THE SPECTRUM GAME DATABASE GHOSTBUSTERS PUBLISHER Activision AUTHOR David Crane YEAR 1985. DESCRIPTION Strange mixture of arcade action, puzzle, driving and management games all thrown into one. CONTROLS: Q - Up A - Down O - Left P - Right Z - Fire B - Drop Bait CAPS-ENTER - Return to vehicle chooser SYMBOL-ENTER - Return to control chooser INSTRUCTIONS The idea is to buy the best ghostbuster-mobile and equipment at the beginning, then to catch enough ghosts to make enough money to pay back the bank and defeat Zuul at the end. It's not *quite* as easy as it sounds. At the start, you must move the forklift truck driver around, loading pieces of equipment into your ca. You will not be able to afford much when the game first starts, but you can come back to base when you have made more money and buy some more. Most of the action takes place on a map of New York City where you must drive (by moving the Ghostbusters symbol) to the flashing houses and capture the ghosts. To catch the ghosts you must position two 'busters with their beams in the right place to trap the ghost above the trap, and then you must fire the trap, hopefully catching the ghost if it is directly above. Be careful since you can only move the Ghostbuster towards the middle, so don't move them too far. If you DON'T catch the ghost you have to go all the way back to HQ and hire another ghostbuster.. You also have to go back to HQ if all your traps get full. Between the houses you have to drive your Ecto-1 car along, catching "travelling" ghosts with the ghost-hoover you hopefully bought at the beginning of the game. If you didn't, the travellers will come together to form a Marshmallow man who will trample some of the city. The only way to beat HIM is to use the anti-marshmallow food thing, which hopefully you bought at the beginning too. CHEATS SEQUELS Ghostbusters 2 (surprisingly enough) also by Activision, but an altogether different game. SCORES RECEIVED URL ftp://ftp.dcc.uchile.cl/pub/OS/sinclair/snapshots/g/???????.zip GENERAL FACTS It was one of the first movie license games. NOTES Your Spectrum did an entire feature devoted to the programming involved in it, and how well compressed it all was. It also contained a version of the music (player by the computer in the intro) and the words (timed by a bouncing spot) of the theme song by Ray Parker Jnr. ********* The Project 64 etext of the ~Ghostbusters instructions~, converted to etext by Kris Kelley . GHOSTB10.TXT, April 1998, etext #343# Note from the etexter: And here it is, with all the original broken English perfectly preserved. Readapted for the Spectrum in 2001 AD by Alessandro Grussu http://www.ag-online.da.ru ********* HEY, ANYBODY SEEN A GHOST? Motter of fact, yes. Many, many ghosts are right now winging their way to the infamous spook central. And only you con overt a disaster of biblical proportions. To save the city you must make it to the top of the Temple of ZuuI. This can only be accomplished after you've caught many ghosts, earned more money than you originally started with, and sidestepped constant danger. Now go ahead. Show 'em how they do it downtown. [Commodore loading instructions omitted] BUILDING A FRANCHISE Follow instructions on the screen to buy and outfit your vehicle; to pick up and release supplies with the fork-lift, press the Joystick button. Keep an eye on credit available (upper right corner). PK ENERGY DETECTOR warns of on approaching ghost, called a "Slimer," by turning a building pink when you pass it. IMAGE INTENSIFIER makes Slimers easier to see when you are trying to catch them. MARSHMALLOW SENSOR warns you of the impending approach of the dreaded Marshmallow Man by turning a building white when you're by it. GHOST VACUUM sucks up itinerant ghouls (coiled "Roamers") as you travel the streets of the city. GHOST TRAPS are what you use to catch ond store Slimers. Eoch trap holds one Slimer. Without them, you cannot earn money. GHOST BAIT attracts Roamers, which periodically gather to form the Marshmallow Man. Without BAIT you cannot stop him. (See IMPORTANT SAFETY TIPS below.) You get five dollops of bait when purchased. PORTABLE LASER CONFINEMENT SYSTEM stores ten Slimers in your vehicle. Saves travel time back to GHQ for more traps. YOUR ACCOUNT NUMBERS If you successfully complete a game, an account number will record your account balance. You can use your account number on any Ghostbusters program. Be careful to always enter your name ond account number in exactly the same way. MAP SCREEN A map of the city appears, with Zuul's horrible temple in the center and GHQ at the bottom. Red flashing buildings indicate the presence of a Slimer. Guide your vehicle to red flashing buildings leaving as short a trail as possible to reach building. As you do this, freeze any Roamers that are moving to Zuul by touching them. To position yourself at buildings directly above the street, push the button.To position yourself at buildings below the street, pull back Joystick