Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Being the popular franchise that it is, Ghostbusters has managed to spawn a few video games in its lifetime. These games have generally been hit or miss, depending on the console and the development.

But the most successful of these games came out in 2009, in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the original movie. Given a major multi-platform release and significant support from multiple companies, a script written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis and featuring the voice talents of the core four Ghostbusters, the game was a strong success and renewed interest in the third movie, stuck at the time in Development Hell.

The plot of the 2009 game is set two years after the events of the second movie, around Thanksgiving 1991. The Ghostbusters have been set up as official exterminators by the city, allowing you to mostly do your job with little concern of being sued as you have a massive insurance policy financed by the city. The game opens with a Gozer exhibit at a museum and a massive paranormal presense rippling out, pushing the Ghostbusters to become even busier than anticipated. Luckily they have already hired an intern, whose name is never actually spoken, and he goes on to help the original four Ghostbusters get rid of ghosts all throughout the city and uncover mysteries behind the first two movies, which allows you to visit many of the same locales. It also serves to tie the second movie in as an indirect consequence of Shandor's actions.

"Ivo Shandor/The Architect: I AM A GOD! Egon Spengler: We eat Gods for breakfast! ... Ray Stantz: 'We eat gods for breakfast'? Egon: Too much you think? Ray: No, that was good. I like it."
 * Admiring the Abomination: Egon admires Ivo Shandor's work from time to time. He's quick to add that he was completely evil. Winston reminds Egon to "stick to the Light Side." "It's hard."
 * Advancing Boss of Doom: The Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. Getting too close in Times Square gets the player "stomped into jelly."
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The Ghostbusters's descriptions of the chaos the mandala node will cause - whole city blocks vanishing into other dimensions, cockroaches the size of ponies, panic in the streets... and the return of disco.
 * Winston discussing the results of Shandor's antics: "...booger snot ghosts, marshmallow ghouls, spider witches, the comeback of the Civil War, King Tut, and new property in the Hudson that I can't afford."
 * Attack Its Weak Point: The Juvenile Slor has a glowing green node on top of its head.
 * In the Wii version, its replacement, the Black Slime Behemoth, has weak points in its mouths. They're only visible with the Ectogoggles.
 * Lampshaded by Egon during the fight when he mentions that, in terms of scientific probability, the Slor doesn't necessarily have a weak point, but advises that the node is the best place to try.
 * Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever:
 * Azetlor, the Collector, is a 40-fool long bookworm in the Stylized version.
 * Badass Boast: Egon to Ivo Shandor in the game.

"Peter'sRandomGirlfriend: Yeah, hi Peter. I think I left my ear rings at your place... and my shoes... and my cat. Any way I had a wonderful time last night."
 * And it's absolutely true -- assuming they eat marshmallows.
 * Blessed with Suck: Late in the videogame, Ray wonders why Gozer didn't take on a more effective Destructor form than the Staypuft Marshmallow Man again, and thinks that gods are probably limited to one Destructor form per dimension.
 * One has to wonder what Vigo's plan was for after he took on the body of an infant.
 * He gets to be a kid again.
 * Body Surf: Later on,
 * Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: A mild example, Peter has a voice mail that goes, for the most part, like this.


 * The Can Kicked Him: The game has this in the form of a Cursed Artifact--a commode with a demon bound to it.
 * The Chessmaster / Crazy Prepared: Gozer cult leader Ivo Shandor, mentioned in the original film but featured much more prominently in the video game.
 * Continuity Nod: The plot of the game is essentially an excuse to re-visit every location and set-piece from the first film. The second film is also given some smaller nods, notably the painting of Vigo the Carpathian being disarmingly approachable and quite talkative in the firehouse, the use of the mood slime and slime blowers, and revealing where that slime came from.
 * Deadly Upgrade: A lot of the equipment the Rookie gets is untested (though the other Ghostbusters will start using it on the next level after you get it), and the warnings are hilariously dangerous. Stripping off some metal from the proton pack wand, for example, can cause numbness in the hands, while altering the PKE Meter can leave stains on your hands that will never come off. Most importantly, the Rookie is the one testing the equipment because, in case there's a problem, the other Ghostbusters don't want to be blown to New Jersey. The Rookie is not reassured by this.
 * Destructive Savior: The game keeps track of how much property damage you cause through the course of the game. Even if you play through as carefully as possible, it's still going to be in the 6-figure range. There are achievements/trophies for causing more than 3 million in damage (The Destructor) and less than $300,000 (Nice Shooting, Tex!).
 * The Stylized versions actually encourage this, as despite the money being useless, re-playing levels shows your "high score." The damage values only ever go up, meaning the goal is to break ALL THE THINGS.
 * Do Well, But Not Perfect: In the Sega Master System version of the game based on the first film, you can't keep any of the money you earned throughout your game if you defeat Gozer at the end. So the best way to rack up as much money as you can, as quickly as you can, is to do as well as possible in phase one, and then deliberately let Stay-Puft kill you in phase two.
 * Enemy Scan
 * An Entrepreneur Is You: The game based on the first movie.
 * Evil Chef: The Chef ghost in both the stylized and realistic versions of the 2009 game.
 * Fat Bastard: The Chairman, Chef De Forrest, and the Mr. Creosote lookalike from the firehouse.
 * Fighting a Shadow: the video game battle against Gozer's Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
 * Final Boss, New Dimension: The final battle of the game takes place in the ghost world.
 * Food Porn: Slimer has a calendar with pictures of large banquets inside his containment unit (November's is a rather delicious-looking Thanksgiving turkey).
 * Giant Mook: Each level has its own variation, starting with the Kitchen Golem in Sargassi's.
 * A God Am I:



