Bonus Retro Game of the Week: Ghostbusters II

Indeed.

Ghostbusters II is a unique specimen.  Not only is the movie vastly different from the first, but the games are also vastly different from the first and from each other.  I'm not going to judge the movies again, I already did that, but I do want to talk about the games.  My first complaint centers around why there are different versions of this game.  If you look at the first Ghostbusters game across all of the platforms it was the same game, Sega Master System, NES, the Atari, and the home computers of the time all had the same cross-platform game.  That makes sense and even fits the profile of cross-platform games today, though there are some minor differences.  But why did there need to be four different versions of the game across each platform?  The reason to make all of the games the same is to allow all gamers to be able to have the same overall experience no matter what system they own.  That way, when a developer makes a game, they don't have to specify a platform or waste time creating a different game for each console.

What a beast.

Let's start into the games with the Atari 2600 version.  Activision was lined up to develop a version of Ghostbusters 2 on this console to match up with the original game's release. Unfortunately, by 1989, Nintendo and Sega were already dominating the market and relegating Atari's old consoles to the dust heap of the video gaming age.  Sales were already too slow for Activision to even think about continuing development on a game for this dinosaur.  Oddly enough, a British gaming company eventually released the game in Europe.  Due to some licensing issues, Ghostbusters 2 for the Atari cannot be released onto the anthologies that come out from time to time.

Ah yes, low-resolution PC glory.

The PC version of the game was released though, and it looks something like the pic on the right.  It looks like Ray is being lowered into a river of Spaghetti-Os.  The game here consists of several arcade screens haphazardly jumbled together in chronological order according to the progression of the movie.  The first level is Ray being lowered to the slime.  During his descent he needs to collect health, ammo, and the slime scoop for collection purposes.  Along the way, the player will need to dodge and battle ghosts that try to collide with Ray and cut the rope he's connected to.  The second level is the march to the museum.  You control the fireball on the torch, however that's supposed to be working now, and the goal is to protect the statue as it continues along the path.  The final level of the game, that's right there are only three damn levels, pits the player against Janosz, Vigo, and finally the possessed Ray.  Oddly enough, there are some versions of the PC game that actually include another level from the movie scene that takes place in the courthouse.

This is just disturbing, like a Ghostbuster bukkake.

The most well-recognized version of the game was created for the NES.  It's a classic side-scroller where you dodge obstacles, shoot enemies, and drive the Ghostbusters hearse across New York in an attempt to stop Vigo.  Each level has the player get from point A to B using their slime pack, yeah not the proton pack which would be more fun in every circumstance, to eliminate enemies.  The only issues that I really have with this game is that the gun controls are sticky and the game is way too fucking monotonous.  Each movement of the gun feels like you need to crank the d-pad hard enough to break it and every single level of the game is the same.  Either you're driving the car or your dodging shit on foot.  There are no bosses, no bonus games, and no variety whatsoever.  Lame as shit, moving on.

The Genesis is where it's at.

The final version of Ghostbusters 2 is on the Genesis.  Just to be clear, this isn't based on the second movie, but rather the first it's just the second game that Sega released of Ghostbusters and came out around the same time as the others Ghostbusters 2 games.  All that means that it gets lumped together with other games that are way below it's own station.  To be honest, this game is little short of perfection.  It brings together great controls, good action, and Ghostbusters goodness.  It goes back to that simulation idea of the first game, but it does it on a scale that only includes earning money and using it to buy upgrades.  The gun controls are not stiff and feel almost as fluid as Contra.  The idea is to clear each level of the mini-bosses and boss ghosts to earn money, buy upgrades, and get to the next level.  Each level is non-linear and acts much like a maze that gives you multiple paths to each room and powerups along the way.  The Genesis Ghostbusters is by far the best, even through today.

Each game is decent in it's own right and time period, but the main problem is the version issue.  Activision made some stupid decisions concerning their wasted time and efforts on each platform.  Today companies are streamlined and market-conscious enough to realize that creating several versions of one game across all platforms doesn't provide the gamer with the best experience.  My suggestion to 3rd party developers is to develop the game for the end-user not for individual consoles.  Ghostbusters 2 should have been developed across all platforms in the same fashion as Ghostbusters on the Genesis.  Each system could have handled the improvements save for the Atari.  Instead we get a confusing mess of ridiculous version retardation.