Despite being the third game in The Gargoyle Trilogy, the marketing department at Capcom decided (for some completely baffling reason) not to market the game as being a sequel to the Gargoyle’s Quest games or even tie it back to the mainline Makaimura series. In the West, many gamers thought it was just another cash-grab platformer on a console full of crap Sonic and Mario clones. Couple that along with the American superstitious fear of anything with Demon or Devil in the title, and Capcom had a sure-fire flop on their hands.

Unlike the first two games in The Gargoyle Trilogy, Demon’s Crest is a reimagining of Firebrand’s story. I’ve seen some sources say that it is prequel to the first two games, but in my research, I haven’t seen any official sources from Capcom state where it falls in the timeline. Regardless, the plot here is hard to follow as the in-game introduction sequence and sparse in-game text leave a lot of questions on the table.

According to the game, Firebrand (or the Red Demon) gathered the six crests of the Demon Realm in the past, but he was eventually defeated by Phalnax, another demon who was after the crests. Firebrand was cast into a colosseum dungeon for hundreds of years, and a legend was created in the realm that championed Phalanx as saving the world from the Red Demon who was out to control the power wielded by holding all six demon crests.

At the beginning of your adventure, you find Firebrand in the colosseum fighting a huge dragon demon of sorts in order to make his escape and set out to recover the crests he had lost. You, the player, are never given a good reason why Firebrand needs to reclaim these crests, what Phalanx is doing with the crests he stole, or even any indication of where to go or what to do once you leave the colosseum. It’s overall very, very confusing even for the most ardent gamer. While the good ending and secret ending do provide a bit more insight into Firebrand’s agenda, you are clueless of his intentions throughout your adventure.

The setup of Demon’s Crest is informed by the two games that came before it, but it is structured more like a Mega Man game than a faux-RPG. Once Firebrand escapes the colosseum courtyard, you are presented with an overworld map using the fancy Mode 7 effects the SNES was known for. If you imagine just about any 16-bit RPG overworld map from the SNES you know what I’m talking about. If you think of the overworld map like the robot master select screen from any Mega Man game, it’s easier to wrap your head around.

From the overworld Firebrand can fly in any direction and visit one of many spots in the Demon Realm. While there is a somewhat critical path you should follow, the game does not give you any clues as to where you should go or what you should focus on. You’re free to let the adventure unfold as you see fit. There are a few levels that open up after you’ve cleared certain events, though, so not all paths are open to you at the start of the game. Kind of like Chrono Trigger, you can try to tackle the “last” boss, Phalanx, at any time after you clear the first three objectives on the overworld map. If you do beat him before collecting everything in the game, though, you’ll get the bad ending.

While I wouldn’t classify Demon’s Crest as a pure Metroidvania, it does hold some of these tropes. As you lead Firebrand through the various levels scattered across the overworld, you’ll stumble on blocked doors, suspect pools of water, and more places that are just out of your reach. By beating the various bosses you’ll encounter, Firebrand will collect the crests he lost in the past, and each crest grants him a new demon form to use: Earth gives Firebrand the dash ability, Sky gives Firebrand the ability to fly, Water gives Firebrand the ability to swim, Time turns Firebrand into the uber demon he was in the past with increased defense and firepower, and Heaven (given to you after you beat the game with the first good ending) gives Firebrand the ability to use all crest powers at once while also providing another huge boost to defense and firepower.

The fire crest, which Firebrand is already equipped with, is split up into five parts and you’ll need to collect the four remaining parts of the crest to acquire different abilities for his base demon form. The fire crest pieces are basically all the magic weapons carried over from the first two games in the series which include a buster shot that breaks certain blocks, a tornado to create suspended platforms, a claw to create temporary holds on walls lined with spikes, and a final power boost that does significant damage.

Sadly, all but the Buster shot are essentially useless about 40% into the game as you gain the ability to fly vertically early in your adventure. For example, you could get the Tornado shot before the Sky Crest due to the open endedness of the game, but no matter what path you take they are obtained so close together the Tornado shot becomes redundant. That said, the Claw shot that creates platforms on spiked walls is quite useful later in the game when unseen hazards that are just off screen become a threat to vertical flight. Basically, all of the items and weapons will help you here and there, but once you have all your Transformation Crests you’ll hardly ever use the Fire Crest weapons for the remainder of the game.

In order to unblock and find the various secret paths and items in each stage, you’ll need to collect each of the crests and use their power to revisit stages over and over again until you’ve found every secret. There is A LOT of backtracking to do, and while that would be cumbersome in most platform style games, it is expected in the non-linear action-adventure.

