The successful film and animated series about the guys you call when there's something strange in the neighborhood became a popular arcade game in 1987. It had ghosts, it had busting, it had multi-player capabilities; of course, the kids loved it.

The vertical scrolling action took place over several terrains, with three Ghostbusters (dressed in different colors) laying down the law among the supernatural community. Players used an eight-way joystick to control their character and two buttons to fire the famed proton packs: one for regular fire and one for the special proton beam.

The goal was to shoot ghosts until they turned into spirits (became ghostier, if you will) and then to suck them up into the trap. There were several types of ghouls to confront, like gremlins, evil wizards, zombies and unidentified blobs.

Each level had a boss ghost that had to be defeated to advance your character and the bosses were usually robed and hooded wraith things that had a few surprises up their ghostly sleeves. Transitions between levels featured snazzy graphics and the famous Ghostbusters theme, accompanying the guys as they returned to headquarters to empty their ghost traps.

The game had certain appeal among the Ghostbusters fans but interest faded when kids realized they could just go home and watch the cartoon instead of standing up in front of a game cabinet at the arcade.