Ghostbusters (Genesis)

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Ghostbusters (Genesis).

EGM Issue 9 (April 1990)#

Despite being at the start of the game, these screenshots seem to have a full inventory and energy bar. The game has a cheat code that provides full equipment, energy and bombs, which it seems was used for demonstrating the game here. This also makes it likely the game is using the Japanese build of the game, as the code was disabled for the international release.

According to Game Player's magazine below, this build only consisted of the first level.

Prerelease	Final

This area was changed quite a bit for the final game. The ladder out of the pit was removed and replaced with a Bouncing Buddy. The structure of the platforms and walls were rearranged.

Prerelease	Final

The character select screen displays no information regarding the Ghostbusters' differing stats. "Please Select Player" was changed to "Please Select Character", and Push Start Button changed to "Press Trigger".

Prerelease	Final

"There" at the end of the dialogue box was moved to the next line to avoid a hanging exclamation mark, and a space was added to the start of "Recently". The background of Peter's dialogue box is bright yellow instead of green.

Prerelease	Japan (Cheat Code)	International

The placement of the Phaser Shell and Explosive in the menu were swapped. Curiously, despite seemingly using the Unlock All Equipment code, there is no Bubble Projectile unlocked. In it's place is a conspicuously blank space. An item that may be the deleted Drill is on the bottom right of the Weapons section. Despite being a weapon, it seems to be a consumable item. In the final game, even with all items unlocked/bought, the bottom right space is never used for anything.

The digits for the amount of money are left aligned next to the $ symbol rather than to the right. The text description for the Normal Shot was shortened for the Japanese release to prevent text overflow, which was then shortened even further for the international release.

Game Player's Vol. 2, #5 (May 1990)#

Prerelease	Final

An unused cutscene graphic for the first level. The final game uses a much simpler introduction.

Prerelease	Final

"Encounter!" has an extra exclamation mark in the preview, although the text was not centred again after removing it.

Sega Visions Images#

These images from Sega Visions #1 have the score displayed during gameplay (more visibly in the left one). In the final game, the score is only displayed upon completing the game or choosing not to continue at the game over screen.

As these appear to be taken from the Home Sweet Home and Apartment stages, both are shown to have four mid-bosses each on the HUD, whereas in the final only the last two stages have that many and the rest (except for Home Sweet Home, which has just one) have two. These images are likely mockups, however, as they show the same amounts of life, energy, and mid-bosses marked off.

BGM Demos#

From October 3rd to October 10, 2020, rough sketch demos of the game's soundtrack were uploaded to Kazuhiko Nagai's personal YouTube channel, all of which were sourced from audio cassette recordings that he transferred to digital format.

The track list below is in chronological order of when each track was uploaded to YouTube. All song titles are as originally presented and retain the grammatical errors that were used in the titles of each video.