"Venkman: No, no. No names. I don't want to get too attached to this one."
 * Hell Hotel: The Sedgewick in the game, oh God, the Sedgewick is so hard on the return level.
 * The PC version of the game contains SecureROM Copy Protection, a much-maligned, user-unfriendly system. This particular version actually alters gameplay if it's set off; a pirated copy with a poorly done crack or a legitimate copy flagged as a false-positive will give the candelabra enemies in the Sedgewick smaller collision boxes so they're nearly impossible to hit, as well as reduce the player's weapon damage to 25%, making it a literal and unwinnable Hell Hotel.
 * Herd-Hitting Attack: The Boson Dart can take out groups of minor enemies, especially the Marshmallow Minis and Flying Skulls.
 * Heroic Mime: The Rookie
 * High Turnover Rate: Implied with the rookies in the game.

"Egon: Oh, no. Ray: See something﻿ scary Egon? Egon: Stairs, LOTS of stairs..."
 * Law Enforcement, Inc.: Averted, in time. By the 2009 video game, the Ghostbusters have become licensed state agents in the direct employ of New York City. A good thing, considering they seem to solely provide a service that seems nearly, if not equally, crucial as firefighting or crime deterrence.
 * Make My Monster Grow: The Chairman absorbs energy from the mandala node before confronting the Ghostbusters, becoming nearly as large as Stay Puff.
 * Never Trust a Trailer: This trailer has scenes of the Ghostbusters dancing down the street and a parade looking up at a float, as well as a scene of several ghost chasing the Ecto-1B down a street, none of which shows up in the game.
 * This was actually a reference to The Real Ghostbusters animated series.
 * Or possibly this old music video.
 * Many of those scenes are from the Thanksgiving Day Parade level, which was cut from the game for unknown reasons (but is still referenced by the mayor).
 * Nintendo Hard: The titular NES game of the first movie is one of the biggest examples in all of gaming history, just for those fucking STAIRS. Until Lord Kat revealed a technique in episode 1 of Until We Win.
 * The Angry Video Game Nerd was particularly pissed off about the stairs...among other problems that game had.
 * Possibly referenced in the 2009 video game during the ghost-dimension-library level.

"Peter: No names, Ray. I don't want to get too attached to this kid. Remember what happened to the last one?"
 * The Playstation 2 version of the 2009 video game had Nintendo Hardness also -- mostly stemming from the lack of save points. If your game freezes up and glitches, you're forced back to the start of the level you were on once you restart.
 * This is likely a result of being a port of the Wii version, which as designed from motion controls.
 * The Atari 2600 game of the first movie was even worse. The jumping Stay-Puff only had one point in his jumping arc where his altitude was greater than the height of a Ghostbuster. That point was the exact width of a Ghostbuster. So you had to figure out that exact point, run to it, and stop exactly on it - with no margin for error - and then continue the rest of the way across the screen once Stay-Puff jumped over you in order to beat the game. And you have to do this twice in order to be able to cross the streams.
 * No Name Given: Your character in the 2009 game is only ever referred to as "Cadet", "Kid", "Hoss", "Tiger", "Sport", "Scooter", "Rookie" or "Rook" for short. Even his nametag says "Rookie".
 * In the Wii version, the female PC doesn't even get altered dialog, still being referred to as male.
 * Noodle Incident: The handwave for the player-character's anonymity (and what happened to his predecessor) in the game, see No Name Given above.

