Beetlejuice grew to become a popular culture icon from the second he appeared in his self-titled 1988 film. Certain, he’s crass, artful, and a sight for sore eyes, however the afterlife’s main bio-exorcist is undeniably charming and hilarious. Now he’s lastly returning to the flicks with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, together with a number of beloved characters from the earlier movie.

Whereas that is nice for his followers, it shouldn’t be the one return he’s making within the twenty first century. As animated and over-the-top as he’s, it’s shocking that the colourful and macabre world of Beetlejuice hasn’t gotten its personal fashionable online game. In any case, not solely is anticipation excessive for his subsequent massive display screen outing, however the closest factor he’s gotten to a contemporary gaming highlight, a 2017 LEGO Dimensions enlargement pack, proved that there’s loads of enjoyable for the character to have in such a format.

Beetlejuice’s earlier video games are extremely dated

LEGO Dimensions add-on apart, Beetlejuice’s gaming appearances are completely confined to the Nineties. He made his gaming debut in 1990 through Adventures of Beetlejuice: Skeletons within the Closet, a DOS recreation based mostly on the animated Beetlejuice sequence. Happening on a large checkerboard, you play as Beetlejuice as he defeats varied monsters with loogies whereas Lydia Deetz cleans up their stays. It’s a great time-killer and really a lot evokes the look of the present, but it surely’s hardly a definitive Beetlejuice gaming journey.

The next 12 months got here Beetlejuice for the Nintendo Leisure System, largely based mostly on the 1988 film. This title places Beetlejuice in a platforming setting, the place he runs from one fantastical stage to the subsequent, squashing bugs and planning to trigger mischief for the Deetz household. This can be a fairly commonplace platformer from the period with little to write down dwelling about. With the likes of Tremendous Mario World in the marketplace on the time, this one was fairly straightforward to cross over, and its fortune hasn’t improved with age.

1992’s Beetlejuice: Horrific Hijinx from the Neitherworld! is a Nintendo Sport Boy providing based mostly on the Beetlejuice cartoon, and, unsurprisingly, it woefully misses the mark. It’s sluggish, and the restrictions of the {hardware} stop it from capturing the appear and feel of the present. Like its contemporaries, it’s completely unremarkable—one other massive miss.

For such a well-liked character, one would suppose that Beetlejuice would have at the least one strong recreation to his credit score already, however no such title has made it to customers but. All of the extra purpose for a contemporary Beetlejuice recreation to come back alongside, giving the character his gaming due and rectifying his previous blunders.

Basic horror-comedy properties have labored as fashionable video video games earlier than

One of many nice issues about gaming as a medium is that there’s a bit little bit of every part on the market. Need a severe, character-driven story? How about one thing mild and comedic? Atmospheric? It’s all on the market, and as a rule, these video games discover their viewers and thrive. One has to think about {that a} horror-comedy recreation adaptation of Beetlejuice would discover the identical success, particularly since similarly-toned properties from a long time previous have carried out nicely when dropped at the format.

A chief instance is 2009’s Ghostbusters: The Video Sport from Atari Interactive. The sport has gamers be a part of the unique film’s Ghostbusters as the brand new recruit, embarking on an journey between the primary two movies. It’s humorous, action-packed, and visually spectacular for the time, putting simply the appropriate chords with Ghostbusters followers. In reality, with the legacy forged on the forefront, many on the market lengthy thought of it the true Ghostbusters 3 earlier than Ghostbusters: Afterlife got here alongside in 2021, regardless of its place within the timeline. Dan Aykroyd even referred to it as such in a 2009 interview with SciFiNow.

If Ghostbusters can get a online game continuation lengthy after a sequence entry final graced the large display screen, and hit a house run with franchise followers, avid gamers, and critics alike in doing so, certainly Beetlejuice might do the identical.

A brand new Beetlejuice recreation may very well be all types of loopy enjoyable

In relation to Beetlejuice, the secret is enjoyable. The movie and the cartoon are stuffed with wealthy colours, wacky environments, and other-worldly characters that followers can’t overlook. These components are completely suited to a contemporary online game, with {hardware} lastly accessible that may render such visuals in beautiful element.

In contrast to earlier Beetlejuice video games, voice performing is now very a lot a factor in video video games, too. It’s now attainable for Beetlejuice and his companions to craft and promote a compelling narrative, construct on current lore, and crack all types of jokes whilst you play.

In fact, what are tales and visible components with out strong gameplay? Given the character’s off-the-wall nature, Beetlejuice can match into just about any gaming setting. A goofy platformer might enable for colourful, inventively-designed ranges in each the netherworld and the land of the dwelling.

In the meantime, a extra open-world angle can do the identical with an emphasis on exploring such fascinating environments and getting acquainted with their residents. Even a linear recreation might show pleasing, placing the principle narrative and the characters inside it front-and-center. Naturally, any and all of those choices might enable Beetlejuice himself to shine along with his undead talents weaved into traversal, puzzle-solving, fight, and extra.

All in all, Beetlejuice deserves the fashionable online game remedy. He and his world are tailored for it, and if something, as long as it’s completed proper, such a title would go a great distance in washing the style of his earlier video games out of avid gamers’ mouths. The one query is, which, if any, developer will step as much as as soon as once more let the Juice free on the gaming panorama?