Don't forget: it's still the 'Year of the GameBoy'

I may be planning to publish a meaty series of posts about Nintendo's DS next year (oops, did I just say that?), but my (primary) focus for the remainder of this year will be the company's first handheld system, the GameBoy.

That shouldn't come as much of a surprise to those of you who have popped in here for some time, as I've already published a ton of "Year of the GameBoy" posts since I started this series back in the middle of February. In fact, I've published 40 such posts in the ensuing nine or so months, if you can believe it.

Quite a few more of these posts are yet to come, of course--some of which likely will be published next year. (I guess I'll have to declare 2015 to be "Another Year of the GameBoy"?)

In the meantime, I thought some of you might want to check out some of the "Year of the GameBoy" posts that are available right now. My favorites, in case anyone's wondering:

* "The Great Gaymathon Review #66: Painter Momopie"

* "The Great Gaymathon Review #67: Kitchen Panic"

* "I guess you could say I bought Bubble Bobble's GameBoy port because of its box art"

* "Manual Stimulation: Ghostbusters 2"

Another "Year of the GameBoy" post will be published tomorrow, by the way. I wonder which game will serve as its focus?

See also: all of the 'Year of the GameBoy' posts that have been published so far

Manual Stimulation: Ghostbusters 2 (GameBoy)

There are all sorts of reasons to like HAL Laboratory's Ghostbusters 2 for the GameBoy. This Japan-only title features some surprisingly unique--and fun, for the most part--gameplay and also sports some pretty snazzy packaging (see photos of it in this previous post).

Best of all, in my not-so-humble opinion, is the instruction manual that was included with every copy back when the game was first released in 1990.



Its first few pages aren't anything to write home about, although I'd hardly call its cover imagery disappointing.



The fifth page is where the Ghostbuster 2 manual hits its stride, thanks in large part to the juxtaposition of the film's in-character stars with their in-game, pixelated counterparts.



Is it me, or is the 8-bit-ified Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver's character) the worst of the bunch? Also, who--or what--on earth is that "thing" in the upper-right corner supposed to be? Creepy, regardless.



And here we have two of the manual's best pages. It looks like they detail the game's three stages? I've yet to get to the third one, I have to admit, so I can't say it for sure, but I'm pretty sure that's the case.



Don't you just love the screenshot included in the right-hand page below? Those sure were the days, weren't they--when companies literally had to snap photos of their games running on TV screens if they wanted to show off their wares in instruction manuals or elsewhere.



Behold, my favorite Ghostbusters 2 enemy: the little blob-like thing shown in the screenshots on the left. How could such an adorable creature be "bad"?

Who you gonna call? HAL Laboratory's Ghostbusters 2 for GameBoy

I can't say I've ever been much of a fan of the second Ghostbusters film--which of course was given the imaginative title of Ghostbusters 2--despite the fact that I've long loved the original.

The (Japanese) game version of that 1989 comedy, though, is a completely different story. Granted, it was made by the always able folks at HAL Laboratory--you know, the ones responsible for the Adventures of Lolo series, most of Nintendo's Kirby games and a bunch of other intriguing titles--so that really shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.

HAL's involvement wasn't what originally drew me to this pixelated take on the Ghostbusters 2 story, though. That honor goes to the adorable sprites the company's designers and programmers created for the Famicom (known as New Ghostbusters 2, oddly enough) and GameBoy titles they released in the early 1990s.

A couple of the sprites in question can be seen in the photo that follows the one below--although, honestly, these are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this game's spritework. (I'm especially fond of the enemy that looks like a Dragon Quest slime, of course.)

Don't worry, the gameplay in Ghostbusters 2 is nice, too. I'm not sure what I would compare it to, though. The only game that's coming to mind at the moment is Gauntlet and, believe me, that's pretty darn far off the mark. 

That said, the two games--HAL's Ghostbusters 2 (not to be confused with Activision's Ghostbusters 2--and Gauntlet--do share a few similarities. Both are viewed from a top-down, overhead perspective. Also, both task players with removing a slew of enemies from a particular stage before they can advance to the next one. 

In Gauntlet, though, players aren't required to kill a certain, specific number of baddies before the door they can be whisked off to the next level, whereas that is the case in Ghostbusters 2. Also, there are far fewer baddies to be found in each Ghostbusters 2 level than there are in a corresponding Gauntlet level.

And then, of course, there's the way in which players dispose of said enemies. In Gauntlet, you control a single character and shoot them using various weapons and implements, while in Ghostbusters 2, you control a pair of characters--one of whom zaps them with a proton pack and one of whom catches them with a trap.

The latter action is a bit awkward, I have to admit, but it's not so awkward as to be off-putting--or at least it hasn't proven to be in my case. 

One thing that has been proven to be a bit off-putting is learning that the GameBoy version of Ghostbusters 2 contains just three stages compared to the Famicom version's six. (Not that I've seen all of the ones that are featured in either version, mind you.)

Even with that shortcoming, though, I think both of HAL's Ghostbusters 2 releases are worth checking out if you're into cute 8-bit titles with somewhat-unique gameplay.

Neither of them is going to amaze you like some of the other gems that were created for Nintendo's first console and handheld, respectively, but they're interesting and fun enough that you hopefully won't regret spending time with them should you decide to do so. (Especially if you spend time with them via an emulator and a ROM.)

See also: previous 'Year of the GameBoy' posts