The critical path in the game is impossible to figure out until you’ve played the game though a few times, or you use a FAQ to help steer you in the right direction. As the player, you are never quite sure where you should go next, but according to developer interviews, that was 100% the intention. Unlike a good Metroidvania where the level design and item gates help to steer you in the basic direction you should go, Demon’s Crest carries none of that finesse. I recommend using a FAQ to get you started if it’s your first time playing.

As you search each level, you’ll find permanent HP extensions (with a maximum of 20 health points), vials to store potions you’ve purchased at shops, vellum papers to buy magic spells at shops, and talismans that give passive buffs like increasing armor, power, fire rate, and increasing money or life drops from defeated enemies. The Talismans are quite possibly the most useful items in the game. For example, using the crown talisman will increase money drops from enemies and background objects you destroy so you can earn cash quickly to buy potions and magic spells. And the armor talisman, when paired with the Time or Heaven crests, will massively increase Firebrand’s defense over and above the defense buffs passively provided by the crests themselves.

Much like many of the items you collect, not all potions or magic spells are useful. Actually, most are worthless. Just stock up on Ginseng (full life replenishing) potions and you’re good. In my first playthrough (100% the game), I didn’t use any other potion or magic spell even once and didn’t even use Ginseng until the end game during the final two boss battles.

Firebrand’s overall move set is similar to the games that came before, but with a few key differences. He can still cling to walls and hover like in previous games, but unlike previous games you can hover indefinitely. This is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it’s nice not having to worry about falling out of your hover state above big chasms, on the other hand it makes many levels pointless to travel across as you can just hover over most obstacles (kind of like the Kirby’s Dreamland games). Personally, I prefer the way the first two games in the trilogy handle hovering as infinite hover time makes the game a bit too easy across the board.

Firebrand also has a new move where he can headbutt objects in the background to break them open. You can use this to break statues to find hidden items (like life extensions), unblock doors, and break windows in the town (you can earn lots of money this way, especially with the crown talisman). It’s quite a handy ability.

There are a few mini-game huts and secrets you can find around the overworld, but these mini-games just test your headbutting skills requiring Firebrand to bash a certain number of skulls that pop out of the wall in a restricted time limit. This doesn’t sound too hard, but Firebrand’s headbutt takes almost a full second to become active, so it is VERY hard to time when you need to jump and hit something with any sort of accuracy. One of the mini-games has a life-extension as a prize (which you need to collect all of for the best ending) and it took me longer to beat this silly mini-game than it took me to beat the (generally pattern-less) “final” boss.

Reports around the internet will lead to you believe that this is a challenging game. I wouldn’t consider the game easy, but the more familiar you are with old-school platformers the easier the game will be. That said, there are no lives to worry about and checkpoints are super generous. The most difficult spots are the bosses, but most of them can be figured out in one or two continues, save the final two bosses in the game. Phalanx has three forms, and his third form has no real patterns to follow. The final, secret boss (which is considered one of the hardest bosses in video games overall) is just a giant bullet sponge that does crazy damage even with armor boosting items stacked. These bosses aren’t impossible but are a league of difficulty above all other challenges in the game which make them feel somewhat out of place and imbalance the difficulty curve significantly. Still, you get a huge rush of accomplishment when you surmount the challenge. Just go in expecting a Dark Souls level of difficulty for these last two encounters and you’ll have much more patience during the grueling process. Well, a few vials of Ginseng will help considerably as well.

Additionally, the secret boss (the final, final boss) can only be accessed if you get the first good ending (collecting every single item, then defeat Phalanx), but it has no in-game explanation on why it’s even there or where to find it. If you beat the game with the good ending, you are presented with a password. When you reset the game and input the password, you are granted the Crest of Heaven for the Ultimate Gargoyle Form (a force to be reckoned with). From here, you can head to a small peninsula on the overworld map with the secret boss’ tower, but you can also revisit all other stages and fight all previous bosses in the game in your Ultimate Form – which is fun as you are now an overpowered force of nature. Beating the secret final boss will get you a bit more information on the story and Firebrand’s intentions in the epilogue and a beautifully rendered pixel art still of Firebrand to cap off your adventure.

