Ghostbusters II

By Scott Stilphen

 

Based on the movie, and much like how the movie was a terrible follow-up to the original, the same can be said for this game.  What looks like a fun game to play is actually one of the most frustratingly hard games ever made... for any system.  It's possible to reach the bottom of the shaft to advance to the 2nd level (shown on the box), but it's not any easier than the 1st level, and as graphically impressive as it is, we're not even sure it's possible to beat without hacking the game.  To those willing to try, your only reward is the title screen with the text, "YOU GOT IT!".  If you paid money for this game, you got something else... something that rhymes with 'it'.  Trust us - your time is better spent playing the far-superior original Ghostbusters game.

The game is copyright 1990 by Activision, but wasn't released until 1992 (by Salu), and was only released overseas. 2 versions exist, both with different start-up tunes. The manual was based off of the C-64 version (LINK), and as a result contains several errors.  For example, it mentions using the space bar to toggle between your 3 weapons (Proton Beam, PKR Bomb, and PKR Shield), but you actually have to use the SELECT switch.  It also mentions that on the 2nd part (Broadway), when a ghost is hit, it dissolves into globs of slime which stay until a new wave of ghosts appear, and The Ghostbusters will march out into the street to mop them up; the slime actually appears whether or not you hit a ghost, and you have to put the fireball over the slime (and press the FIRE button) to collect it.  The manual mentions "toggling the joystick" to make The Ghostbusters move left and right, but they never appear in the 2nd part.  The C-64 version also has a 3rd part (The Museum) that was omitted from the VCS version.

The VCS manual describes all the onscreen items and gauges, but there's no screenshots or pictures of them!  Below are screenshots I made of both stages with everything labeled:


Return to main menu