Ghostbusters - The Video Game

Ghostbusters: The Video Game for Nintendo DS is a 2009 single-player action role-playing game developed by Zen Studios and published by Atari. Released in North America on June 16, it shares a title and some franchise material with the contemporary console games, but it is a separate handheld design rather than a cut-down version of their third-person action format. The adventure returns Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddemore to a haunted New York after the events of Ghostbusters II, with familiar locations, spectral threats, and equipment from the films framing an original game built around managing the team’s ghost-catching business.

The Nintendo DS edition puts all four original Ghostbusters under the player’s command. Most missions are viewed from above, with one team member selected at a time while the other three follow under computer control. The D-pad moves the active Ghostbuster through rooms, corridors, and haunted interiors, while the touchscreen is used to aim a proton stream at ghosts. After wearing a target down, players deploy a trap and work to pull the spirit into it. Portraits on the lower screen let the player change characters, and simple follow or stop orders help position the squad for encounters and puzzles.

Instead of centering the campaign on an unnamed recruit, the game gives each established Ghostbuster a role in its tactical, party-based approach. The group investigates story jobs that lead to larger confrontations, including recognizable Ghostbusters imagery such as the Sedgewick Hotel, the public library, and Stay Puft. Between those major assignments, the Firehouse serves as a headquarters where the team can examine collected artifacts, improve its members, and prepare equipment. The structure mixes scripted investigations with optional calls, making the act of keeping a functioning paranormal service part of the progression.

Resources earned while working jobs support a light management layer. Captured ectoplasm and mission income can be spent on research and construction for stronger proton equipment and improved traps, while individual Ghostbusters gain skills and special abilities. Completing work also protects the team’s public reputation; neglecting calls can damage the business standing and makes the side work more than a simple source of extra rewards. This combination of character advancement, gear development, and reputation management distinguishes the DS release from the same year’s action-focused home-console versions.

Travel is another deliberate change for the handheld game. The Ghostbusters leave the Firehouse in Ecto-1, driving through a compact nighttime New York between assignments. These segments switch to a behind-the-car camera and use the Nintendo DS controls differently: the vehicle is steered with buttons while the touchscreen can aim its roof-mounted proton gun at ghosts encountered on the road. Players may find hauntings during these trips, then park and enter buildings for the top-down ghost-busting missions that make up the bulk of the game.

Zen Studios shaped the presentation around the DS hardware with stylized character models and a two-screen interface rather than the realistic third-person presentation used by the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows release. The handheld version is also separate from Red Fly Studio’s stylized Wii, PlayStation 2, and PSP game, despite their shared release period and film-inspired setting. That makes Ghostbusters: The Video Game on Nintendo DS an unusual branch of the 2009 project: a portable squad game where switching among the entire classic team, upgrading their business, and taking Ecto-1 across the city are as central as firing a proton pack.