April Edition Live Magazine - April 2014 Issue. | Page 104

retro

Looking Back on Ghostbusters
(The Video Game - 1984)
On February 24th, legendary comedy actor and writer Harold Ramis
passed away after a number of years
battling illness. As a child, I was obsessed with the Ghostbusters movies, and found Ramis’ writing and
acting to both be absolutely hilarious. I would often pretend my house
was haunted and that I was trapping the ghosts, sometimes I would
pretend the toaster was the a ghost
trap. I was ecstatic then, when my
parents surprised me with the Sega
Master System version of the 1987
Ghostbusters video game.
Originally published by Activision on
the Atari 800 and Commodore 64 in
1984, Ghostbusters was later ported

At the start of the game, players have
a limited amount of cash which they
can use to purchase various pieces
of ghost-busting equipment. Do you
prioritise a sports car, which leaves
minimal room for equipment bur ensures arriving quickly to the scene of
a ghost attack? Or do you load up
the slower, more familiar ambulance
from the film itself, which can hold
more traps, baits and vacuums?
David Crane (who also created Pitfall!) states that Ghostbusters is a
action game that also implements
a business simulation, as you start
a paranormal exterminating business with