Ghostbusters - NNRG Week 50

[@jasonblalock4429]

I absolutely LOVED this game as a kid, playing it on PC Jr. (Oddly, it only got a Junior port, not to full PC.) I honestly loved the game flow, how it starts out slow but then gets more and more intense as the PKE continues to climb. For such an early licensed game, that was a great way of adding intensity and the feeling of being in an escalating story.

[@philscomputerlab]

Great video! You seem to have found good releases with instructions at the start. For me, back in the day, most C64 games were confusing, and we didn't know what to do. So we didn't really play that much. I vividly remember playing Ghost Busters, the huge car sprite and digital voices impressed me at the time.

[@Pixelmusement]

The early days of gaming really were quite experimental; Designers weren't really sure how to measure what kind of logic in a game was too obscure to figure out or not. This led to some pretty inventive stuff compared to what you would typically find in a mainstream title now, but as demonstrated, also led to plenty of frustration from confused gamers. :P

[@PlayStationPaul]

I like the idea of picking games you're familiar with. This episode felt more like a let's play, and a really good one at that.

[@Pixelmusement]

Or in this case, picking games which I had played on other systems but never the C64. ;)

[@PlayStationPaul]

@@Pixelmusement Sure, but you clearly knew you're way around regardless. I do enjoy the "blind" format of this series, but there's definitely something to be said for a good, informative let's play type video too.

[@rnrbishop]

The easiest way to win is to take the compact, 1 trap and the ghost bait. You make the money back super quick and serious profit by trapping the marshmallow man!

[@seanlavoie2]

I’m amazed by how much it looks like the apple version. I never played it long enough to figure out how to play it. Great video.

[@cxk7127]

Press space during the intro to make it say" Ghostbusters!" I used to play this game as a kid and would sing the theme loud and proud hitting space at the appropriate time. It drove my parents nuts! 🤣

[@solsticeprojekt1937]

"GHOSTBUSTERS!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" :D Pressing space also triggered the "GHOSTBUSTERS!" during the title. ^_^

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

In terms of the release - Ricochet was a budget rerelease label, so they published it a few years later, on tape at a cheaper price. The original release was on disk (being done in the US obviously), though the original version did see a tape release for PAL regions (and was one of those where it used the C64's KERNEL ROM routines meaning it took *forever* to load). So the Hokuto Force folks took that Ricochet release and cleaned it up - Freezing something is when a memory snapshot is made using a utility cartridge like an Action Replay or Freeze Frame, done once the game's booted up.

[@Pixelmusement]

That explains A LOT. :o

[@matrixbelevard4470]

On the title screen when the karaoke ball is bouncing you can hit the space bar and make the game say GHOSTBUSTERS! Either during the correct time or spam it to annoy your friends.

[@Pixelmusement]

I noticed that during initial testing before I began recording, but wasn't really amused by it so didn't decide to comment on it. :P

[@aaronmarko]

You know, Ghostbusters gets a lot of crap for being a bad game but let's be real - I don't know if there's a better distillation of working a mundane, tedious job that isn't very important but people expect way too much from you. And you know, maybe that's really what people actually hated about it. Just how true to life it is.

[@jasonblalock4429]

IMO, the bad rap is 100% due to the NES version being a genuinely awful port - not to mention coming out several years too late - and it's the version that probably most people saw. The earlier releases on C64 and PC Jr and such were quite well-liked at the time. For a 1984 licensed game, it did a great job capturing the vibe of the movie.

[@drg5352]

@@jasonblalock4429 Exactly. The NES port came out in North America 4 years after the C64 Original. Hell it came out 2 years after the Famicom release. The Atari 2600 version was released in 1985. Along with the PCJr, MSX, and most other versions. C64 in 1984. It also managed to have worse graphics despite on a newer, graphically more capable system, and the additions to the gameplay just sucked. the Master System at least has better graphics. I still have a tradition of running Ghostbusters on every new computer at least once, since I discovered emulators way back in the 90's. It took over 30 years for me to get past Stay Puft. :P I have an account sitting around $70,000 in my game notes binder. I think my dad has about $50,000 some odd written down at my parents' house. Starting from scratch, I pick the compact, three traps, and the bait. You can stretch the game out more with the vacuum, and the Image Intensifier is useful for the busting sequences, but not really necessary. The Hearse IS the traditional selection for a car though. As the PKE rises, you get more calls, and eventually around 8-9k you start having a chance for Stay Puft to arrive. At 10,000 or so you'll see the Gatekeeper and Keymaster head to Zuul, and you'll be drawn there for the final battle. Which is probably the weaker part of the game; you just have to get two Ghostbusters past Stay Puft, which is a matter of timing and positioning. After that it's a quick cut scene and you've blown the top off an uptown highrise. I prefer to have faster (relative) games, and be cheaper on equipment at first to make it easier to get more cash for the New Game+. Granted, I've probably played this a thousand times; hell just on building computers I've probably played it over a thousand times.

