When Universal and Amblin's supernatural comedy Casper, based on the cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost, was released in cinemas in 1995, reviews of the film were fairly mixed. But that didn't stop it from going on to be a huge success.

In total, it raised an estimated $290,277,077 in theatres and inevitably went on to inspire a string of merchandise, including, unsurprisingly, video games.

Growing up, the version of the game I was always most familiar with was Funcom and Interplay Productions' overhead adventure game, which was one of the first games I ever played on the original PlayStation. But what I didn't realise until recently was that it was just a drop in the ocean when it came to all of the games that were released that tie in with the events (or the characters) from the film.

In addition to the Interplay game I mentioned (which was pretty much identical across consoles like the 3DO, PS1, and Sega Saturn), there were also a bunch of entirely different games developed for the SNES, PCs, and handheld platforms, with the European publisher Microids releasing the last of these for the Game Boy Advance in 2002. Way to strike while the iron was hot, guys!

What's most interesting (well, to me at least) isn't just how many different Casper games there are, but the fact that there were also two entirely different games for Nintendo's 16-bit hardware. Yes, that's right! Depending on whether you lived in the US or Japan, you could be playing an entirely different game.

If you happened to own the SNES version, for instance, you would be greeted with a simple 2D puzzle adventure. Casper SNES was notably the last title to come out of the A Boy and His Blob studio Imagineering Inc., and was published by Natsume one year after the original developer had officially closed. It saw players taking on the role of Casper as he transforms into objects like nets, pillows, and perfume bottles to fend off your dastardly uncles and escort Kat Harvey (portrayed in the film by Christina Ricci) safely through Whipstaff Manor, but mostly came and went with little fanfare.

The only reviews I could find were from Brazilian and German magazines, both of which didn't rate the game all that highly, with the title likely being overlooked in favour of its 32-bit counterpart.

As for Super Famicom players, they got an entirely different game, confusingly this time developed by Natsume and published by anime production and video games company KSS in 1997.

In contrast to the SNES version, this places you in control of Kat instead, and is essentially an isometric adventure game. This had me wondering (with today being Halloween 'n' all), how many people actually know about the existence of this other game and, better yet, is it better than the version that we received in the West? Well, there's only really one way to find out... I have to play the damn thing.

Fortunately, in looking into ways to play the game, it does seem to have an English fan translation available, but only a partial one. The introduction and certain cutscenes are still in Japanese, meaning I occasionally had to stop to translate the odd word here and there where my Japanese failed me. But I'd definitely still consider the translation playable, with much of the in-game dialogue and item names having successfully been converted.

The game begins with some expository text in Japanese (essentially going over the opening of the film). A spoiled heiress named Carrigan (Cathy Moriarty) and her business associate, Dibs (Eric Idle), go to the mansion to find a lost treasure hidden within, but ghosts quickly thwart their attempts. As a result, Carrigan employs the help of a paranormal therapist named Dr James Harvey to get rid of the ghosts, with the specialist bringing his reluctant daughter along on the job. It then transitions to a cutscene, showing the initial meeting between Kat and Casper, with the former agreeing to help the ghost find his family's treasure if he can reunite her with her dad. It's here where you'll likely notice the first major deviation from the source material.

Rather than trying to recreate any of the actors' likenesses 1:1, the game instead opts for chibi-fied versions of the characters, with the characters being much more squat than their SNES counterparts. Personally speaking, I think I prefer the artwork of the SNES version overall, just for accuracy's sake, but I wouldn't say this cutesier look is bad at all. It's interesting, after all, to see the character reinterpreted in this way, and even though the game's version of Kat looks fairly generic, it's not every day you get to see Eric Idle in chibi form. So that's a plus, at least in my books!

Casper SFC
Image: KSS

With Casper and Kat having agreed to explore the mansion together, you are left to explore the house pretty much at will, with the main impediment to progression being a series of locked doors and staircases that require specific keys. To progress, the idea, then, is to travel from room to room, examining everything in your surroundings to locate these keys. Many of the rooms you'll encounter will feature switches you'll need to press, boxes to push, boobytraps, hidden doors, and precipitous drops, and you will also encounter enemies like Carrigan and Dibs from the second level onwards, who will try to catch you if you get too close.

To defend yourself, you can collect baseballs hidden around the world to throw at them, though these will only stun the two adults temporarily, giving you only enough time to escape.

Besides keys and baseballs, there are also some other items around the mansion to find, including sweets that can be used to restore your health, hidden treasures (like coins and gems), and upgrades that will show you the location of hidden treasures and the current whereabouts of enemies.

While I'd say this is a more enjoyable game to play than the SNES version, I wouldn't exactly go as far as to call it a hidden gem. The beginning floors, in particular, before the upgrades, can feel a bit aimless, as there's no real indication of where important items will be, and exploring the mansion can sometimes get a bit confusing, thanks to the repetition of the same assets across a number of different rooms. Often, I'd find myself asking if I'd seen a toilet before, only to discover it was one of the many other lavatories spread across the mansion, and the room next was previously unexplored.

Regardless, if you stick with it, it does improve and is probably a good candidate for something family-friendly to play this Halloween. The soundtrack, in particular, took me by surprise, with Iku Mizutani and Kinuyo Yamashita (the latter of Castlevania fame) being listed as the game's main composers, weaving in some emotional chiptune melodies alongside the spookier tracks.