Ghostbusters (1984 video game)

Ghostbusters
Developer(s)Activision
James Software (CPC, ZX)
Bits Laboratory (NES)
Compile (Master System)
Publisher(s)Activision
Tokuma Shoten (Famicom)
Sega (Master System)
Designer(s)David Crane
Programmer(s)Adam Bellin (C64)
Robert McNally (Apple)
Glyn Anderson (Atari 8-bit)
Robert Rutkowski (MSX, PCjr/Tandy)
Dan Kitchen (2600)
Composer(s)Russell Lieblich (C64, Apple)
Tadashi Sou (NES)
Tohru Nakabayashi (Master System)
SeriesGhostbusters
Platform(s)
Commodore 64
Release
October 26, 1984
  • Commodore 64
    • NA: October 26, 1984[1]
    • EU: Late 1984
    MSX
    Late 1984
    Apple II
    Atari 8-bit
    PCjr/Tandy 1000
    Atari 2600
    Amstrad CPC
    ZX Spectrum
    NES/Famicom
    • JP: September 22, 1986
    • NA: October 1988
    Master System
    • NA: May 1987
    • PAL: October 1989
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single-player

Ghostbusters is a licensed game by Activision based on the film of the same name. It was designed by David Crane and released for several home computer platforms in 1984, and later for video game console systems, including the Atari 2600, Master System and Nintendo Entertainment System. The primary target was the Commodore 64 and the programmer for the initial version of the game was Adam Bellin. All versions of the game were released in the USA except for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum versions, which were released only in Europe, and the MSX version, which was released only in Europe, South America, and Japan.

In 1984, after the film Ghostbusters had been launched, John Dolgen VP of Business Development at Columbia Pictures approached Activision International president Gregory Fischbach and offered to license the game rights to Activision without specific rules or requests for the design or content of the game, only stipulating that it was to be finished as quickly as possible in order to be released while the movie was at peak popularity. Activision was forced to complete the programming work in only six weeks in contrast to their usual several months of development time for a game. Activision had at the time a rough concept for a driving/maze game to be called "Car Wars", and it was decided to build the Ghostbusters game from it. Both the movie and the game proved to be huge successes[4] with the game selling over two million copies by 1989.[5]

  1. ^ "Ghostbusters (Registration Number PA0000290824)". United States Copyright Office. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "1985 Index" (PDF). Computer Entertainer. Vol. 4, no. 10. January 1986. p. 6.
  3. ^ "Ghostbusters (Registration Number PA0000278161)". United States Copyright Office. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  4. ^ "Richard Camfield - Retro Gamer". Retrogamer.net. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  5. ^ Advokat, Stephen (August 31, 1989). "Movies hit a smaller screen". Detroit Free Press. p. 19. Retrieved October 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.