With his recent appearance in Multiversus and a sequel hitting theaters in just a couple of weeks, I think it's safe to say that Beetlejuice is officially back! That's right, the Michael Keaton character created 36 years ago is suddenly everywhere, and I couldn't be more excited. All this excitement reminded me that there were a pair of 8-bit Beetlejuice games published by LJN in the 1990s, one for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the other for the Game Boy. With no new Nintendo Switch Online games to talk about this week and the TimeSplitters games on PlayStation Plus already covered, I thought it might be fun to see if either of these Beetlejuice games are actually worth playing. Y'know, just in case Limited Run Games eventually announces a compilation or something. To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Nintendo Power, GamePro and more classic magazines to see what the critics said back then these games first came out. I sure hope you've been studying the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, because this is going to be a spooky episode of Beetlejuice Review Crew!


When Beetlejuice was first released in March of 1988, it was an unlikely hit at the box office, to say the least. It was a ghoulishly fun comedy from a thirty-year-old Tim Burton, whose only other feature film credit was Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. But despite the morbid subject matter and themes of death, Beetlejuice debuted at number one, where it spent four straight weeks at the top of the box office. It ended up being the tenth highest-grossing movie of 1988, grossing $75 million in the U.S. (the equivalent of nearly $200 million if adjusted for inflation). This success ultimately led to a Beetlejuice animated show on ABC and Fox Kids that ran for 94 episodes, followed by a Nintendo Entertainment System game in 1991. This 8-bit cartridge married elements from both the movie and cartoon to create an original game that was developed by Rare and infamously published by LJN.

I don't know if the magazines at the time weren't fans of the ghost with the most or the LJN logo scared them off, but there are only two English-language reviews for Beetlejuice on the NES. Let's start with the lower of the two scores, which came from Nintendo Power. They gave the side-scroller a score of 2.9 out of 5 and compared it to another recent LJN title: “Bearing a striking resemblance to LJN's A Nightmare on Elm Street, Beetlejuice is yet another action-packed game loosely based on a popular movie. This one has many of the same characters and objects portrayed in the movie, but does not closely follow the story. As Beetlejuice, you must avoid enemies and obstacles and fight your way to the Netherworld.”

As it turns out, GamePro ended up liking the game considerably more than Nintendo Power (and pretty much everybody else who played it at the time). They gave it a 4 out of 5, arguing that “Beetlejuice is a good brain teaser, where the challenging gameplay overcomes average-looking graphics. Can you scare the Deetzes? You've got a ghost of a chance.”

Okay, let's be honest here, neither of these are very good reviews, but we work with what we have. If I were you, I wouldn't be in a huge rush to play the NES version of Beetlejuice.

Released one year after the NES game, Beetlejuice on the Game Boy is based more on the animated series than the Tim Burton movie. Once again, we get another side-scrolling platformer from Rare that is published by LJN. When Lydia is kidnapped, Beetlejuice will go on a mad hunt that will take him from the kitchen to the attic to the Neitherworld itself.

Okay, yes, this is a flimsy premise for a video game, but the critics actually liked this Game Boy game. No, really. N-Force ended up giving it an 86% in its first issue. Shades (yes, Shades) said: “This is an arcade platform and puzzler – what a refreshing change! Visually, Beetlejuice is a real treat with oodles of animation. The graphics are converted from the cartoon series of the movie and the characters look just as appealing on the Game Boy as on the big screen. Get stuck in!”

Believe it or not, N-Force wasn't alone. Video Games & Computer Entertainment also liked the game, going as high as giving it an 8 out of 10. Surprised? So was the critic! “The biggest surprise out of the box this month has got to be Beetlejuice, based on the Saturday-morning cartoon show. Acclaim has made a name for itself by inking license agreements with movies, TV shows and comic book creators like they're going out of style, but the success of its Game Boy software depends more on the skill of the game designers than on the basis of a ‘hot' license. That being the case, Beetlejuice shines because it was developed by Rare. The game has a great sense of humor – witness the ‘talking head' intermissions, in which BJ repeatedly refers to Lydia as “my chickadee,” “pretty missy” and “Lyds-baby.” A bouncy musical score adds to the fun, and the fact that all of the game's sound effects are strangely confined to the extreme right or left of the stereo spectrum only serves to augment the unique qualities that make Beetlejuice a wonderfully refreshing Game Boy title.”

Now, not all of the reviews were as positive as N-Force and Video Games & Computer Entertainment. Nintendo Power once again gave the game a 2.9 out of 5, the same score they gave the NES game. GamePro, on the other hand, dropped the score a full point, giving this Game Boy title a very so-so 3 out of 5. That said, you might not realize it by this blurb from the review: “The game's almost as much fun as Beetlejuice is weird. Beetlejuice is easy to keep under control as he bops along to the likeable music. The graphics are hard hitting with lots of detail. Want a fright night (or day)? Just say Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.”

Based on these reviews, it sounds like the 1992 Game Boy release is the way to go. That is, if you absolutely must play a Beetlejuice game. I mean, nobody is forcing you, so chances are you're not going to play either of these games. And maybe that's for the best.