is an action

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

and

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

, both developed and published by

HAL Laboratory formerly shortened as HALKEN (derived from its native name), is a Japanese video game developer founded on 21 February 1980. While independent, it has been closely tied with Nintendo throughout its history, and is often referred to as a secon ...

in 1990 in Japan and in 1992 in the PAL region. The NES version was never released in North America due to licensing issues with Activision. As a result, NES players in North America only received Activision's ''

Ghostbusters II ''GhostbustersII'' is a 1989 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Ramis, Rick Moranis ...

'' game. HAL also developed a Game Boy version of ''New Ghostbusters II'', titled simply ''Ghostbusters II'', which they also published in Japan, while Activision published it in North America and PAL regions.

Gameplay

In the game, the player is presented with four Ghostbusters to choose from: Peter Venkman,

Ray Stantz Raymond Stantz, PhD, is a fictional character from the ''Ghostbusters'' franchise. He appears in the films ''Ghostbusters'' (1984), ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989), ''Casper'' (1995, as a cameo) and '' Ghostbusters: Afterlife'' (2021), the animated ...

, Egon Spengler, or Winston Zeddemore. The NES version features their accountant,

Louis Tully The ''Ghostbusters'' franchise spans multiple films, animated series, novelizations, comic books, and video games. Beginning with the 1984 live-action film ''Ghostbusters'', directed by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Rami ...

, as a fifth playable character. This, along with the North American version of ''Ghostbusters II'', were the only titles ever released that allowed players to play as Winston. While the action can be performed by oneself in the NES version, a secondary player may join the game with the ability to press B on a second controller to release a ghost-catching trap. The objective of the game is to trap all the

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

s in an area until an arrow appears which alerts the player where to travel to next. A

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

appears at the end of each stage.

Version differences

''New Ghostbusters II'' for the NES is not a port of the Game Boy version, or vice versa. The Nintendo Entertainment System version features new music, different layouts for the levels and alternate versions of cut scenes between levels and stage bosses. The Game Boy version has 5 stages. None of the versions of ''New Ghostbusters II'' has multi-player capabilities.

Reception

On release, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' magazine scored the Game Boy version of the game a 25 out of 40.お買い物に便利 : 新作ゲームクロスレビュー - ゴーストバスターズ2. Famicom Tsushin. No.22. Pg.18. 26 October 1990.

References

External links

* *
''Ghostbusters II - Game Boy''
at

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databa ...

''New Ghostbusters II - Nintendo''
at

1990 video games Action games Ghostbusters video games HAL Laboratory games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Game Boy games Game Boy-only games Video game sequels Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Hirohiko Takayama Video games set in New York City Single-player video games {{action-videogame-stub