Like the first two games in the trilogy, Demon’s Crest uses a password system to save your progress. But the passwords do not save your gold, potions, or magic you’ve purchased. So, if you have a full stock of potions, magic, and lots of gold and you decide that you’re going quit the game and come back later – do so knowing that you’ll have to grind for money and rebuy every consumable in your inventory every time you turn the game on. If you’re playing on a modern solution with save-states, though, this becomes a non-issue. Actually, I highly recommend playing this game with save-states. I didn’t, but I also beat the game in three sittings.

All that said, though, the game is very short but still longer than the first two games. If you go in blind and try to find your way without a FAQ, you’re looking at a 5-6-hour experience. If you use a FAQ to get you started or even all the way through, you’re looking at 3-4ish hours. It took me about 4 hours total to beat Demon’s Crest, whereas I beat the first two games in the trilogy in under an hour and a half my first time through. Once you get the critical path down (or the path that works for you to get all the items), you could beat it in less than 2-hours.

Demon’s Crest is an absolutely beautiful game with detailed and crisp pixel art, and fantastic use of the SNES’ 32,000 colors. What Capcom created here is a somber, dark, gothic world that is a joy to inhabit. There are so many great details hidden around the world that seeing all of the art and environments is a key driver in completing the game. Sure, there’s a lot to do, but there’s a lot of stuff to see as well. Firebrand’s animations are particularly fantastic with strong key frames, and even sub-frames of animation that play into the excellent player feedback (or “game-feel”) on display. The game is tight and responsive, like all good Capcom games from the era, so controlling Firebrand is always a joy and never a chore despite his huge move set and some complicated end-game level design.

Sadly, like many SNES games, the amazing sprite work is marred by horrible performance on the SNES’ paltry processor. Demon’s Crest has so many sprites on screen at times that the game chugs to an almost unplayable state. Given the pin-point accuracy of some jumps and needing to always rely on your reflexes to ensure you hover at the right time to avoid attacks and hazards, the performance can get in the way and create frustration when there shouldn’t be any. The worst spots in the game are of course Phalanx’s final form and the secret final boss.

While the sad performance is not a deal breaker, by 1994 there were already microprocessor chips in use which would have eliminated almost all performance issues in the game. It’s baffling that four years into the SNES’ life that developers would create a game that makes the console buckle without implementing a secondary solution. That said, it would have made the game more expensive to produce, and Capcom already lost money on the development of the game. 

Music, like the first two games, is fine but it’s nothing that will get stuck in your head. Lots of organ and somber compositions with no real beat or drive to them. It’s good stuff, but a bit too serious given the series’ roots. Sound effects are overall good and fall in line with what you expect from Capcom in this era. Nothing sounds out of place, basically.

Demon’s Crest is a great game despite some slight shortcomings. Controlling Firebrand is a joy throughout your adventure, though, and the constant trickle of discovery will satisfy most gamers. The obtuse critical path is probably the biggest turn off, and what kept me bouncing off of the game for decades until I finally sat down with the resolve to get some enjoyment out of it. I’m glad I stuck with it, though, because despite its shortcomings, Demon’s Crest has become one of my modern-retro favorites on the console! I can’t quite put my finger on why it’s so compelling, but at the end of the day this is one of the very few games I doubled back around to beat a second time through (this time without any help). This is a game you can really only appreciate after beating it once. Once you "get it", though, you'll be life-long fan. 

Now, how should you go about playing the game in the modern age? I recommend checking it out on the Nintendo Switch online service, the Virtual Console on 3DS, or on an emulation solution. These options are not only cheap and mostly accurate, but also gives you the ability to use save-states. While I have an authentic US copy of the game myself, these runs upwards of $150 loose and a Japanese copy around $60. If you plan on playing through with a FAQ and want an authentic copy for your collection, I 100% support going import. If you want to play an authentic copy but don’t want to use a FAQ, then the US version will be a tad easier given it’s in English. But since there is no in-game text that tells you where to go or what to do, you could muster your way through the Japanese version without any help (maybe a screenshot of what the items are in the store).

The bottom-line here, Demon’s Crest is well worth your time. And while it's hard to recommend a physical copy for the obscene amount of money an authentic will cost you in 2022 - there is still some value to be had as the game will only increase in value at this point. You could also get a repro cart for ~$20 on Ebay if you're set on a physical copy of the game but don't want to pony up for an authentic. The sweet spot is *free* or the less than $10 it will cost you on one of Nintendo’s online platforms. To my knowledge Capcom has never released this game in any compilation. 

One can dream of a Makaimura collection with the first three entries in the mainline series and The Gargoyle Trilogy all in one package – developed by M2...