It’s the late 1980s and The
Real Ghostbusters is burning up the airwaves with its unique blend of
adult-minded horror and comedy, pushing the boundaries of what is “acceptable”
for a kid’s show. Like any other media juggernaut, the show’s name was slapped
onto anything you can imagine: from toys to household products to food items. As
part of the 30th anniversary celebration, we’ll take a look at the
various games made for the show.
The
Real Ghostbusters Board Game
Milton Bradley,
1986 & 1990
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| The American version box art. |
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| The American version game board. |
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| The German version box art. |
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| The flattened German version game board details. |
Milton Bradley updated their 1970
board game Which Witch? to
accommodate The Real Ghostbusters. The
game is played on a 3-D board where players had to move their Ghostbuster
around and avoid perils in order to collect four ghost cards and make it to the
top of a set of stairs. The game made extensive use of promotional stock images
for the player pieces and the box art, which featured the Ghostbusters in the
tan uniforms from the movie and promotional pilot
episode. In fact, all the ghosts featured in the game were present in the
pilot. In 1990, the game was re-released in Germany and featured all-new and
significantly more detailed board art.
The
Real Ghostbusters Arcade Game
Data East, 1987
The first Real Ghostbusters video game was a top-down shooter where up to
three players would traverse ten levels blasting various kinds of ghosts and
avoiding environmental perils. However, the game had very little to do with the
show beyond the name and cabinet art. In fact, it was a modified version of the
Japanese arcade game Meikyū Hunter G with the enemies changed into ghosts
and Ghostbusters elements added.
The
in-game characters didn’t resemble their animated counterparts, and the only
way to tell them apart was by the color of their uniforms (which, again, didn’t
match the show). Ghostbusters logos were used to increase the firepower of the
proton gun, while ghost traps were used to refill the beam’s energy meter. Slimer
would float around the player to shield them from attacks while potions would
make them invulnerable for a time. Skulls drained the proton energy quicker.
Despite
the lack of connection to the show, the game went on to become the second
best-selling arcade cabinet in the United Kingdom. The game was ported to the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum with varying
degrees of comparative quality.
The Real Ghostbusters
Electronic Challenge
Remco, 1988
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| It's a game and practically a PDA! |
The
Real Ghostbusters shrunk in size for their next outing for an LCD handheld
game. The game featured the same premise as Space Invaders; a series of
ghosts would come down the screen at increasing speeds as the levels progressed,
and the player, as Peter, had to move back and forth along the bottom in order
to “blast” them. When not in use, the game could serve as an alarm clock and
calendar, with a little kickstand to prop it up.
The Real Ghostbusters: The Game
Triotoys, 1989
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| The box and game board. |
The
Triotoys board game once again made extensive use of promotional artwork for
the series. Notably different was the fact that Janine and Slimer were included
as playable characters. The game made extensive use of cards to dictate actions
and depicting the equipment a player needed to collect before being able to
capture ghosts. These ghosts weren’t just waiting around to be busted, as they
came on stands similar to the player characters and could be moved around the board
as well as the spinner described.
The Real Ghostbusters Board
Game
Casper, 1989
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| The Swedish game. |
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| The game board, a map of lower NYC. |
While
the box art for this Swedish game looked similar to the Milton Bradley version,
it was markedly different. The game board this time was a modified map of lower
Manhattan. Rolls of the dice determined where a player would move and if they
were successful in catching a ghost. Unsuccessful busts resulted in the player
being slimed and the ghost flying off to be faced later on. Each bust was
determined by a mission card and added points, which players need in order to
purchase their busting equipment and win. Each character also had a special
skill which helped them or added a handicap during gameplay. The game had a
degree of difficulty in that if Mr. Stay Puft appeared, he could destroy the
firehouse and cause every player to lose.
Like
the other board games, the game made extensive use of promotional artwork
(although Peter’s player piece gave him blonde hair). The game also featured model
sheets for the firehouse and several of its rooms.
The Real Ghostbusters
Electronic Arcade
Remco, 1989
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| The game and box. |
Remco
took the LCD game a bit further by putting one inside a miniature arcade
cabinet adorned with the promotional painting artwork. While the previous game
was set on a city street, this one was set in a mausoleum. The player once
again controlled Peter, and this time he had threats coming at him from every
direction. The player shifted Peter’s position with the joystick and could
press one of two action buttons. An added feature was that Peter could duck
down to avoid an attack. However, his hiding time was limited and once it ran
out, Peter would lose a life and an animation of him lying in a coffin on the
background would appear. Although the box came in English, the game just saw a
limited release and was widely available in Italy.
The Real Ghostbusters
Electronic Pinball
Remco, 1989
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| Digital pinball. |
Another
Remco LCD left the arcade format and went into the pinball arena. The game was
smaller than the standard tabletop pinball games but was closer to its big
cousins with the addition of long legs holding it up. The game simulated the pinball
motions over its playfield. Once again, the picture used to decorate it was the
painted promotional artwork. The game itself came in red and blue, while the
box was colored either blue or orange.
The Real Ghostbusters Pinball
Game
Sharon Industries, Inc., 1990
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| Bustin' ghosts with flippers. |
One
of the popular pieces of tie-in merchandise in the late 80s/early 90s were
battery operated miniature tabletop pinball machines. They were just like regular
pinball machines with lights and sounds, but were only about 2 feet long and
lacked some of the digital scoring methods. Sharon Industries produced one for
the cartoon. While the playfield featured the characters as they appeared on
the show and some stock generic ghosts, the back board was the promotional art
painting.
The Real Ghostbusters
Kemco, 1993
The
next Real Ghostbusters handheld game was released for the Nintendo Game Boy by Activision. Once again, it was not
originally a Ghostbusters game and had very little to do with the actual
series. The game, developed by Kemco, was an action/puzzle game where players
had to maneuver through labyrinths by destroying certain blocks, using bombs to
defeat enemies, and collecting all the stars in a level to get the key that
will open the door to the next stage.
The
game was originally part of Kemco’s Crazy Castle
series and featured Disney’s Mickey Mouse as the primary
character in Japan, where it was known as Mickey Mouse IV: The Magical
Labyrinth. For European countries, the game was modified to star Garfield and was called Garfield Labyrinth.
The North American version got Peter and The Real Ghostbusters branding.
Despite having a proton pack, the beam was only used to break blocks and bombs
were still needed to destroy enemies that couldn’t be avoided. Some stages
would also feature the Ghostbusters theme in rotation with the game’s original
music.
