Spooky

Newly-established Phantasm Studios is looking to bring the legendary Arthur back from the dead with a fresh entry in the Ghosts 'N Goblins series. CEO and founder Monty Singleton has lifted the lid on a Kickstarter campaign to raise the necessary funds for development, but there's a catch: he doesn't have the permission of Capcom to use the brand — at least not yet, anyway.

Singleton has confirmed that his fledgling studio has approached Capcom for the license to use the name, and that the Japanese company has agreed to review the application:

Capcom only promised to review our submission, and nothing more. We have only discussed a possibility of a developer’s license if the game is up to their standards. We do not currently have one and may not get one.

The game is not in development yet. We have only finished pre-production (concept art, strategy, story, physically modeling the characters). We are now at the expensive part, paying our veteran coders, designers, and artists (who have worked with Electronic Arts, Activision, Sega Japan) to build a game that’s up to Capcom’s high standards. We need your help so we can create a game so amazing, Capcom won’t say no.

Singleton even has a backup plan, should Capcom refuse to allow Phantasm to use the Ghouls 'N Ghosts name:

In 1980 Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo created a Popeye video game but couldn’t get the rights from King Features. He transformed Popeye to Mario, Bluto to Donkey Kong, and Olive Oyl to the Princess. This was the birth of Donkey Kong. After the success of Donkey Kong, King Features changed their mind and allowed Nintendo to release a Popeye game. That is why the games are so similar. If we can’t secure a developers license we will change King Arthur and the name of the game, but that is all. Thankfully werewolves, demons, skeletons, reapers, ghosts, goblins, etc. are all public domain. The modifications will be so minor, the changes will be easy and will not change our release schedule.

The proposed title is being coded in Unity and is currently slated for release on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and 'Nintendo eShop' — it isn't specified which one, or if it's both the 3DS and Wii U digital stores.

We'd certainly love to see a sequel to Ghosts 'N Goblins — what about you? Will you be backing this project? Or do you want Capcom's official involvement before pledging your cash? If enough interest is shown, then perhaps the publisher will relent before the Kickstarter ends.

[source kickstarter.com]