The NES & arcade versions are very similar in terms of level layout and enemy spawns. There are certainly differences, but I haven’t played the arcade version enough to tell you what those specific differences are.
I personally enjoyed Total Annihilation, but Planetary Annihilation and some of the later games, like the Spring-based remakes never quite caught me the same way.
The arcade was the original version. There’s also a really good modern port on the Commodore 64 with a banging soundtrack called “Ghosts n Goblins Arcade”
https://store.steampowered.com/app/901147/Earthworm_Jim/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1556690/Capcom_Arcade_StadiumGhosts_n_Goblins/ (arcade)
Not the same, but apparently close.
https://old.reddit.com/r/ghostsngoblins/comments/ofknua/which_version_of_ghosts_n_goblins_has_the_most/
https://www.beyondallreason.info/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/386070/Planetary_Annihilation_TITANS/
I personally enjoyed Total Annihilation, but Planetary Annihilation and some of the later games, like the Spring-based remakes never quite caught me the same way.
TIL there’s an arcade version of Ghosts n Goblins
Thanks for the links!
The arcade was the original version. There’s also a really good modern port on the Commodore 64 with a banging soundtrack called “Ghosts n Goblins Arcade”