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A playthrough of Activision's 1988 license-based action game for the NES, Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters is one of those famous NES titles that's often cited as an example of the poor quality people could expect from games based on movie licenses, but does it really deserve that reputation? David Crane's original version, published for the Commodore 64 in 1984, was a fun mash-up of a few different minigames and it became a huge success despite its ridiculously short development cycle. It ended up being ported to several other 8-bit platforms in the mid 1980s, too, where it also sold a ridiculous number of copies. The Famicom version was produced in 1986 and was eventually brought stateside two years later, and in 1988, it looked and felt like an old port of an ancient computer game. Nobody was impressed. The flow of the game is something like this: you cruise around New York City waiting for places to be attacked by ghosts. You drive to them, capture the ghosts in a ghost collecting minigame, and then return to headquarters to empty the traps and repeat the process. You use the money you earn during these jobs to upgrade your equipment, and once you've dealt with enough of them, the entrance to Zuul's tower opens up. At this point, you've got to work your way up a million stairs to the roof in order to blast Zuul before the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man can reach you. The graphics are ugly and overly simplistic, and there's no real animation to speak of. Things usually just sort of shuffle or slide around the screen. The sound isn't great, either. You're stuck listening to a lame, plinky version of the Ray Parker theme on loop the whole time. The voice sample at the title screen was kind of cool to hear at first time, at least. Even with its poor presentation, Ghostbusters might've worked out if the gameplay had been decently updated and reworked for consoles, but it wasn't. Everything feels needlessly awkward and clunky, and it doesn't help that the game does so little to inform you of what it expects. If you happened to rent it without a manual, you weren't going to get far. But the NES game's single biggest failing shows itself in the last ten minutes or so. After spending 30-45 minutes grinding money for equipment, the run up Zuul's tower has got to be one of the most agonizing gameplay sequences I've ever experienced. You're expected to button mash up twenty-three flights of stairs trying to avoid ghosts that are all but impossible evade. There's a trick where you can open a door and the ghosts seem to not harm you as long as you don't open another. I'm not sure if that's the only way, but it is the only way I've ever been able to finish it. If you fail it's game over, and that means you're going to be grinding for another 30-45 minutes before you get another shot. And if you win, you get one of the most egregious examples of non-English English you'll find in an NES game despite the fact that the original computer game was an American production. Ghostbusters for the NES is an insultingly poor conversion of a game that was already well past its prime when it came out in 1988. It sold well because it was Ghostbusters, but it's hard to imagine any kid legitimately enjoying it for more than a few minutes. At least it lacks Melissa McCarthy. That alone makes it better than the Ghostbusters reboot. For what it's worth, the sequel ( ) was a much better game, even if it can't compare to the phenomenal HAL game New Ghostbusters II. If you're looking for any more Halloween-friendly games, make sure you check out my playlist here: _____________ No cheats were used during the recording of this video. NintendoComplete () punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
