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Avenging Spirit

aka: Phantasm
Moby ID: 32592
Arcade Specs
Buy on Game Boy
$244.98 used on eBay
Buy on PlayStation 4
CAD 7.99 new on Playstation.com
Buy on PlayStation 5
CAD 7.99 new on Playstation.com
Buy on Xbox One
$5.99 new on Xbox.com
Buy on Xbox Series
$5.99 new on Xbox.com
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Description official descriptions

In Avenging Spirit the protagonist is a spirit out for revenge. He has been murdered by a group of gangsters and his girlfriend has been taken hostage by them. Her father uses his brand new machine to call the man's spirit back from the dead, telling him that they are holding his daughter ransom unless he turns over his research on ghost energy.

In side-scrolling fashion, the game features six different stages - the city, the rooftops, a factory, the city sewers and two levels dealing with the mobsters base of operation. The player is able to possess enemies, 20 in all, and use any skills or weapons they have, to complete the level. The player's health is represented by ghost energy and it is drained when he is not inside a host. The story leads to two different endings.

Spellings

  • ファンタズム - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Arcade version)

12 People (9 developers, 3 thanks)

Total Planner
Game Designer
  • Myaa
Programmer
Character Designer
B.G. Designer
  • Seven Star
  • C 57
Sound Producer
  • Tykoon Mori
Sound Composer
  • Studio O.K.
Special Thanks to
  • Miyuki-chan
  • Dark Elf
  • and Others

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 67% (based on 12 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 10 ratings with 1 reviews)

When GB does an action side-scroller better than the Arcades

The Good
Avenging Spirit is an action side-scroller made by Japanese studio C.P.Brain and published by Jaleco. It's a port of their own moderate success Arcade Machine from 1991.

You play as a dead guy... a spirit looking for revenge from his murderers (and rescuing his girlfriend "Gennifer" - gotta love that name! technically his ex-) As a spirit you can possess people and other spirits from the world. And each one of them have different skills, some of them can shoot or kick, some can jump higher, throw grenades, etc. throughout the levels you'll find more than twenty of all sort of crazy characters to posses like gang members, dragons and robots. As you can see is sort of a creative premise.

Avoiding infinite respawning enemies and their projectiles is difficult - you'll get hit no matter what - but you have two energy bars, one for your spirit and one for the possessed, as long as you have ghost energy you can keep on possessing (you can lose all your life bar or simply leave your current body with select button). This and the unlimited continues makes the game on the easy side. The challenge come from the bosses where sometimes you need to have the right kind of possessed to make the fight easier. But the real fun is in trying out every character to possess and deciding which one is the best for the current level.

The graphics are amazing. Detailed backgrounds and sprites, and even cutscenes that narrates a somewhat compelling story (with the help of the manual) The music has a very "Japanesey" quality to it.

The Bad
Once you beat it there isn't much left to do in the game, though there's a secret ending, and a secret difficulty mode so... Also the USA cover art sucks real bad. Why would you not use the adorable cutesy designs of the protagonist like in the Japanese cover? I think they were trying to cash in on the early 90s Dick Tracy hype?

The Bottom Line
Avenging Spirit for the Game Boy is a perfect conversion from the Arcade Machine, every level is here and every boss (and even new characters to possess). I'd even say is an improvement. They basically took a boring, unplayable game - designed to eat your quarters - tone down the difficulty and made a cute, crazy fun action side-scroller that's worth your time and is all together a much better experience.

Game Boy · by pelida77 (36) · 2023

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 32592
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Big John WV.

Arcade added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo 3DS added by CrankyStorming. Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. Xbox Series, Xbox One added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. iiRcade added by firefang9212. iPhone, iPad added by Sciere. PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 added by BOIADEIRO ERRANTE.

Additional contributors: Sciere, lights out party.

Game added March 16, 2008. Last modified August 12, 2024.