Beetlejuice in Skeletons in the Closet

Beetlejuice in Skeletons in the Closet is a DOS arcade game developed by Riedel Software Productions and published by Hi Tech Expressions. The intro keeps the 1990 copyright and includes a separate screen with the Riedel credit. Beetlejuice and Lydia appear together on raised-perspective platforms, surrounded by a red and green landscape. The menus in this copy are in English.

Skeletons walk across the platform while you steer Beetlejuice and fire green projectiles. Lydia takes part by collecting the remains with her vacuum cleaner, as the original advertising explains. Enemies can trap her in a cage. The gallery shows the first level, the character's movement, and a projectile separated from its shadow.

Keyboard, sound, and first game

The menu lets you choose between joystick and keyboard. K selects the keyboard, and the Keyboard Selected label confirms the choice. Enter starts a new game. S toggles the sound, and its state is written below the menu. During testing, it was switched between Sound is OFF and Sound is ON before starting.

The first level is recognizable by its large platform of blue and green squares and by the number 1 in the lower-right corner. Beetlejuice and Lydia start near the center. The skeletons come in and move around the scene. The perspective lets you see the floor, the edges, and the gap between the characters.

Moving and firing

The arrow keys steer Beetlejuice. In the game that was tested, holding the right arrow moved him from the center toward that side of the platform. Space fires. The consecutive screenshots show a green projectile traveling along the floor and a shadow that makes it possible to follow its path.

To follow a shot, watch the space in front of the character after pressing Space. The projectile can move away from the body before you look at Beetlejuice again. The gallery image was taken during that trajectory. The skeletons and Lydia also move around the scene, so it helps to tell each element apart before changing direction.

The design combines shooting, movement, and protecting Lydia. The box describes special powers and critters that alter the game. The advertisement in the 1990 Electronics Boutique Christmas catalog explains that Lydia sweeps up the remains of defeated skeletons. Worms also appear among the game's hazards.

The look of the DOS edition

The copy that was tested uses a 320 by 200 pixel image. The platform of squares warps toward the edges, and the background uses highly contrasting color stripes. The header gathers the status icons. The floor takes up almost the whole screen, and the level indicator stays at the lower right.

The PC box carries the title Adventures of Beetlejuice and the subtitle Skeletons in the Closet. The program's opening screen reads Beetlejuice in Skeletons in the Closet. Both forms identify this edition. The development credit appears after the title, inside a gray frame with the RSP logo.

The download keeps the four files of the collection, including high.dat. The executable is bj.exe. The browser package adds a separate DOSBox configuration and a CLABA.BAT launcher. The original menu is used as the background of this page, and the cover art comes from a scan of the PC box.