GRAPHICS SOUND CONTROL FRUSTRATION FUN FACTOR OVERALL

Famicom Developer: Namco Publisher: Namco Players: 1 Player Release Date: 1989 Genre: Action/Platformer Saving Option: Password Feature I remember back years ago when my friend, Steve Gosse, used to own a game called Splatterhouse 2 for the Sega Genesis. It was pretty cool, difficult, lots of blood and guts and action along with cool music. You controlled a guy in a hockey-like mask with a machete (Jason-wannabe) and he scaled a haunted forest and mansion to find his girlfriend, Jennifer. Overall, only Steve's sister, Kim was able to finish it without codes (about 11 years ago) but now, after all of these years I was introduced to a "different" type of Splatterhouse. This game, called, "SplatterHouse: Wanpaku Graffiti" is the Sega classic transferred to the Famicom (no wonder no one has heard about it) and never saw the light of day in the States. Storyline: The tale begins (if it's after or before Splatterhouse is unknown) in a graveyard and a girl by the name of Jennifer is crying over a grave. But, completely out of nowhere a lightning bolt crashes out of the sky and into the grave releasing the Jason-wannabe - aka Rick - out of his buried state. Jennifer is happy and I guess Rick is too but unfortunately another bolt hits the grave on the left to release none other than Michael Jack... I mean the Pumpkin king! He floats over Rick and pulls a Ghost 'n' Goblins on his ass and therefore kidnaps Jennifer. Rick must once again begin to scale those haunted wood/mansions/whatever to find Jennifer and defeat the "Jack-o-Lantern," or we'll call him "Jack-o," the King of pop himself! Graphics: Graphically SplatterHouse: Wanpaku Graffiti is quite impressive. The sprites are large and detailed, but are marred by the lack of multiple colors per sprite. The animation is on par with other games, but nothing worth really mentioning. The backgrounds on the other hand are really amazing. They’re crammed with various objects. For example there’s the graveyard stage. It’s filled with tons of tombstones, broken iron fences, green weeds that blow in the wind, trees, immense mountains, and dreary black sky complete with bolts of lightning. Sound: The sound effects are pretty weak with few sparse noises, but the music isn’t all that bad. But the music is blemished by the fact that the stage one music resurfaces more than a few times. Strangely enough the hidden levels have their own unique themes that just simply rock. I would have figured Namco would have slipped in old stage music. Oh well. Gameplay: SplatterHouse: Wanpaku Graffiti for the Famicom is a completely original title in all its 8-bit glory and nothing at all like its arcade counterpart. In the game you start off with a sissy life meter but the more enemies squashed the bigger it gets (because it acts as experience). You only have two weapons in the game: a hatchet and a shotgun which you can pickup anywhere and you can literally blow enemies away! It's too bad you can run out of bullets though. You can only continue three times before it’s Game Over; passwords allow our undead hero to resume his quest at any time, but this extra life will be lost. Also, during the last bit of the game (or so it seems) you can actually end up in a situation to go to secret levels! This happens when you dodge a death-like dude who puts you into some skull's mouth and you wake up in a coffin only to fight the boss minutes later! But if you dodge him you can move on to more weirdness like medieval Japan and Egypt - for every level you finish I'm told you get more added on to the end of the game. Sweet! Control: The controls are top-notch, fluid, and tight. Moving Rick with the game’s fairly quick speed is a breeze with a responsive d-pad and buttons. Jumping is also quite easy since Rick’s range of leaping is quite long. Unfortunately Rick doesn’t stop immediately as one would probably like. This can be a little annoying at first, but it won’t be long before you adapt to the game’s physics. Thus you should have no trouble progressing with these fine controls. Uh, just as well mention that the button B is used to swing Rick's hatchet or shotgun, whichever one you have. Fun Factor: One cool thing is the fact that you can receive a bigger life gauge the more enemies you kill, which means if you use passwords and go to a higher level, you'll get killed with 3 hits! There are also hidden stages in the game! Even if you defeat Jennifer’s gourd-like kidnapper, you’re not quite finished. Entrances to a pair of hidden levels also lurk within the game, transporting Rick to medieval Japan and the pyramids of ancient Egypt. Waiting at the end of each level is a woman bearing a crystal ball, each of which lengthens the ending with an additional screen. While nothing overwhelming, this secret epilogue adds a nice twist to the already eccentric conclusion, particularly for fans of the original game. Frustration: There isn't really much to complain about, except for the fact that Rick can move a little bit too far for your liking and not stop at the right time. Nothing a couple of play-throughs can perfect. .BOTTOM LINE: The game is something that would've looked good in it's nice-looking American gray toaster, but that didn't happen obviously! One way to describe this game is that it's a joke about horror movies and it also has 8-bit gore and blood and guts! One of my favorite scenes include that one battle against a girl. Spiders explode out her stomach while she is sleeping (a take off of Aliens) and after beating 40 of those bastards, she gets up, yawns, and walks away like nothing happened. As for the reason behind not making it to the U.S.? Don't have clue, but I think it got something to do with the vampire in the first level who imitates Michael Jackson and then gives you the finger! Now that's scary! -Jason Hogan