THE MAKING OF: GHOSTBUSTERS II
Ghostbusters II on the 8-bit and 16-bit home computers had a problem: It had nothing to do with the film. It began to receive mixed reviews; almost an inevitable situation, given the high quality and popularity of the original supernatural comedy and the limits of videogames in the late Eighties. It didn’t have anything to do with the quality of the game’s graphics, either, for they were largely excellent. Nor was it the audio: there was an excellent rendition of the Ghostbusters tune. The game even included digitised stills from the movie. But there was a problem nonetheless.
In issue 28 of the EMAP magazine ACE, a reviewer took issue with the game’s three, relatively short levels on the home computer versions. Although they were rather varied, not to mention difficult – which meant gamers would end up playing each one for a while before cracking them – the magazine clearly wanted more bang for its buck and it was, as you’d expect, unafraid to state its feelings.
The reviewer said the game “fails to succeed both as a film conversion and as a game in its own right”. They added, “Interestingly enough, the film was originally going to be called The Last Of The Ghostbusters. After this, I hope it is.” Further damning Ghostbusters II as a turkey and slamming it for having arrived on three disks (four on the Atari ST), the magazine awarded the game a paltry 251 out of 1,000. It caused a storm which blew all over the trade press at the time and proved to be hugely embarrassing for a gaming franchise that had debuted so well five years earlier.
The real issue is that there were actually four versions of : a difficult, single-player side-scroller for the NES by Imagineering; a cool action release by had cast its eyes over, most notably for the 16-bit computers. In all cases, the games were published by Activision, who had secured the movie licence from Columbia Pictures. “The licence was acquired by Activision as part of an arcade deal – it might even have been the US side,” says Charles Cecil, Activision’s development manager at the time. The idea was for the film to be released in the summer of 1989 and for the game to follow shortly afterwards in the expectation that it would become a great holiday season seller. The previous game, from 1984, had sold more than two million copies and had become the best-selling game of all time – a title it still held five years later. There was a great weight of expectation for the sequel and there had been hope among players that David Crane, who created the first game, would be on board for the new game.
