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MEMORY LANE: "Ghostbusters" for Sega Genesis
9/10/10
Being one of the most lucrative franchises in the world, and since the 1980s also saw the video game industry evolve from arcades to home gaming systems, the Ghostbusters almost immediately made the jump to the digital world of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari 2600, Commodor 64... ghosts were popping up on just about every system you can think of that hasn't been used in 20 years.
Despite being apart of some of the most god-awful video game cash-ins of the infamous '80s (outside of the Atari E.T. video game), the quality would start to pick-up by the end of the decade. About a year after the sequel hit theaters, with Ghostbusters-mania at it's highest point, a new original GB game was released on the Sega Genesis.
Set after the events of the first film, you get to choose which one of the three founding members of the Ghostbusters enterprise to take control of as they continue to rid the city of any spooks that pop up. There's a total of 6 levels, with four of them being available for immedeate exploration. Years before Ghostbusters: The Video Game converted the experience of catching ghosts to home consoles via the first person shooter engine, Sega Ghostbusters successfully took the side scrolling approach.
Though designed as an in-between for the Ghostbusters films (which seems to be more for reasons of copyright than anything), the game feels more like a rewritten version of the first film. This is not at all a bad thing, as most people would argue that the Ghostbusters has a formula to it after the 2nd film. Outside of the original trio, Slimer & the Staypuft Marshmallow Man round out the returning characters.
Each level is set up with various creatures to take out, with at least one or two mini-bosses in the level. These minis must be taken out before you can attempt to defeat whatever heinous creature blocks your exit. Each of the first four stages have a piece of tablet that must be retrieved, which acts as a replacement for the Gozer story of the first film.
That doesn't necessarily mean that the story of the tablet is fleshed out as much as the first film. Some of the cut scenes are actually quite hilarious with how they throw the exposition in and move to the next action, but I can only imagine that the shortcuts in story didn't cost them any sales at the end of the day.
Despite seeming like a retread of the first film, the last two stages of the game bring a little something different while managing to reference earlier events of the franchise. Considering how the 2nd film is burned into my being, I always thought that having the other two team members pop up in level 5 as possessed mini-bosses was a nice way of throwing a nod to Vigo's possession ability.
As mentioned before, sometimes the "nods" seem like more obvious replacements to save $$ on rights: one of the mini-bosses brings back memories of Dana Barrett in Gatekeeper mode, another has the athletic ability of Gozer's roof-top gymnastics, and the giant face boss seems to be another way of getting Vigo-like abilities thrown into the game.
Throw in an earthquake before the final act to seal the "ghost portal" deal plus a Gozer-esque shape-shifting final boss, and it's a wonder why Columbia never sued Sega for not investing in more of the story rights.
As a kid though, by far one of my favorite "They *HAD* to have stolen this" ideas for the game was featuring the man-eating plant Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors as the boss on the penultimate stage. They may not have gotten any sign of Rick Moranis in the game, but they managed to get the reference out while avoiding any lawsuits.
All claims of theft aside, it is not only near the top of the list of not only Ghostbusters game tie-ins, but one of the best side-scrolling titles from the 16-bit era. Using the run-and-gun style of the early titles in the Contra series, any time you tear through baddies you get more cash to spend on weapons upgrades and other items you'll need throughout the game to get through particular tough spots, such as bombs and Ecto-goggles.
You can choose your difficulty level of from Easy to Normal to Hard, with the easier settings allowing you more chances to continue should you lose your shit mid-way through a level. The levels aren't particularly difficult, though sometimes there are areas with no less than 6 creatures coming at you from all directions at once where the special weapons can work to your advantage.
The start/pause menu acts as a big ol' cupboard where your weapons are stored, meaning the minute you find yourself cornered by some of these terrors, you can hold things up to a) catch your breath, and b) determine what tools you're gonna use to fry those bastards. Not only that, but there's also a map that you can access at any point that will show your current location in the stage, differentiates between previously explored areas and places where you haven't been, and if you cleared through the mini-bosses it'll also give you the location of the main boss.
As long as you've played any other titles from this era of gaming, even if it's Super Mario or Sonic, Ghostbusters is a title you can pick up and start playing even if you've never seen it before due to the simple controls. I'm not sure if I got any better at the game by not playing it for years, but I can atest that I didn't get any worse. The only complaint I ever had as a kid is trying to figure out the Achilles' heel on some of the bosses, which no longer becomes a valid complaint once you've reached 10-years-old and can deduce shit on your own.
If you consider yourself anything resembling a Ghostbusters fan and you haven't ever gotten a chance to play this, I recommend checking out Google and looking around for a bit if you ever have an afternoon to kill. Even if you're not a connoisseur of the paranormal, if you have a soft spot in your heart for side-scrolling 2D Mario & Sonic era gaming, it's definitely worth putting the call in to the 'busters.
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