Ghostbusters on Mega Drive gets new characters, weapons and cheats

Sega’s Ghostbusters on the Mega Drive has received a new update, 36 years after its original release. Ghostbusters Special Edition 3.0 arrived on 1 October 2026, bringing six extra playable characters, fresh weapons, costume options, cheats, bonus material and a Ghostbusters-themed take on Columns. This isn’t a simple graphics patch. Version 3.0 changes quite a bit inside the 1990 action platformer, particularly its character roster. Each new playable character comes with different abilities, giving players fresh ways to approach stages, enemies and equipment management. For anyone unfamiliar with Sega’s Ghostbusters, some history helps.

Sega’s Ghostbusters was its own game

Ghostbusters appeared on the Mega Drive and Genesis in 1990, developed by Compile and published by Sega. It shared a name with Activision’s earlier Ghostbusters game, but Sega’s release went in a different direction.

It became a side-scrolling action platformer built around running, jumping, shooting ghosts and trapping them. Players could pick Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz or Egon Spengler, with each character carrying different statistics. Winston Zeddemore didn’t make the original playable roster.

Stages mixed regular enemies with larger ghost encounters, and defeated creatures could be captured using traps. Cash earned during missions went into equipment, giving the game a light upgrade system alongside its platforming.

The story didn’t recreate either Ghostbusters film. Sega and Compile instead used an original scenario, presented with compact cartoon-style versions of the characters and plenty of familiar Ghostbusters equipment. Special Edition keeps this structure intact. It simply gives players far more to use inside it.

Six new characters change how stages play

The headline addition is a group of six playable characters. Four come from The Real Ghostbusters animated series versions of Peter, Ray, Egon and Winston. They aren’t cosmetic replacements for the original trio. Each has traits which alter movement, weapons or survival.

Peter moves faster and carries stronger bombs, making him useful during boss fights. Ray gets stronger special weapons, but each one consumes twice the usual energy. Egon heads in the opposite direction, cutting special weapon energy use by half. Winston gets his own survival perk. Defeating standard enemies restores one hit point, which can make longer stages play differently from runs using the other characters.

Extreme Ghostbusters gets representation too. Kylie Griffin joins the roster with a longer-range proton pack and unlimited trap attempts. She brings one of the more obvious mechanical changes, particularly in sections where positioning matters.

The sixth newcomer is a Crash Test Dummy. Yes, really. This character has very high stamina and earns double money, creating another route through the game’s equipment economy. It’s a much broader roster than the three-character selection found on the original cartridge.

There’s a Ghostbusters version of Columns

The new update goes beyond characters. A new Ghostbusters Columns mini-game gives players a separate tile-matching mode with high-score saving. It’s an unexpected extra, but one which fits naturally with Sega hardware from the period.

New weapons and costume colours join the package, along with hidden extras grouped under the name Forbidden Four. Several existing characters receive changes too. Sigma now has unlimited energy for infrared goggles, and Janine fires at a faster rate. The character-selection screen has been reworked, and colour variations can appear on the title screen and Sega logo.

Players can use several new cheats, including God Mode, invisible shots, double money and infinite traps. Clearing Normal, Hard and Nightmare difficulties provides extra bonuses, giving repeat runs more content beyond score chasing.

It still needs the original game

Ghostbusters Special Edition isn’t distributed as a complete Mega Drive ROM. It comes as a patch intended for use with the World version 1.1 release of the original game. Compatibility varies across emulators and flash cartridges. Some hidden functions use memory bank switching, and support for those features differs between setups. The main game can still operate without certain optional functions, though some extras may remain inaccessible.

For anyone familiar with Sega’s 1990 Ghostbusters, the new release represents a substantial rewrite of what’s available inside the original framework. The stages, shooting and ghost-catching remain recognisable, but the wider roster and character perks give an old Mega Drive release considerably more variety than its original three-character setup.