"Professor Jones: It belongs in a museum!"
 * And also from the game, Egon talking to Peter in the first level about "the Ellis Island Incident," never spoken of again.
 * That's probably just a reference to the second movie.
 * Not So Harmless
 * Product Placement: The developers of the game hope you'll get hungry for Doritos. It's possible that the "what about the Twinkie" scene was, as well, but it also plays into Egon's lovable fondness for junk food.
 * Put on a Bus: Heavily implied in regards
 * Readings Are Off the Scale: At one point, Egon reports that PKE readings are off the charts. Then he mentions that he's going to need new charts.
 * Real Men Wear Pink: In the game, Winston - the most down to earth of the Ghostbusters - is revealed to have a vested interest in theatre.
 * Red Herring: In the game, the flagrant, obvious implications that  turns out to be untrue. Subverted; from dialog at the end of the game, it's obvious that Egon figured it out before the actual reveal.
 * Regenerating Health: The player's health will start to regenerate if he is kept out of harm's way for a few seconds.
 * Right Behind Me: The Collector (or his mask, in the HD version) appeared behind Ray after he made the comment about the Ghostbusters taking the Gozerian Codex. It was even lampshaded.
 * Screams Like a Little Girl: The Sedgewick Hotel manager.
 * Secondary Fire: Each weapon has two firing modes with vastly different effects. The slime blower can close black slime portals while the slime tether can move massive objects out of the player's path.
 * In the Stylized version, this is replace with time-delayed slime mines, which do more damage the longer they're charged.
 * Serial Killer: All of the Node Guardians in the video game were stated to be this during life (except the Juvenile Slor, of course). After seeing the inside of the Spider Witch's domain, it's not hard to doubt.
 * Shout-Out: To another famous "busters", when after an explosion, Egon asks if he still has eyebrows.
 * The Sloth Ghost is a shout out to Monty Python; more specifically, the "Mr. Creosote" sketch from The Meaning Of Life.
 * A crayon drawing in the firehouse gives one to amateur Ghostbusters movies Freddy Vs Ghostbusters and its sequel Return of the Ghostbusters. You can also see the ending screen of the 8-bit Ghostbusters game on the computer monitor in the firehouse.
 * Also featured in the game is an answering machine message from one Professor Jones demanding the ghostbusters return the Vigo painting.

"Winston Zeddemore: Just once, I wouldn't mind running with these other fools away from the trouble. Dr. Peter Venkman: Where's the fun in that?"
 * There are multiple references to The Real Ghostbusters in the form of Slimer being the Team Pet, the upgraded containment unit looking like a bank vault and the show's PKE meter showing up on a table as a piece of random technology.
 * The Ghost Traps from both The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters can be seen in the basement too.
 * Replaced with the movie versions of the same in the Wii version.
 * The online Tobin's Spirit Guide may be a reference to "The Bird of Kildarby," in which an electronic version of the book appeared.
 * When the Ghostbusters are talking about possessions, Winston mentions "having your head spin around and puking pea soup", a clear shout-out to The Exorcist.
 * If the player interacts with Vigo's painting in the game, one of Vigo's possible responses is commanding the Rookie to bring him a child, but from some of the other things he says, he seems depressed and resigned to the idea that he isn't getting out.
 * Starter Villain: The Fisherman's Ghost is the first level boss you fight, and the only level boss without any ties to the Gozer Cult or the overarching plot.
 * Stop Helping Me!: In the 2009 game the other Ghostbusters do try to carry their weight, but expect to be reviving them every minute or so. You shouldn't complain too much, though, since they'll be doing the same for you quite often.
 * Take That: Vigo the Carpathian, the painting from the second game, is in the film. As well as comments ranging from Badass Boasts to demands he be brought a child to moping about his defeat he has this gem: "You will elect a leader more evil than I. Twice." Oh..., ouch.
 * Took a Level in Jerkass: Peter Venkman in the video game.
 * Vocal Evolution: The 2009 game is set 2 years after the second movie, but it's obvious some of the voice actors have aged more than 2 years since that movie came out in 1989.
 * The Voiceless (Your character in the 2009 game has no dialogue whatsoever (apart from the occasional scream). His facial expressions and body language are detailed enough to tell what he's thinking, though.)
 * He DOES attempt to talk a few times, but always gets cut off.
 * A Winner Is You The infamous "Conglaturation!!! You have completed a great game. And prooved the justice of our culture. Now go and rest our heroes!" ending screen of the NES game.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Dana Barret is mentioned in the game, but no information on her current whereabouts circa 1991 is given. Sigourney Weaver initially refused a role in the game on account of Bill Murray not having any creative involvement, but the game was too far along to swap characters in and out by the time she was told this had changed.
 * Where's the Fun In That?: