Retro Revival Retrospective is a confusingly-named ongoing series about the history behind newly-resurrected gaming franchises. This time around, we’ll be looking at Ghostbusters and its various video game incarnations over the past 25 years in preparation for the upcoming current-gen take on the paranormal premise.
It took four entries in this series, but it's finally happened: we have a
Ghostbusters game that actually holds up over time. The strange thing about the quality of the Genesis
Ghostbusters is that the game itself is usually overlooked--though, to be fair, it is an oddity. While the movie sequel came out the summer before this game's release, this early Genesis title is actually based on the first
Ghostbusters film, and, if you can believe the copyright information,
the first Ghostbusters game. The Genesis Ghostbusters may be missing some of the economic minutiae of the franchise's original video game translation, but it does manage to distill the old Ghostbusters experience into pure 16-bit spectacle.
One of the more interesting things about this Ghostbusters game is that it marks the first time any of the in-game 'Busters look remotely like their movie counterparts. I'm guessing likeness rights were cheaper six years after the original film, because the Genesis Ghostbusters features comical (and playable) caricatures of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis--and I guarantee that Murray's smarmy, balding features have never been captured so well in video game form. In fact, the game actually seems a bit show-offy with the amount of big, colorful, and goofy sprites it throws in your face; remember, this was pre-SNES, and Ghostbusters was an excellent example of how the Genesis could do what Nintendidn't. And it's really the first time that a Ghostbusters game had any real character to speak of--the former games' ghost designs didn't go far beyond Charlie Brown's Halloween costume.
This time around, the gameplay of Ghostbusters takes the form of a Mega Mannish shooter that isn't entirely linear. You choose from either Peter, Ray, or Egon (who you're stuck with until the end of the game) and have your choice of four starting levels, though the order in which you're supposed to play them is more than a little obvious. This take on the original movie eliminates the driving sections of Crane's original game, and instead focuses on making each ghost encounter its own separate maze-like level. What the Genesis Ghostbusters borrows from the original game are some of the more interesting elements; namely, the upgradable nature of your
Ghostbusters gear. Between every level, you have the opportunity to upgrade and buy new weapons from a merchant who looks very much like
Back to the Future's Doc Brown, but with a mustache.
To be fair, the running and gunning in this 16-bit Ghostbusters is merely competent, but that's saying a lot when you take a look at the other games in the franchise. The game saves the trapping mechanic exclusively for the adorably-Engrishy "middle ghosts" (mid-bosses) in each level and devotes the rest of the action to blowing ghosts into pieces with quite an interesting array of weaponry. But really, what kept me plowing through the Genesis Ghostbusters wasn't the stunning gameplay; it was the 16-bit spectacle. This game marks the first time that a developer actually tapped into the comedic side of the Ghostbusters premise, meaning that the game is worth playing if only to see what goofy new ghost they're going to throw at you next. Given the underpowered nature of the consoles the previous Ghostbusters games called home, the Genesis was really the first time a developer could really translate the visual humor that makes the series so unique.
Conspicuously missing from the Genesis Ghostbusters is Winston Zeddemore, which is a bit odd seeing as this game seems to take place after the first movie. Is his absence worthy of a
Resident Evil 5-style racism discussion? You go ahead and busy yourselves with that; I've got another
Ghostbusters game to play that--surprisingly--doesn't make me want to wander out into traffic.
Next time: New Ghostbusters 2.
More...
Linear Mode
