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Platform: Arcade

Region: NTSC

Country: United States of America

Developer(s): Toaplan Co., Ltd.

Publishers(s): Toaplan Co., Ltd.

ReleaseDate: 1989-07-01

Players: 2

Co-op: Yes

Demon's World, released in Japan as "Horror Story", is a platformer arcade game that was developed by Toaplan and published by Taito in 1989. This game is multi-regional, meaning that it can be configured for different regions via the DIP switches. These settings change the legal warnings, can display the Taito licensing message and can change the title between the English version (Demon's World) and the Japanese version (Horror Story). Demon's World is a horror-themed horizontally-scrolling run and gun game where players assume the role of two ghost hunters through ten increasingly difficult linear autoscrolling stages across various locations, some of which have a boss at the end that must be fought before progressing any further in an effort to defeat several ghosts and monsters that were unleashed upon Earth by the titular demon king as the main objective. The player characters are armed with a gun complete with energy pack reminiscent to the Ghostbusters franchise to shoot various ghosts and monsters that infest each stage, though players can also defeat enemies by jumping on them, in addition of performing a double jump to move across platforms as well. Along the way, players can collect multiple a weapon power-up to change their gun to fire lasers, bombs or a spread shot. Other items can also be collected during gameplay such as "P" icons that, after collecting three icons in a row, grants the players a shield that takes an extra enemy hit and heart icons that gives points. Firing on determined locations is crucial to reach high-scores and get extra lives, as certain setpieces in some stages hosts bonus secrets. The opening stages of the title take place in an eastern setting, featuring various spirits and creatures of Japanese folklore. Some of these include ghostly karakasa, chochinobake, kappa, hitotsume-kozou and rokurokubi. The game then changes course, moving to a ghostly pirate ship and then the haunted American Old West, featuring a ghost town and a canyon inhabited by traditional ghosts and monsters from western culture such as Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, and even Jason Voorhees-style masked monsters. The game's final stretch takes place in a medieval setting complete with cursed castles and dungeons infested with haunted armor, goblins and dragons. Demon's World uses a checkpoint in which a downed single player will start off at the beginning of the checkpoint they managed to reach before dying. Getting hit by enemy fire, colliding against certain stage obstacles, falling off the stage or running against any enemy will result in losing a live and once all lives are lost, the game is over unless the players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. Although there is an ending, the game loops back to the first stage after completing the last stage as with previous titles from Toaplan, with each one increasing the difficulty.

Trailer: YouTube

ESRB Rating: Not Rated

Genre(s): Action | Shooter