Mr. Ghost (1989)

Mr. Ghost is a side, and vertical (the game alternates between the two), scrolling shoot-‘em-up where you play a buck-toothed ghost who’s being bullied by other ghosts, jumping spiders, and crows, probably about his prominent teeth. Mr. Ghost plays remarkably close to Irem’s Mr Heli, so much so that they could, in fact, be related. Both games let your character move in eight directions, both allow you to deform parts of the environment, and both have a super-deformed look to them. What sets this game aside, though, is its combat system. Mr Ghost dispatches a little sperm looking ghost at enemies and can only redeploy him after he’s returned. Mr Ghost can also perform a bum rush to destroy enemies sneaking up behind him or break bricks.

• Release Date: April 1, 1989
• Developer: System Sacom