16 days 16 bit: Day 7 - Ghostbusters

16 days 16 bit

My name is Chris, I'm an editor at PC Games and I'm taking advantage of the current game doldrums to catch up on or relive pearls from the 16-bit era. Here I share my experiences with you during 16 days of 16 bit.

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Day 7: Ghostbusters

There is probably no other movie I've seen as often as Ghostbusters. Even as a child I loved the comedy by Ivan Reitman and the cartoon series about the four ghost hunters was very popular with me. The only thing missing from my childhood was a clever video game for the film, because unfortunately I only owned the legendary crappy Ghostbusters game for the Sega Master System.

16 days 16 bit: Day 7 - Ghostbusters (1) Source: PC Games Bis A few years ago I didn't even know that a Ghostbusters game was also released for the Mega Drive in 1990, which has nothing to do with the master system botch and is even supposed to be good. So my childhood shouldn't have been so disappointing after all. But at least I can finally catch up on the title in this format.

The story of the game is easy to tell: Recently there was a mighty earthquake in New York and since then loads of ghosts have appeared again. The Ghostbusters take care of it, of course, and want to find out how the earthquake and the appearance of the ghosts are related.

However, we will only choose one of the ghost hunters with whom we will then play the game. All characters differ in terms of speed and endurance. However, there is also a small disappointment to cope with, because only Peter, Ray and Egon are available. There is no trace of Winston. Since the title takes place after the first film, there is actually no reason why the character portrayed by Ernie Hudson should not be on board.

16 days 16 bit: Day 7 - Ghostbusters (3) Source: PC Games So be it. After choosing a character, we are allowed to set out on one of four levels in order to eliminate the ghost that reigns there. The order in which you visit the areas does not matter. In addition to lots of smaller ghosts, at least one mini boss ghost and one boss ghost await the brave ghost hunter in each level. In the levels you search the different rooms in order to find the bigger villains.

For eliminating the mini bosses you get coal, with which you can get useful items like bombs or night vision devices or better weapons can buy. However, the new weapons consume energy, so you can also upgrade your energy canisters. If the energy runs out, it's not so wild either, because even with the standard weapons you can even beat bosses like the ever-popular marshmallow man. It just takes a little more patience.

The gameplay itself is simple but fun. You run through the different rooms of the building, shoot ghosts, evade bullets and jump over platforms. I especially like the somewhat cartoonish design. The ghost hunters have huge skulls and the ghosts themselves are wonderfully covered and fluctuate between nonsense and serious threat.

For example, you fight against a dangerous-looking dragon, but also against an evil snowman who shoots carrots. Apparently they were inspired by both the film and the animated series The Real Ghostbusters.

16 days 16 bit: Day 7 - Ghostbusters (5) Source: PC Games There is also a lot of fan service. For example, Slimer drops energy if you shoot him and the marshmallow man also makes his appearance, as already mentioned. In a few places I'm still annoyed because the controls are sometimes not precise enough. This is particularly noticeable with a few bosses and also with the jump passages in the fire level. At least the game is fair. If you have forfeited your two lives, you have to start again at the entrance of the building, but defeated bosses stay defeated and you have a good amount of continues.

Ghostbusters on the Sega Mega Drive is a really decent action game, that is quite fun, but not really thrilling me either. If I had owned the title as a child, I would probably love it nostalgically glorified, but purely in terms of play, I've now just played much better action games from the era. For example, I would always prefer a Gunstar Heroes to a Ghostbusters. But I also don't regret having finally caught up with the title. Big Ghostbusters fans will still enjoy the game today, but it's not one that should necessarily be in every retro collection.