An original aspect of the series is that the player usually controls multiple goblins as player characters, each of whom has a unique set of abilities. In the title, the number of letters 'i' in the word "Goblin" indicates the number of characters that the player may control: "Gobliiins" for the first release (1992), "Gobliins 2" for the second (1992), "Goblins Quest 3" for the third (1993) and "Gobliiins 4" for the fourth (2009). The player may only control one character at a time but, depending on the specific scene, may switch characters at will. The original "Gobliiins" features a shared health system for all three characters, which means that leaving characters in the wrong place can be detrimental, though this feature is absent in the sequels.