Bustin' makes me, a Game Boy fan, feel good
Take an in-depth look at the best Ghostbusters game ever to reach Nintendo systems in the U.S.
If you remember our deep-dive episode on Ghostbusters games — and you should, it only happened like a year ago! — you may recall the fact that we weren't all that impressed with most of them. One gem stood amidst the mud, however: The HAL-developed New Ghostbusters II, a Famicom game that saw release in Japan and Europe. Not in the U.S., though. We got Ghostbusters II from Imagineering, which was… less than inspiring.
But all hope was not lost! Lo, in the dark of handheld gaming, a light did appear: Ghostbusters II for Game Boy is, in fact, the same basic game as New Ghostbusters II. Yeah, it features some mechanical differences (like removing invincibility from your A.I.-controlled partner), but the fundamental design and concept remains the same: You control one 'buster, and a trapper tags along behind you. You zap ghosts the freeze them, then tell the trapper to toss a trap to snag the stunned spectre. All of this is presented through an adorable birds-eye view across about a dozen stages. It's genuinely fun.
Another interesting thing about this game: The sound effect of the ’buster's particle beam is the same as the energy beams in Elec Man's stage in Mega Man. Makes ya think.
Please note that I wrote an entire Bobby Brown-style rap about this game that was going to be the lead-in, but the fundamental mercy in my heart prompted me not to use any but the first stanza. You're welcome.
