Casper (video game)

Did You Know?

• The Super NES game uses a revised Absolute A Boy and His Blob engine.
• In the Super Famicom game, the player mostly controls Kat Harvey as she protects Casper from Carrigan Crittenden and Dibs.

Windows/Macintosh game

The first PC game tied to the film, Casper Brainy Book, hit shelves in May 1996, developed by Knowledge Adventure. It targeted kids aged 4 to 8 as an interactive storybook, much like Disney's Animated Storybooks, letting players read and play through the tale. Three mini-games—Fatso's Creature Feature, Stretch's Shake Rattle and Roll, and Stinkie's Peek-a-boo—aimed to teach vocabulary, spelling, and shape recognition. To suit younger players, darker story bits were trimmed: Carrigan, Dibs, and Amelia were cut; Dr. Harvey's job became ghost hunting; the Lazarus was renamed the "Machine" and described as turning a ghost into a person; and the Cellular Integrator only showed up in one mini-game. Despite being absent from the story, Carrigan and Dibs appeared in the hard jigsaw puzzles within Fatso's Creature Feature, using stills from the film. Casper and the Ghostly Trio were voiced by their original film actors, while Jamie Cronin and Dan Woren took over for Kat and Dr. Harvey, replacing Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman. Narration came from Joe Nipote or Hettie Lynn Hurtes, depending on whether the player clicked Dr. Harvey or Kat on the front page. Fatso's Creature Feature was a simple puzzle game where completing puzzles triggered brief animations. Stretch's Shake Rattle and Roll was a spelling game where players freed Casper from a chimney by spelling words in a Tetris-like manner, using arrow keys to place letters into correct boxes.

Sega Saturn, 3DO, PlayStation, and Game Boy Color game

The version published by Interplay and developed by Funcom is a top-view action-adventure game with pre-rendered graphics. It features an alternate rendition of the film's plot spread across three acts: Casper finds tokens of friendship for Kat and Dr. Harvey, then finds pieces for the Lazarus machine (disassembled by the Ghostly Trio) and assembles it, and finally finds the Cellular Integrator to restore Harvey, which is stolen by Carrigan. The player explores the mansion, collects jigsaw pieces to solve puzzles for morph icons, eats food for morph points, and deals with the Ghostly Trio. There are no enemies other than the Ghostly Trio and Carrigan; the game focuses mainly on solving puzzles. Casper and his uncles were reprised by their respective voice actors, while Kat and Dr. Harvey were voiced by Tanya Krievins and Blair Bess, with Bess providing narration for each act's introduction and reading hint parchments. Carrigan's voice actor is uncredited. An apparent oversight leaves the player with an extra red key that has no corresponding red door; it is possible the key was meant to be a gold key, and using a gold key in the wrong order can softlock the player out of later secrets. The Game Boy Color game is a scaled-down version with only the puzzles and morph icons required to reach the ending. The game's written dialogue uses the typeface from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Game Boy Advance game

Made by Microïds and Planet Interactive in 2002, this game allows Casper to go through walls within each level. The Ghostly Trio have turned all adults in town into zombies, leaving children scared. The old Schoolmistress calls Dr. James Harvey to stop them, but he becomes a zombie capable only of walking forward. Casper must guide him through five levels using transformations and objects to collect flasks with the cure formula. The Ghostly Trio appear occasionally to scare Dr. Harvey, and Casper must deflect their attacks.

Reception

Reviewing the 3DO version, Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers criticized frequent load times, difficulty navigating, and obscure puzzles, but had a generally positive response, with Sushi-X calling it a strong last hurrah for the 3DO. They praised the graphics and variety of gameplay. Next Generation agreed the graphics were exceptional, noting true transparency for ghosts, an effect thought impossible for the 3DO. While some puzzles were unclear, the critic found the game easy enough for its young target audience and called it solid but not amazing. Sega Saturn Magazine gave the Saturn version a 70%, calling it a decent effort but noting occasional flaws and repetitiveness. A later retraction stated the review was based on an unfinished version, as Interplay had not sent a review copy.