You couldn't be yourself — so you had to understand everyone else.
Most games give you a hero and ask you to master their strengths. Avenging Spirit took that away. You are a ghost — no body, no weapons, no way to touch the world. To survive, you must step inside someone else: a gangster, a soldier, a martial artist, a wizard. You borrow their hands and fight with their instincts, until their body gives out and you are alone again. Tokuhiro Takemori, who designed the game, built a mechanic that was quietly philosophical long before anyone called it that. To inhabit another is to understand how they see. The gangster runs differently. The wizard floats. Each body carries its own weight, its own limits, its own way of meeting the world. You don't play as a hero. You learn what it is to be something other than yourself.
— inspired by Tokuhiro Takemori
About this game
Avenging Spirit is a 1992 Game Boy action platformer developed by C.P. Brain and published by Jaleco, ported from Jaleco's 1991 arcade game. The player controls a ghost whose girlfriend has been kidnapped by a criminal organisation. The core mechanic is ghost possession: unable to interact with the physical world directly, the player must possess enemy characters — gangsters, soldiers, karate fighters, magic-users — to borrow their bodies and combat abilities. Each possessed body has limited health, and when it expires, the ghost must quickly find and enter a new one before running out of time. The game's six stages can be completed with different enemy bodies, and the choices made along the way affect which of several endings is reached.
Key Features
Ghost possession mechanic: the player inhabits enemy bodies to gain their weapons and movement abilities. Over twenty distinct possessable enemy types — each with different weapons (guns, swords, flamethrowers, magic) and jumping or flying capabilities. The ghost form carries a rapidly depleting timer, making every moment without a body urgent. Six stages with branching paths. Boss encounters requiring strategic possession choices. Multiple endings determined by which enemy bodies were used during the run — certain choices affect the quality of the girlfriend's rescue.
Gallery
The Story Behind
Avenging Spirit's possession mechanic was genuinely ahead of its time. Tokuhiro Takemori of C.P. Brain designed a game in 1991 where the player's identity was borrowed rather than fixed — you were whoever you needed to be, for as long as that body held. The concept of inhabiting enemies to gain their abilities predated the widespread use of possession in major games by decades. Nintendo would revisit the idea twenty-six years later in Super Mario Odyssey (2017), crediting Avenging Spirit among the clear ancestors of Cappy's mechanic. The Game Boy version faithfully preserved the arcade's possession variety and multiple-ending system on hardware with a fraction of the original's capability.
Tricks & Tales
The ending you receive is directly affected by which enemies you possessed during each stage — the girlfriend's father, who researches ghost energy, evaluates the choices made. Certain enemy bodies are considered more acceptable than others from her perspective, and this shapes which of several endings plays out. The game was designed by Tokuhiro Takemori, who had previously worked at Aicom and contributed to Jaleco titles including Amagon and The Astyanax. The possession concept went largely uncopied for two and a half decades — until Super Mario Odyssey in 2017 brought it to a global audience.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
The game was released in Japan as Phantom (ファントム) and in North America as Avenging Spirit in late 1992. The Game Boy is region-free, so either version plays on any Game Boy hardware worldwide. On a Game Boy Advance, hold Select and press Start if the image appears stretched to restore the original 1:1 proportions. The game was not widely distributed, and complete boxed copies — with box and manual — are harder to find than loose cartridges alone.
Maintenance Tips
Avenging Spirit cartridges contain no save battery — there is nothing inside that degrades over time beyond the contacts themselves. If the cartridge is not being read, clean the gold pins gently and lengthwise with a cotton swab dampened in 90%-or-higher isopropyl alcohol, then let them dry before playing. Never blow into the slot: breath moisture slowly corrodes the contacts you are trying to help. For storage, keep the cartridge away from direct sunlight and heat — the grey plastic of a 1992 Game Boy cartridge does not forgive years of UV exposure, and the yellowing that results cannot truly be reversed.
Going deeper
Explore the machine this game ran on, and what to check before you buy or care for one:
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Avenging Spirit copies regularly.
Does Avenging Spirit have a save battery I should check?
No — Avenging Spirit has no internal save feature and no battery inside the cartridge. The game is designed to be played through in a single sitting, arcade-style, with infinite continues available. There is nothing to back up and nothing that wears out. The cartridge you receive is simply a ROM, and it will read the same way thirty years from now as it did on the day it was made.
Is a Japanese copy of Avenging Spirit (Phantom) compatible with my Game Boy?
Yes. The Game Boy has no region lock, so the Japanese cartridge — sold as Phantom (ファントム) — runs on any Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color, or Game Boy Advance anywhere in the world. The game inside is identical to the North American release; only the title screen and label differ. If you play it on a Game Boy Advance and the picture looks stretched, hold Select and press Start to restore the original proportions.
My Avenging Spirit cartridge isn't being read — what should I try first?
Almost always, it is the gold contacts and not the cartridge itself. Dampen a cotton swab with 90%-or-higher isopropyl alcohol and wipe the contacts gently along their length, then let them dry fully before slotting the cartridge in again. Please don't blow into it — the moisture in your breath corrodes the very pins you are trying to clean, and that damage quietly builds over time. Avenging Spirit cartridges from 1992 are over thirty years old; a gentle clean usually brings them back without trouble.
Before You Buy
Things worth knowing before you buy Avenging Spirit
A short checklist for buying a used Game Boy cartridge wisely — useful with any seller, anywhere.
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Choose a seller who tests it before shipping
A copy that has actually been powered on and checked is a known quantity. An untested one is a gamble you only settle after it arrives.
Look for a seller who states it was function-tested and says what they confirmed. A serious seller can tell you exactly what was checked.
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Good news — Game Boy is region-free
Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges are not region-locked, so a Japanese copy plays on any Game Boy worldwide.
Just confirm the hardware family — original GB, Color, or Advance — matches the cartridge.
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If this title saves your progress, check the battery
Cartridges that save use a small coin-cell battery that fades over decades — a dead one wipes your save without warning.
Ask the seller whether the save function was tested. Replacing the battery is possible, but doing so erases any existing save.
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Check that the contacts are clean
Dirty edge contacts are the most common cause of startup and sound trouble in cartridges of this age.
Choose a seller who cleans the contacts before shipping. A note that it was tested and cleaned means the basics were handled.
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Read the seller's reviews and return policy
A 100% positive record across thousands of sales is close to a guarantee — packing, communication and problem-solving all work for everyone. A return policy protects you if something is off.
Read the feedback and confirm a clear return window before you buy.
The last step before buying anywhere is knowing what it's worth.
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Rooms this game lives in
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