Beetlejuice (video game)

Beetlejuice
NES cover art
Developer(s)	Rare (NES) Riedel Software Productions (DOS)
Publisher(s)	LJN (NES) Hi Tech (DOS)
Composer(s)	David Wise (NES)
Platforms	Nintendo Entertainment System Game Boy MS-DOS
Release date(s)	NES: MS-DOS:
Genre(s)	Action/Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Beetlejuice is the title of three different video games. The original Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) releases were developed by Rare and published by LJN. Another game was released for the DOS in 1990 called Adventures of Beetlejuice: Skeletons in the Closet. Each game is loosely based on the film and animated series of the same name.

Gameplay

NES

In the game you control Beetlejuice through various side-scrolling and overhead view levels in an effort to scare the yuppie Deetz family and friends that have taken over the house. You stomp on cockroaches in order to gain points that you used to buy various "scare tactics" that you use to defeat various enemies and bosses.

Although the initial levels of the game are based upon the film, with Beetlejuice venturing through the Maitland house to find and scare away Otho, the later levels are original and involve Beetlejuice fighting mythical creatures in such locations as the neighborhood's sewer system. The game concludes in the waiting room from the film, reimagined as a giant, vertical maze.

Original Game Boy

See also: Beetlejuice (handheld video game)

This particular version seems to be based more on the animated series. As Beetlejuice, the player must solve various puzzles to get a bunch of ghosts out of the Deetz family house and rescue his best friend, Lydia.

DOS version

Adventures of Beetlejuice: Skeletons in the Closet was published by Hi-Tech Expressions and developed by Riedel Software Productions. This version is based on the animated cartoon series rather than the feature film. As Beetlejuice, the player must battle various skeletons and other monsters by shooting loogie projectiles and protecting Lydia as she cleans up the resulting mess.