[@BBHood217]

Once I figured out how everything worked, I found the NES version to be fine. Except for the stair-climbing part, that really soured the game for me and I imagine everyone else. I only got past it due to a weird glitch that somehow disabled the fail state of taking too many hits which allowed me to brute force my way up to the admittedly fun final confrontation.

[@Tuxedoian]

The main mechanic is the PKE. As ghosts get to Zuul the PKE goes up quickly. Once it maxes out the Gatekeeper and Keymaster head to Zuul and you can get to the end of the game. The game is basically playing whack-a-mole with the Slimers and road ghosts to make as much as you can before the PKE maxes out.

[@ianeborn6823]

This is, for me, actually a "slight-nostalgia retro game": I _think_ that I vaguely recall playing this--and I _think_ that it was the C64 version--when I was little. ^_^ Either way, an interesting little title--if a basic one! That said, I _am_ surprised by the description noting that this wasn't originally a "Ghostbusters" game! It seems pretty inspired by the movie, as far as I see. What was it originally, if I may ask...? And finally, congratulations on reaching 50 weeks! Here's to many more weeks of retro-gaming fun! ^_^

[@Pixelmusement]

It was originally a rough driving/maze game called "Car Wars". When the Activision devs saw the movie and really liked it, David Crane in particular felt he could turn that particular game concept into a Ghostbusters game, so they called up Columbia Pictures and pitched the idea, then when they got the call back to go ahead with it they were told they only had six weeks to do it. At least, that's my assumption as to what happened given that the events differ depending on who's telling the story, but the rough game it started out as and the rushed development time are the two big constants between all of the accounts. :B

[@ianeborn6823]

@@Pixelmusement Oh wow! I'll admit, it's hard to see what we have here working as just a car game--although of course much may have changed there. I mean, there's the "on-road" bit, and the map, which makes sense--but there's not much to either. The short development time, sadly, does not surprise me--especially for a licensed game. :/ Well, thank you for the information! It's appreciated! ^_^

[@poeterritory]

Can you believe this game is 40 years old?

[@Pixelmusement]

Yes. :P

[@AlyxxTheRat]

The C64 version is in my opinion the best version to play for the reasons you pointed out.

[@sn0rb]

I mean, everyone craps on the NES version of Ghostbusters, but at least *that* gave you a proper final boss fight against Gozer.

[@recon_p]

I can't imagine anybody ever made it past the stairway in the NES version without cheating. But this version is pretty disappointing too, no big finale other than sneaking past Stay Puft.

[@Pixelmusement]

Or a turbo controller. I have beaten the NES version before and turbo was the answer to the staircase. :P

[@EdmondDantes224]

The real point of the Laser Confinement System is so that Slimer can accidentally release ghosts and enable episodes of the cartoon series! If only you could trade him for that gorilla from the other ghostbusters cartoon.

[@EdmondDantes224]

Obviously, the point of playing New Game Plus is so you can have the Ghostbusters take on Lavos much earlier and get different endings. I particularly like the one where Venkman wakes up and finds out he created a timeline where the Reptites took over.

[@Link-channel]

I prefer the one where Magus uses the lightsaber to defeat Voldemort

[@luoti-lasse4823]

Wow, never saw a good ending due to not being able to figure it out. I remember making a ton of money catching ghosts but the marshmallow man demolishing the city eventually. My tip would be to face the ghostbusters away from each other to form a funnel out of the streams which you can use to direct slimer directly on top of the trap when he gets low enough. Also, very easy to avoid crossing the streams that way.

