Rodney, over at Zivivi Entertainment, gives us a great review and history lesson on the story of Ghostbusters the video game. Anyone who’s played a game based on a movie knows the woes of bad design and departure from story. The Ghostbuster games are really impressive for their time and still look fun to play.
The 1984 Ghostbusters video game was designed by seasoned game developer David Crane. He was known for such games as Pitfall and Grand Prix. The game was originally released for the Commodore 64 in 1984, Sega Master System in 1987 and the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988.
The Commodore 64 version received decent reviews but the NES version was panned by critics for its boring gameplay, bad controls and little connection to the original movie.
In 1990, Activision would release Ghostbusters 2 and it was also panned by critics for its awful graphics, average sound, and high sticker price. This version of Ghostbusters 2 was only released in North America with Japan and Europe receiving a completely different version developed by HAL Laboratory. Their version was called New Ghostbusters 2, a top-down game where the two characters would work together to stun and capture ghosts.
Be sure to check out more of Rodney’s videos and keep an eye out for him in season 2 of Digital Break.
