Stranger Things Screws Up NES Tribute And Fans Are Furious

Part one of the long-awaited fifth and final season of retro-horror flavored sensation Stranger Things has dropped on Netflix, but eagle-eyed viewers have spotted a major inconsistency in an apparent Ghosts 'n Goblins (1986, NES) tribute. While the notoriously-difficult action-platformer did indeed release on the Nintendo Entertainment System in November 1986 and the console and cartridge are both depicted accurately, the game itself is not, and we don't just mean the CRT filter that's obviously inserted in post.

Instead, Stranger Things depicts the 16-bit Ghosts 'n Goblins (1985, arcade) version being played on an NES console, which is a glaring inconsistency since the 8-bit console and game were both on hand. The decision to instead opt for footage of the arcade version (easily distinguishable from the SNES sequel Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts by the black bar atop the UI) is baffling to anyone who can tell the difference, and several social media platforms have lit up with retro gaming fans pointing out the error. Is it really a big deal?

Absolutely not, but it is still a strange inconsistency on part of a show that's trying so hard to homage 80s horror and entertainment the way that it does. Perhaps an earlier cut did use real footage of the NES game, but capturing the CRT screen looked too muddy, so the powers that be decided to impose cleaner footage with a filter instead. However, hopping straight up to the arcade version in that case was clearly an oversight.

There are far worse mistakes that could be made when swapping same-named games from this era, such as Metal Gear (1987, MSX2) for Metal Gear (1988, NES). One of those is a canon entry in its series, and the other is a port that shamelessly simplifies the gameplay and rewrites the entire story—and it's not the MSX2 game. While the Ghosts 'n Goblins NES port does look a great deal worse than the arcade original, just about all of the items, characters, and level design are carried over 1:1, with better handling to boot. We recommend the Risky Bitness video embedded below for those who want a rundown of all the differences between the arcade and NES versions of Ghosts 'n Goblins.


This minor hiccup aside, most of the reception to Stranger Things Season 5 has been positive so far, and a second batch of episodes is due to be dropped on December 25th, 2025. The final episode is due on New Year's Eve. This odd little Ghosts 'n Goblins cameo appeared in Season 5, Episode 3 of the overall series, which is of course free viewing for Netflix users. Sadly, you may not be Phone Casting it.

Image Credit: Netflix