I know Halloween’s come and gone, but the horror continues!
Once we started doing game reviews, Splatterhouse stood out in my sick little
mind as one that needed to grace this website’s pages. Released internationally
by Namco in November 1988, the arcade cult classic got attention (both positive
and negative, though some say there is no bad press) for its over-the top
themes of horror and gore. Some arcades (back when there were arcades) banned
it altogether by request of parent groups. In fact, when it was ported to the
Turbo Grafx 16 home system in 1990, the box came with a warning:

“The horrifying theme of this game may be
inappropriate for young children… and cowards.”

 Without further ado,
let us jump in to one of the 1980s’ most shocking and controversial bits of
gaming gibbitude.

PLOT/THEME

In Splatterhouse, the player takes the role of Rick, a
parapsychology student who came to West Mansion seeking the great Dr. West.
Upon arriving, Rick and his lovely girlfriend Jennifer are waylaid by West
Mansion’s current inhabitants. Jennifer is of course carried off in what seems
like a predictable plot hinge; Rick awakens later to find that he has been
possessed by a mystical Terror Mask, which apparently provides him with the
power to fight the monsters inhabiting the mansion. Your mission as Rick is to
fight through the game to find Jennifer… or what has become of her, at the
least.

GAMEPLAY

As Rick, you wander through a mostly linear side-scrolling
environment, using punches and kicks as your basic attacks. It is clear that
Rick is barefoot; No sane man would walk barefoot in West Mansion. This is
because in addition to the malformed zombies and mutants, many hazards, from
acid vomit to spinning blades, grace the floors and walls of the mansion.
Weapons can be found and used along the way, everything from boards to
cleavers, axes and even shotguns in one stage. Most levels have a boss monster
of some kind, with a challenging but learnable pattern of behavior. Memorable
bosses include the poltergeist that hurls silverware at you and Biggy Man (that
is his actual name in all official documentation for the game), a meaty-thewed
baghead monstrosity with chainsaws for hands.

Splatterhouse is fun to play, but has a pretty high
difficulty curve; as with most side scrollers of the era, it pays to memorize
sequences and recognize patterns in order to avoid hazards. While most monsters
can be beaten to a pulp, some (like the chained up vomiting skeleton men)
simply function as traps and can’t be defeated, only bypassed.

If you are interested in seeing the gameplay in action for yourself, this is the best playthrough I’ve been able to find.

GRAPHICS

The visual aspect is what drew Splatterhouse most of its
positive and negative attention. Walls of melted flesh, vomiting mutants,
bloated corpses on nooses, and other horrors abound in pretty gruesome detail.
While thrilling to your average teen horror hound, parents and advocacy groups
took a dim view of the gore and horror themes. The game even pushed some other
boundaries; one of the bosses is an inverted cross surrounded by severed heads.

Controversy aside, the game is graphically advanced for its
time and looks great. Animations are smooth and the detail on everything is as
it should be in a horror themed visual: nauseatingly real.

SOUND/MUSIC

While it’s rare to actually hear much of the music when
playing an arcade game in an actual arcade, the music is really good. The sound
comes out in 8 channel stereo, crisp and clear. Many of the sound effects
themselves are a bit cartoonish, but hey, it’s an arcade game. The sound still
adds, overall, to the spooky and lethal feel of the game. A rip of the soundtrack can be found here.

—

While it’s unlikely that you’ll find a working cabinet of
Splatterhouse anywhere but in private hands, the game was released for the
Wii’s Virtual Console in 2007. It was also ported to various home gaming
systems throughout 1989-1990, and spawned two notable sequels (for the
Genesis/Mega Drive) and a remake (for the Xbox 360). All are great games in
their own rights, but none made the impact the original did. The 80s was an era
that weighed morality against freedom constantly; this game is but one
interesting footnote of the era.

 Special thanks to West Mansion Splatterhouse fanpage for reference material and some artwork.

Remember
This…
‘Video Arcades’ 

Nowadays, you get so pissed off after some
douchebag kills you with a knife during C.O.D. … On the bright side
I will admit it is pretty damn fun now to be a sociopath on multiplayer these
days but, it was even more fun and memorable when you knew a tense vs session
could lead into the best donnybrook of the year.

            Alas
nowadays, these are just memories and not many of the great spots are left.
Chinatown Fair closed and recently reopened but, it’s friendlier and looks like
something for the random passerby in spite of the Street Fighter and DDR still
present. No, those days are over and we must accept our place in the present; screaming
at the top of our lungs and throwing empty ramen noodle containers at the
screen because, SwaGG187 called you lame.

             So what are your favorite memories of the video
arcade? Leave some yarns in the comment box. And remember UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN,
LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT and tap the rewind button.