[@Pixelmusement]

Actually, if you want to get VERY technical, a better approach would likely be to have both ghostbusters facing the SAME direction, as in, both facing left or both facing right, thus allowing you the greatest amount of squeezing of the viable movement area for the ghost and again not risking crossing the streams. :B

[@luoti-lasse4823]

@@Pixelmusement Oh yeah, true!

[@fisk0]

About ten years ago there was an indie game called Ghostcontrol Inc that mixed this style of overworld with XCOM style tactical missions. Sadly it was a bit buggy, but I really wish the developer would've refined it in a sequel, but seems like the studio is gone

[@nyccollin]

Video starts at 6:00

[@deanolium]

You’ve kinda hit the big problem with the game - if you minimax by just ignoring the ghosts when you get over your starting capital (a you need to do in order to do the end game bit) then the actual difficult parts of the game don’t happen since the PK level increases too quickly. What’s meant to happen is you start getting staypuft after you get over a PK of 5000 , which is hard to deal with even with the bait, and can quickly drain your bank account. Also the ghosts in the buildings get faster and more aggressive, as well as giving you less time before they slime you. This is where the game gets fun. But it’s easily ignored. Really they should have made everything cost more so you can’t just get everything at the start. That would give more of a difficulty curve.

[@deanolium]

Though if you play it as a score attack game where you need to make as much money as possible, then not only do you get the late game madness, but in subsequent games you want to get the faster car which limits what you can take, making the game harder but you have more capacity to make more money. Which makes the game more challenging and fun.

[@Plukh]

Another game I played a lot when I was a kid. Mostly because I was pretty dumb and didn't know English well, so it took me several attempts to guess what I had to do. It's so weird to me now - 99% of (pirated, of course) games I played back then didn't have any sort of manual, my English was rudimentary, and I still somehow figured out how to play them. Something you can only do as a kid, probably - if I had to repeat this in a modern game, it would be an instant uninstall.

[@Pixelmusement]

There is an expectation to be able to drop into a game with minimal reading ahead of time nowadays, especially since physical manuals are mostly not a thing anymore, but even back then a handful of games made an effort to tell players what to do, or at least made the controls very simple so that players could figure things out quickly. There is a very deliberate art to good game design which doesn't require prerequisite reading; Just look up a breakdown of Level 1-1 of Super Mario Brothers to see how that very first level forces players to learn how to play the game in just a matter of minutes! :o

[@ZinfandelZT]

Oh wow, *spoilers* the game doesn't make you go up the stairs? I guess now you can go and rest our heroes.

[@jasonblalock4429]

You have prooved the justice of our culture!

[@SmeddyTooBestChannel]

it makes you realize how much they truly beefed the NES version. even on "lesser" systems the game has way more personality and polish than that one and i have no idea how they managed to make it so terrible

[@bluekewne]

makes a muffled *GHOSTBUSTERS* sound :P

[@Spacemutiny]

So what’s the point of catching ghosts if you have to just let them go to the center anyway. Can’t you just sit there right from the beginning and then go to the Zuul building?

[@Pixelmusement]

No, for a couple reasons. The first is that there's a chance for Stay Puft to start trampling buildings as PK Energy goes up and you have to be VERY quick on the draw to prevent that from happening, as you will lose money if you don't stop it, but more pertinently you MUST have more money than you started with or you're simply not allowed to go into the Zuul building when the time comes. :P

[@Tgc_Dave]

David Crane...David Crane...Pitfall, Boy and his blob, right?

[@Pixelmusement]

Yep. Also "Little Computer People" which showed up on NNRG on Week 30! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGLUk4GHqMunoa8

[@bradboggess9347]

David Crane made brilliant games, maximizing every byte of the Atari 2600 with hits like Pitfall. Then, he designed this stinker. Seems that the SMS is the best version. Yeah, the NES version's staircase looks insufferable. I remember trying to get past the marshmallow man in the C64 version... tried different approaches but didn't focus on the side thing. So much work to get there... and got STOMPED.

[@Pixelmusement]

From what I understand, this game didn't start life as a Ghostbusters game, but the Activision team then went and saw the movie and David Crane was like, "Hey, that theme would work for my game!" and then the rest is history. :P

[@SteveMacSticky]

#2

[@tboon9399]

#1