I don’t even need to say it, but I will… Halloween is on the horizon. Creepy is the current flavor. You can even sort of smell the spooky in the air. Or is that hot wiring and burning plastic? It’s a magical time of year, and not just for adults who like to get drunk in costumes; this is a perfect time to explore the most precarious and mercurial of video gaming’s genres… horror.

There’s a spotty but colorful history inside the history… a scattering of games many of us have never seen or may only have read snippets about on some niche site. Games that never went past domestic in their home country, or were considered too strong in tone for Westerners (that’s a good one…). In any case, I’ve collected a small selection of horror games that may be new to some, but definitely play an often-overlooked role in the history of the hobby.

In ’81, a Taito contract worker named Akira Takiguchi wrote a program for the PET 2001 called Nostromo. As you may guess by the title, the game was strongly inspired by 1979’s Alien. The player must attempt to escape from a spacecraft that has been invaded by an alien monster… that’s completely undetectable unless it is directly in front of you. You must somehow avoid this alien even seeing you, AND rely on limited resources. In fact, in certain scenarios, you won’t have what you need to escape, and have no choice but to simply wait to be eaten. The program was ported to the PC-6001, and in fact the only image related to the game that I could find is that version’s box art. Sadly, I also could not find anything close to an English translation or a modern port.

This is it. This is the box art. Not even too creepy, until you think about it. Think about it materializing in front of you just as you’re reaching an airlock door, and think about what kind of horrible fucking mouthparts it must be hiding beneath those Arthur C Clarke fiber optic dreads.

Another endeavoring horror game that never made it west was Shiryou Sensen: War of the Dead. Produced by Fun Factory in 1987, this game combines horror, RPG, and side-scrolling action elements. Shiryou Sensen features random encounters not unlike how Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest functions; these battles, however, are waged from a side-scrolling perspective similar to that of Zelda II. The management of limited resources (namely ammo) makes the game all the more tense as you attempt to rescue survivors in a town infested by demonic monsters. Released for the MSX, NEC PC-8801, and PC Engine, Shiryou Sensen became part of a successful trilogy – but never left Japan.

Much to my amusement, I also discovered that the 1981 film Evil Dead got the old pixel treatment for the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum in ’85. The overall effect can best be described as “laughable,” and it seems that both contemporary and modern critics elsewhere agree with me. It astounds me that there was any demand for this game four years after the film’s release… but hey, there really is no accounting for taste. One quick browse through prime time TV proves that.

1986 brought us Castlevania, while Splatterhouse came along (actual controversy and all) two years later. Plenty of people were impressed by the latter’s gore and monsters… but you ain’t played shit ’til you’ve gotten your hands on an English translation of 1989’s Sweet Home for the Famicom/NES. It’s hard to accept that Capcom, who produced the cute and friendly Megaman, could have a hand in something so gruesome. In this RPG (created by future Resident Evil maestro Tokuro Fujiwara), your team must try to unravel the mystery of a cursed house through puzzles and fifty-year-old diary entries… all while battling horrible monsters and risking permanent death. Unlike so many RPGs, there are no Phoenix Downs or shrines in Sweet Home… only monsters, melting, and unremitting horror. I’ve swiped a few gifs, since mere stills do this game no honor…

And I could go on from there, but I think we’ve seen enough. These are a few of the games that wait for us, lurking in forgotten corners dark and deep. We will, I hope, fall prey to countless more.

ＨＡＰＰＹ ＨＡＬＬＯＷＥＥＮ

ＰＬＡＹ ＲＥＴＲＯ － ＳＴＡＹ ＲＥＴＲＯ

Since the Internet and emulation have become prevalent in gamers’ lives (especially mine), I’ve had plenty of moments when I’ve been exposed to something that never left Japan and thought, “you know, this would have really done well in the West. It’s a shame we’ll never know because they didn’t try.” Import retro gaming and emulation has always been a super-niche aspect of the hobby, a place where the mystical ley-lines of japanophilia and completionism cross at a right angle. Some people are so devoted to the cult that they translate ROMs and keep lovingly curated translations of the games’ plots and stories. Characters and worlds unheard of outside Japan have slowly gained life in the West as the Information Age has taken hold and rendered localization a mere formality.

Which is great, because otherwise I’d probably never have gotten to play Valkyrie no Densetsu.

I won’t say how I got a hold of the English translated ROM for the PC Engine/Turbo Grafx 16 version, but I will say that if you join the right forum on the right popular emulation website, you can probably find it if you look around. I was overjoyed to find it, as I’d seen bits of the original Japanese source material and even had an untouched ROM… but I won’t pretend I’m able to read Japanese in any form. Any discussion among hardcore PC Engine or Namco fans was likely to bring up the character of Valkyrie; I was intrigued to the point that I started hunting down an English translation. Apparently a decent official one exists on a PlayStation compilation disc called Namco Museum Vol 5, but PlayStation’s a little past what we cover here. My best hope was a translated ROM of the arcade or PC Engine version. I found the latter after extensive looking, and was not disappointed.

Kurino and Valkyrie bravely fend off flying mandrills. Clearly, Valkyrie’s not even worried. I mean, the weather’s nice out, she’s being launched through the sky somehow… this is a great day. She doesn’t even have time for this shit to drag her down.