and push the button. THE STREETS Steer the vehicle at passing Roamers (if you have frozen any) and push the button to vacuum them up. This keeps them from getting to the Temple of Zuul. The city's PK energy reading jumps 100 for each Roamer that gets to Zuul. BUSTING GHOSTS When you arrive at the site of the disturbance, take the following steps with the Joystick: Direct the first Ghostbuster toward the center of the building and push the button to deposit the trap. Then move him to the far left of the screen, turn him towards the trap, and push the button again. The second Ghostbuster appears. Direct him to the far right of the screen, turn him towards the trap, and push the button. Both Ghostbusters will power on their negative ionizer backpacks. Move your Ghostbusters inward to trap the Slimer between the streams. But do not--repeat, DO NOT--cross the streams. When you have the Slimer over the trap, push the button. The trap will pull him in. (Be precise. If you miss, you know what will happen.) Every trapped Slimer increases your credit rating. The amount earned depends on how quickly you respond. Your accumulated credit is shown on the screen at all times. IMPORTANT SAFETY TIPS Hit the SPACE BAR during the game for a status report. Every escaped Slimer adds 300 to the city's PK energy level. Beware that monolith of marshmallow monstrosity. When a MARSHMALLOW ALERT flashes at the bottom of the screen, the Roamers will quickly run to form him. You must immediately hit the "B" key on the keyboard to drop a dollop of bait before he stomps any buildings. END OF GAME: THE TEMPLE OF ZUUL The game ends one of three ways: 1. The Gatekeeper and Keymaster join forces at the Temple of Zuul and you have not earned more money than you originally started with. 2. Once the Gatekeeper and Keymaster have joined forces at Zuul, and you do have sufficient credit, but you are not able to sneak two of your threeGhostbusters into the entrance of Zuul. 3. You successfully reach the top of the Temple of Zuul by sneaking two Ghostbusters into its entrance. LET'S GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER. We're working hard to design the kind of home computer entertainment you want. And we'd love to hear your comments. So, drop us a note. We'Il put you on our special mailing list. Also, if you'd like to find out about our newest computer software, call 800-633-4263 anytime on weekends. In California, call (415)940-6044/5. ACTIVISION, INC. P0. BOX 7287 Mountain View, CA 94039 Concept and design by David Crane. Programming assistance by Adam Bellin. Computer graphics by Hilary Mills. Production managed by Brad Fregger. Mr Crane offers his personal thanks to the following. Garry Kitchen and the staff at Activision's Eastern Design Center, and Tim Shotter and Sam Nelson for their help in making the tightest software deadline in Activision history. Also, special thanks to Kathy for all her support and understanding. ACTIVISION LIMITED WARRANTY Activision, Inc. warrants to the original consumer purchaser of this Activision Product that it will be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one (1) year from the date of purchase. Activision agrees to either repair or replace, at its option, free of charge, any product discovered to be defective within the warranty period upon receipt of the product, postage paid, with proof of date of purchase, at its Factory Service center. This warranty is limited to the electronics circuitry and mechanical parts originally provided by Activision and is not applicable to normal wear and tear. This warranty shall not be applicable and shall be void if the defect has arisen through abuse, mistreatment or neglect. This warranty is in lieu of all other express warranties and no other representation of claims of any nature shall be binding on or obligate Activision. Any applied warranties applicable to this product are limited to the one year period described above. In no event will Activision be liable for any special, incidental or consequential damage resulting from possession, use or malfunction of this product. Some states do not allow limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts and/or the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitations and/or exclusion or limitation of liability may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state. CONSUMER REPLACEMENTS U.P.S. or registered mail is recommended for returns. Consumer Relations Activision, Inc. 3885 Bohannon Drive Menlo Park, CA 94025 GHOSTBUSTERS IS A TRADEMARK OF COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC. GHOSTBUSTERS LOCO (C) 1984 COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC. GHOSTBUSTERS MUSIC AND LYRICS WRITTEN BY RAY PARKER, JR. (C) 1984 GOLDEN TORCH MUSIC CORP. AND RAYDIOLA MUSIC CORP. COMMODORE 64 IS A TRADEMARK OF COMMODORE ELECTRONICS LIMITED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ********* End Project 64 etext Ghostbusters instructions. *********