Ghostbusters (1984 video game)

Ghostbusters is a licensed game by Activision based on the movie of the same name. It was designed by David Crane and released for several home computer platforms in 1984, and later for video game console systems, including the Atari 2600, Master System and Nintendo Entertainment System. The primary target was the Commodore 64 and the programmer for the initial version of the game was Adam Bellin. All versions of the game were released in the USA except for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum versions, which were released only in Europe, and the MSX version, which was released only in Europe, South America, and Japan.
In 1984, after the film Ghostbusters had been launched, John Dolgen VP of Business Development at Columbia Pictures approached Gregory Fischbach (President of Activision International and subsequently CEO and Co-founder of Acclaim Entertainment) and offered to license the game rights to Activision without specific rules or requests for the design or content of the game, only stipulating that it was to be finished as quickly as possible in order to be released while the movie was at peak popularity. Activision was forced to complete the programming work in only six weeks in contrast to their usual several months of development time for a game. Activision had at the time a rough concept for a driving/maze game to be called "Car Wars", and it was decided to build the "Ghostbusters" game from it. Both the movie and the game proved to be huge successes.
Gameplay.
The player sets up a ghost busting franchise in a city with a rising "Psychokinetic" (PK) "Energy" level and has the ability to purchase equipment such as traps, or to upgrade their vehicle. The player then negotiates a grid representing the city. They need to stop the "roamers" from reaching the temple of Zuul (which causes the PK Energy level to jump). When the player moves to a city block that is flashing red, the game mode switches to an overhead view of the player's vehicle driving to the location. The player must move left and right to "vacuum up" the stray ghosts and avoid cars. The player then moves to a screen in which a "Slimer" ghost must be guided with two "proton streams" over a ghost trap.
If the ghost is successfully captured, the player's income increases. The aim is to have $10,000 by the time the city's PK level reaches 9999, where in the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man will appear and wreak havoc on the city, thereby ending the game. In some versions (e.g. the Commodore 64 version), after the first successful game, the player is given an account number, which stores the amount of money the player had at the end of the game. This allowed for purchasing more expensive items for use (faster cars, more traps etc.). In order to win at these games the player was required to have earned more money than their initial account balance. This is one of the earliest uses of passwords being used as a 'save game' feature on home computers.
Speech samples.
Most versions of the game feature a sampled rendition of the "Ghostbusters!" cry at the start of the movie's theme song; on the C64 and Atari 8bit versions, this was produced within the game using a patented form of compression similar to ADPCM by ESS (Electronic Speech Systems), all without requiring external hardware to produce the speech. The PCjr/Tandy port does not have this feature.
Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System versions.
The game was also released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986 in Japan and in 1988 in North America. This version featured added gameplay after the Ghostbusters sneak by the Marshmallow Man. It played more like a conventional vertical scrolling platform game, where they were able to actually climb the stairs to get to the roof. However, the Ghostbusters could not fire their weapons nor trap any of the ghosts and had to instead sneak by all the floors. The NES version is considered the most difficult for this reason. At the end of the NES version, the final screen states: "Conglaturation!!! You have completed a great game. And prooved the justice of our culture. Now go and rest our heroes!". The Japanese version contains a bug that prohibits the ending to display, and instead resulting in the text "りり" (Riri) to appear on the left of the screen.
The game was also ported to the Sega Master System and released in 1987. Similar to the NES version, it features the staircase level, except the Ghostbusters are able to shoot the ghosts with their proton streams to temporarily make them go away. This version, while considered superior to the NES version, doesn't feature the speech sample and Gozer is mistranslated as "Gorza".
Reception.
"Ghostbusters" topped the monthly UK software sales charts for three months in early 1985, from January to March. It went on to be the UK's fourth best-selling home video game of 1985.
"Antic" in May 1985 called "Ghostbusters" "the first adaptation to capture both the feel and the theme of the movie on which it is based ... most enjoyable to play". "Edge" in 2007 called "Ghostbusters" "dauntingly good", noting that despite the action sequences expected of a licensed title, the game was a "polished, intelligently-paced", strategic business simulation. Ernie Hudson said, "My kids really hated [the Commodore 64 game]. They thought it sucked." In 1985 it and "The Print Shop" were reportedly the two most widely pirated Commodore 64 programs. "II Computing" listed "Ghostbusters" eighth on the magazine's list of top Apple II games as of late 1985, based on sales and market-share data, and it was Activision's best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987.
The Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum versions of the game was included on the 1986 compilation "They Sold a Million 3", along with "Fighter Pilot", "Rambo" and "Kung-Fu Master". The game was also released on "The Story So Far Volume IV" in December 1989, and "Hollywood Collection" in December 1990. It knocked "Daley Thompson's Decathlon" from the top of the UK sales chart.
"Ghostbusters" was ported to the IBM PCjr and Tandy 1000 in 1985. Due to timing-sensitive raster effects the game uses, it is incompatible with Tandy machines other than the 1000/1000A, 1000HX, and 1000EX, all of which use a 4.77Mhz 8088 CPU.