Page 26 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #2

Sega Genesis Sega Master System

later time. Atari 2600, Apple II, AtariXE, Com- one with a trap) through a series of
As far as movie adaptations go, modore 64, Colecovision, MSX rooms, blasting and trapping
Ghostbusters is one of the best. It Nintendo Entertainment System, ghosts. A certain number of ghosts
successfully captures the key ele- PC Jr., and Sega Master System. must be busted before you can
ments of the movie and packages But the story doesn’t end there. move on to the next level.
them into a fun, innovative game. In 1990, Sega released a side- Since 1990, there have been no
Although the game play can get scrolling Ghostbusters game for its new Ghostbusters games for the
monotonous after a while, the drive Genesis console, but this one was obvious reason that there has not
to buy better cars with more equip- related to the previous releases. been a new movie. Rumors of a
ment keeps things fresh. You can choose to be Peter, Ray Ghostbusters III have been circu-
As far as differences between or Egon (but no Winston – he was lating for years, but whether or not
the versions go, all retain the same always left out, don’t ya think?). it ever happens remains to be
basic game play elements, but the The object is to make your way seen. If it does, however, you can
complexity of the game and the through four different houses, bet that we’ll see some video
quality of visuals and sound varies clearing them of ghosts and collect- games to accompany it.
from system to system. For exam- ing the pieces of a stone tablet.
ple, the Atari 2600 version has only The game’s graphics are distinctly
one car with fewer options to Japanese, with super deformed- CGM
choose from and is less graphically style characters and
pleasing for obvious technical rea- strange looking ghosts.
sons. Still, it remains one of the Other Ghostbusters-
more complex games for the sys- related releases include
tem. The Real Ghostbusters,
On the other hand, the SMS an arcade shooter, and
version adds more options and bet- an unrelated title of the
ter graphics but is missing the same name for the
C64’s voices. There are still only Game Boy (a forgettable
four cars to choose from, but there action-puzzler). Two
is a much larger selection of equip- separate games based
ment. The driving sequence is also on the 1989 movie
more complicated, as you now Ghostbusters II were re-
have to dodge cars and roadblocks leased for the NES and
on the way to your destination. In Game Boy. The NES
addition, after you make it past the game is your basic plat-
Marshmallow Man, there are two form shooter with decent
extra levels. In the first, you have graphics and impossible
to fight your way up to the top of game play. The Game
the building; in the second, you go Boy game, on the other
one-on-one against Gozer. Besides hand, is very good, fea-
being impossibly difficult, these ex- turing all four Ghost-
tra levels add very little in the way busters and unique, ad-
of entertainment value. dictive game play. You
All in all, the game was released move two Ghostbusters
for the Amstrad CPC, Atari 800, (one with a proton pack,

Classic Gamer Magazine Winter 2000 26