ULTIMATE GUIDE

IN A GAME FILLED WITH HORROR CLICHÉS, THIS ONE NATURALLY BEGINS ON A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT, WHEN A COUPLE OF KIDS ENTER AN ABANDONED MANSION. JOIN US AS WE TOO STEP INSIDE THE SPLATTERHOUSE – AND IF YOU’RE FEELING FAINT, JUST KEEP REPEATING, “IT’S ONLY A VIDEOGAME… ONLY A VIDEOGAME…”

WORDS BY MARTYN CARROLL

1988 was a great year for horror cinema. The franchises dominated, with the releases of Hellraiser 2, Halloween 4, A Nightmare On Elm Street 4 and Friday The 13th Part 7. And if you were of the opinion that all those numbers didn’t add up to much, there were some great original releases too, including Child’s Play, Pumpkinhead, Night Of The Demons and Killer Klowns From Outer Space.

The Eighties horror resurgence was on the roll and this naturally influenced the games that popped up in the arcades. Chief amongst these was Splatterhouse, Namco’s love letter to the decade’s grisly successes.

The team behind the game professed a deep love for the genre when interviewed in the Jan/Feb 1989 issue of Namco Community Magazine NG. Notably, the game’s chief planner, Kazumi Mizuno, mentioned two specific scenes that inspired him: in Dario Argento’s Phenomena (1985), where the heroine falls into a pool brimming with bodies and maggots, and the shock ending of Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976), where young Miss White literally reaches out from beyond the grave. Mizuno also referenced the Friday The 13th series, and specifically the sixth part from 1986, where Jason Voorhees came back to life (again), only this time as a hulking super zombie capable of snapping people’s spines like twigs. This unstoppable version of Jason was the inspiration for Rick Taylor, the game’s hero in a hockey mask who has to rescue his girlfriend Jennifer from the cursed West Mansion. The setup borrows heavily from The Evil Dead (1981), and the scene where Ash confronts his girlfriend Linda (who’s the girl-next-door one moment, a laughing demon the next), is brilliantly replicated in one of the game’s boss battles.

"BY MAKING THE GAME MORE FANTASTICAL, THEY ACTUALLY MADE"

» [Arcade] The opening scene sees teenage couple Rick and Jennifer sneak inside the sinister West Mansion. Those darn kids!

RICK

JENNIFER

HANGING CORPSE

DEADMEN

» [Arcade] The slide kick is crucial – but tricky to pull off. You have to jump and then press down, forward and attack just before you land.

TOP HEAVY

BODY EATER

» [Arcade] Some scenes, like this one in the flooded basement, use push-scrolling to keep Rick moving along.

» [Arcade] You can only carry one weapon at a time, but if you’re clever, you can juggle two shotguns to the battle with the Biggyman.