In 2009, Terminal Reality released a spiritual successor to the Ghostbusters franchise titled Ghostbusters: The Video Game that allowed players to be a part of the Ghostbusters team and tackle ghostly threats new and old. It has been dubbed "Ghostbusters III" in all but name by fans of the franchise and allows for players to take the role of a rookie helping the Ghostbusters as they save New York City.
Audiences will be reintroduced to the Ghostbusters universe when Ghostbusters: Afterlife releases in theatres. The boys in grey have a chance to reach new eyes when this next entry in the series is released. However, Ghostbusters: The Video Game has a few things that can be brought over for fans new and old to appreciate.
10 The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man Is All Over New York City
The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is one of the most iconic characters in all of 80's cinema. Ghostbusters: The Video Game brought the marshmallow with a red tie back for another fight. The team fights the big guy while hanging off the side of a building until he falls and is splattered all across the block below. With a dramatic ending such as that, Ghostbusters: Afterlife has an opportunity to acknowledge that the city and its inhabitants would never be the same after such an event.
9 Ivo Shandor Mythology and The Worship Of Gozer
Ivo Shandor is the founder of the Cult of Gozer. The apartment building in the original Ghostbusters was designed by him, and a large part of the events that happen in the Ghostbusters universe is started or is a result of Shandor's teachings. Stay-Puft, Gozer, Vinz Clortho, and Zuul, everything fans of the series know, can be found in Ivo's Cult of Gozer.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game has Ivo Shandor in every facet of its story. It would be surprising if the next installment in the series did not include the architect of it all.
8 New York City Loves Gozer
Gozer the Gozerian was not a well-known entity during the events of the original two Ghostbusters movies. Ghostbusters: The Video Game throws a wrench in the works by dedicating an exhibit in the New York Natural History Museum to the Sumerian God of Destruction and displaying numerous artifacts and tomes to educate the city. With the Sumerian god being a part of the in-universe popular culture after the events of the game, Ghostbusters: Afterlife should take into account that people are much more aware of who tried to take over the world just a few short decades ago.
7 The Spirit Realm Has A Home In New York City
New York always had special significance in the Ghostbusters universe, and it's just as important a setting in Ghostbusters: The Video Game. The crew finds that there are three points in New York that connect the spirit realm to the real world. Alternate dimensions, endless voids, and teleporting staircases are new experiences for the Ghostbusters and are experiences that will change them forever. Ray Stanz was always looking for proof of the afterlife, and a ghost portal to another realm might be something that a new crew of Ghostbusters would find fascinating.
6 Dr. Venkman Has A New Love Interest
The Ghostbusters team works best when the boys cooperate to trap ghosts and save the city from the next big spiritual apocalypse. However, Dr. Venkman has always been the one member of the team to pass off the spirit work to another while he saves the damsel in distress. In Ghostbusters: The Video Game, the team and Dr. Llysa Selwyn, a Gozer expert and museum curator, work together to tackle New York's latest ghost infestation. The story ends with Dr. Venkman winning the affection of Dr. Sewlyn. Ghostbusters: Afterlife can bring this relationship to the next installment in the Ghostbusters franchise.
5 The Ghostbusters Love To Display Their Work
The Ghostbusters are certainly ones to take trophies from their jobs around the city. The video game allows the player to interact and view the artifacts they collect in their adventures as well as some major ones from the films. For instance, Vigo The Carpathian is sitting on the main floor of the firehouse, the dancing toaster is on the pool table.
The crew decorates the home base with every haunted relic they come across. It would be interesting to see what artifacts and relics a new team of Ghostbusters would come across in the next installment in the franchise.
4 Walter Peck Has A Thank You For The Ghostbusters
Every person or group has their antithesis. Dumbledore has Voldemort, Snow White has the Wicked Witch, and the Ghostbusters have Walter Peck. That hatred is slightly suppressed for a few seconds in the video game before Peck turns back to his old self. Walter Peck's body is possessed and the crew uses their proton packs to rip the spirit from its host. Peck can hate the Ghostbusters, but some part of him has to be thankful he doesn't have a designated driver at the wheel. Walter Peck's demeanor could be changed after events such as those.
3 The Mood Slime Returns
The rising action of Ghostbusters: The Video Game takes place in the middle of the East River just off the coast of New York City. New clues push the team to the remains of the once-sunken Shandor Castle. While searching the grounds, the Ghostbusters find that this fortress is no mere castle. The castle acts as a factory to produce the black slime that has made an appearance in previous films in the series. It's a major revelation, and this might be what the crew in Ghostbusters: Afterlife are working towards.
2 The Giant Sloar Is Fully Realized
Spirits and ghosts can take any form imaginable, from library ghosts to giant marshmallows. The giant sloar mentioned by the Keymaster in the original Ghostbusters was always an entity viewers were curious about. In the video game, players were able to sate that curiosity and fight a giant sloar for themselves.
The game allows players to gain an appreciation for the character that was only mentioned on the movie side of the franchise. Ghostbusters: Afterlife has an opportunity to harken back to the entities and spirits told about but never visualized in the franchise and give them bodies to go along with the names.
1 Make Room For A New Member
Being a part of the Ghostbusters team is an experience a lot of audience members wanted when watching the movies. Ghostbusters: The Video Game allows the player to interact directly with the team and save New York City from Ivo Shandor, Slimer, and Stay Puft. During the conclusion of the story, the player is told their help was much appreciated, but there isn't enough work to support five Ghostbusters in New York. Dr. Venkman offers the player a franchise opportunity in another city. The Ghostbusters: Afterlife team could ask for help from the former fifth member of the famous squad.