A Brief History of Ghostbusters Video Games

I ain’t afraid of no licensed gaming legacy

Ghostbusters has been a favourite franchise of mine since childhood. The first movie was released on my third birthday way back in 1984, which is just the first sign of appeal to me. From an entertainment perspective I am inevitably drawn to anything with a macabre or spooky theme, so Ghostbusters was always going to be a naturally perfect fit. With two further sequels, two canonical cartoons and multiple comic book series, they all come together to form the continually expanding Ghost Corps franchise. We don’t talk about the 2016 reboot.

As well as nearly 40 years of being on our screens in either live action or animated form, there is also a related video game library of nearly 40 years to (mostly) boast about, too. From the earliest home computer formats to the 1980’s arcade scene, then back again on home consoles and VR hardware, there are few video game generations without a Ghostbusters title. Let’s take a look at the most notable.

Ghostbusters (Spectrum)

Fondly remembered as one of the first video games I ever laid eyes on, this movie tie-in was actually originally developed at the same time as its namesake box-office hit, albeit with a different development title, ‘Car Wars’.

The plot is essentially the same as the movie, with a large majority of the game taking place behind the wheel of your adopted Ghostbusting vehicle, driving from job to job with a top-down view, sucking up any ghosts that came across the screen. Or as the song goes, Cleanin' up the Town. The team gets a call to a ghost that needs trapping via the grid-style map provided. This same map also provides the all-important PK energy amount; continually rising as the rise of Gozer becomes all the more inevitable.

Upon reaching your destination you control two Ghostbusters attempting to catch the little bugger with your proton streams and then trap it. So it was a case of tactically placing the heroes in order to make the shots count. This was by far the most fun section of the game, quite challenging although the controls were intuitive enough to avoid frustration. If the ghost got away, or a trap attempt was missed, the ghost would then proceed to knock over one of your heroes, which in turn triggered the soundbite ‘He slimed me’, direct from the movie.

On the Spectrum it sounded more like someone throwing up, but hey, this was 1984, remember? Touches like this are great for fans, as was the whole game. For its faithfulness alone, this should definitely be considered a classic. My version of choice, the-then brilliant Sinclair Spectrum ZX 128k, may have been visually inferior compared to the more powerful Commodore 64, but still makes for a remarkable title for 1984, and in particular for the popular Sinclair system.

Ghostbusters II (Gameboy, NES)

Following on from the massive success of the original movie, the subsequent five-year cartoon series and merchandise that came with it, a movie sequel was inevitable. As is almost obligatory, a licensed video game was released to coincide and cash-in with the movie.

I tackled the GameBoy version, developed by HAL Laboratory, known today as “New” Ghostbusters II so as not to be confused by the MS-DOS/Atari 2600 version, and is a very fun, although simple and short game. Our four heroes are represented as tiny, miniaturised versions of their movie counterparts.

After choosing your character, you then choose a second, an NPC character who follows wherever you go to form a simple yet intuitive system for capturing ghosts in a top-down setting. Your chosen character projects the proton blasts to hold the ghosts while the NPC holds the ghost trap, activated on command in order to trap and proceed.

Ghostbusters II fits the mould of a perfect pocket Gameboy game that suits the D-pad and buttons perfectly. It is a slightly stripped-down version of the NES counterpart, with no multiplayer or appearance by Louis Tully, but remains a welcome addition to a somewhat short list of decent movie-licensed video game releases. Great fun.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Xbox 360/One, PS3/PS4)

I love this game. Yes, as a Ghostbusters fan this will be a somewhat biased view of what remains a critically considered good Ghostbusters video game. Originally officially considered the third movie by series creator Dan Ackroyd (before Ghostbusters: Afterlife was even an idea), you play as the new recruit to the original team, all of which are voiced by the entire original movie cast, as they teach you the “tools and the talent” to be a Ghostbuster. Exploration, detection and capture is the aim here amongst both third/first person perspectives, carefully paced with its interspersed smooth and chemistry-retaining character cut scenes. For any Ghostbusters fan it doesn’t disappoint.

Boosting its claim as a franchise sequel are some excellent variations to the Ghostbusting equipment. The slime tether is used to pull heavy objects. The stasis stream freezes ghosts in their tracks for a limited time. Whichever form of weapon you choose the zapping and trapping system is everything you could want from a Ghostbusters game; proton beams weaken the enemy enough that they are then dragged to the trap and sucked inside. This looks almost exactly like the movies and cartoon series, as well as a real sense of pulling the ghost around, whether it’s to keep them in check, or guide them to a ghost trap.

Ghostbusters The Video Game, like the eventual movie sequel Afterlife, was created with the fans in mind first and foremost. The original movie cast reunite to provide the voices of their respective characters, with both the late Harold Ramis and Dan Ackroyd contributing to the story and script. The Elmer Bernstein score is taken from the original movie, which although not original, is still excellent and slots in nicely here. Even the achievements/trophies are named after quotes from the movies.

The 2019 remaster, with touched up textures, cut scenes and performance (mostly) smoothed over and improved ten years later, serves as a reminder that, despite its appearance of a previous gaming generation, Ghostbusters The Video Game is still the definitive Ghostbusters video game experience.