming and action are not awful, but they are nothing to write home about either.

2/5, like a more bearable Ghosts 'n' Goblins