As it turns out, Valkyrie no Densetsu (Legend of Valkyrie) is part of a series of games. Its prequel, Valkyrie no Boken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu (Adventure of Valkyrie: Legend of the Key of Time) was released for the Famicom in 1986 and became very popular in Japan. It contained several RPG elements that would later be matched by games like Dragon Quest/Warrior, but also bore a striking similarity in some ways to Legend of Zelda. It wasn’t a hit overnight, but it gained popularity due to its characters and story. What’s most important in the context of this article is that Valkyrie makes a friend during this first quest: a chubby little lizard dude named Kurino Sandra (sometimes called Whirlo in US-release Namco products). He would go on to feature prominently in the plot of Valkyrie no Densetsu in 1989.

In the spotty prologue of Valkyrie no Densetsu, Kurino Sandra has been living peacefully at home since the events of the prequel, but hears about a golden seed that can grant wishes. He decides to go on a quest for it alone, as Valkyrie has ascended back into the heavens. In the process, Sandra finds a magical trident embedded in a block of solid gold.

Just… right there. Among some rocks. No one ever noticed it or bothered with it. Certainly not the head-sized block of pure gold it’s stuck in. Congratulations, Kurino!

He and some companions from the first game end up in a ruined town near a clock tower, and are confronted by a powerful warrior in service to some jerk named Kamuz. Of course, this results in a violent confrontation unfavorable to Kurino and his friends, but what do you know? Having seen the strife caused by the golden seed, the heavens have seen fit to send Valkyrie down once more.

One player or two, this is where the game picks up. The eight stages take you across a wide swathe of the world of Marvel Land (no authoritative source confirms or denies this being related to the Genesis title of that name produced by Namco), from meadows and forests to lava caves and lands of ice. After exhaustive comparison, I can’t see any real difference in mechanical game function between Valkyrie and Kurino; both of them jump the same, cast spells (yes, cast spells) the same, and shoot energy bolts out of their weapons. It’s all a matter of aesthetics. The game is top-down but contains plenty of jump-hazards, so mastering the distance and timing of that jump is essential. Battling small crowds of low-tier enemies isn’t too hard; in fact, it’s pretty fun. The control response is good, and you just point and click. The spells you learn (see below) can do things like turn you bigger and stronger, create whirls of flame, allow you to float in midair, and even summon little versions of yourselves to help deal out punishment. (This last one is actually called “Option Magic,” a reference to similar abilities in various shoot-em-up games.) Health and magic power are both measured with little icons, and the game is generous enough to use half-units as an increment.

Waiting for the duo are ogres, goblins, robots, and various kinds of boss monsters, some of whom are so large that the screen has to zoom out a little to let you fight them. Most non-boss monsters aren’t too dangerous individually or in small groups, but seeing as Valkyrie no Densetsu is originally an arcade title, the swarm effect will be noticeable at regular intervals. Most enemies drop gold in varying amounts, which makes one wonder just what to do with all the loot earned through righteous murder.

Thankfully, A merchant, an old lady, and a little girl are constantly hanging around these dangerous places with the intent of doing business with you (or just giving you shit). The little girl usually just has story items, but the old woman teaches you some bad-ass spells and the merchant guy sells you some useful stuff (including shooter-style power-ups).

From a scan of the Japanese manual for the PC Engine version. 

The game’s soundtrack is pretty good, the obvious best example being the arcade version. The prologue and main theme music are what I’d call “charming” if I were pretending not to like them as much as I do; they’re adorable, uplifting, and delightful. For a game so grand in overall scale, it’s unfortunate there isn’t more there, but what IS there is a wonderful fit for the theme.

Valkyrie no Densetsu clearly exhibits hybrid traits; it is both a top-down “platform” game and a less-than-conventional shooter when held to examination. Larger-than-life bosses, an involved yet approachable in-game economy, and stage features like catapults you must use to get from area to area are just some of the game’s appealing side-dressing. It’s no wonder Valkyrie no Densetsu made it to the PC Engine in 1990, taking a tiny hit in graphics and sound but retaining the bulk of its charm and playability. The Wii Virtual Console released a fairly faithful version of the original in 2009 (after emulating the PC Engine version the year before). As mentioned before, 1997 saw the release of the only official English translation on a PS1 disc called Namco Museum Vol 5, but I’m told the disc was (and is) both rare and expensive. The saga of Marvel Land’s heroes continued with a Kurino-centered entry for the Super Famicom in 1992, which did see release in Europe as Whirlo, but was drastically different from previous games in the series. Valkyrie herself has made various cameos in other Namco franchises: in the Mr. Driller series; in Soul Calibur II as an alternate costume for Cassandra; and as a relative staple in the company’s Tales of… franchise.

Screenshots from the English fan translation of the PC Engine version.

It really makes me wonder what heights she could have reached if she’d ever been let loose in the West. To most gamers, she’s just one of those characters in Namco vs Capcom that you’ve never heard of.

But if you’re a real blood-in member of the cult of retro gaming, you know who she is. At least, you do now. You’re welcome.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back in March with more! As usual, feel free to email me or visit the page on Facebook if you have feedback, questions, or (best of all) a juicy game you think I should hear about.