The Real Ghostbusters arcade game is a funny little branch of Ghostbusters history. Data East released it in 1987 as a top-down arcade shooter loosely tied to the animated series, and in Japan the same game showed up in a different form as Meikyuu Hunter G. It is one of those Ghostbusters games that feels a little off-model in all the right retro ways: bright, strange, quarter-hungry, and much more about surviving waves of enemies than reenacting a story.
If you remember feeding quarters into this thing, or discovering it later through emulation, this page is here to help you get your bearings. You will find the basic release details, a quick feel for how the game plays, the partial control list we have so far, and a way to play the arcade version online.
Release, developer, and credits
The Real Ghostbusters arcade game was developed and published by Data East in 1987. It is loosely based on the animated series rather than trying to adapt the films directly, and the Japanese version was released under the different title Meikyuu Hunter G.
- Developer: Data East
- Publisher: Data East
- Release year: 1987
- Platform: Arcade
- Genre: Top-down shooter / action
- Players: 1-2
How The Real Ghostbusters arcade game plays
This is a top-down action game with a strong arcade mindset. You move through stages, blast or capture incoming enemies, scoop up power-ups, and try to stay alive long enough to push into the next screen. It is much less about puzzle-solving or route planning than the early Activision Ghostbusters games, and much more about crowd control, positioning, and fast recovery when the screen starts to fill up.
That arcade feel is a big part of its charm. The game is rough around the edges, but it has personality.
How long to beat The Real Ghostbusters (Arcade – 1987)
HowLongToBeat currently lists these rough player-reported times for The Real Ghostbusters:
- Main Story: about 29 minutes
Source: HowLongToBeat – The Real Ghostbusters
Play The Real Ghostbusters arcade game online
If you want to mess around with the cabinet in your browser, you can do that here:
Controls
Here is the partial control list currently documented on GBWorldHub. It is still a work in progress.
- 5: Insert Coin
- 1: Extra Lives
- P: Pause
- Alt: Basic Fire / Capture Stream
- CTRL: Spread Shot
- Arrow keys: Movement
Credit for the early control work on this page goes to Ross May and Richard Crypt.
