Nintendo Okie

Don't look now lady, there's a zombie behind you!

Howdy everyone.  It’s Halloween, the scariest time of the year and what better way to celebrate than by looking back at one of the best Halloween themed games ever made.  Zombies Ate My Neighbors was developed in 1993 by Lucas Arts for the Sega Master System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System.  Since we’re a Nintendo themed website we’ll be looking at the SNES version of the game today.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a tongue in cheek tribute to the B-movie horror films of the 50’s up through the 1980’s.  As such, you’ll see a large cast of memorable horror film villains ranging from the titular zombie all the way up to Dracula and more.  You’ll fight zombies, werewolves, a chainsaw wielding maniac, possessed babies with scythes, giant bugs and even a demonic baby doll that towers over you.  All of this is done with items you would find around the house and that amazingly have severe effects on different types of enemies.  Werewolves, for instance, are extremely vulnerable to your silverware.  You’ll find all kinds of odd weapons at your disposal such as water guns and pop can grenades.

The whole point of the adventure is that you as either Zeke or Julie, must traverse the games 55 different levels saving all your neighbors from the ensuing zombie apocalypse.  There are ten neighbors in each level that can be rescued, but only one must be saved in order to progress to the next level.  While you’re running around trying to find your neighbors the game’s many different villains are also wandering around and if they run into one of the townsfolk they will kill them, meaning obviously you can’t rescue them.  You score more points based on how many neighbors you rescue.  They’re all helpless and just stand around waiting for you to come get them. 

The game is shown in a ¾ overhead perspective and all of the game’s different environments are amazingly detailed for the era.  The grocery store is filled with brightly colored boxes and tiled floors, just like you’d see in a grocery store from the 1980’s.  The different yards are filled with appropriate items like trampolines that you can use to bounce over hedges and swimming pools that will give you a bit of a respite from the relentless zombie pursuit.  Scattered throughout the environment are a large number of power ups; clown heads will allow you to block a zombie’s path giving you a chance to get away, first aid kits will replenish your health, sneakers will give a momentary boost to your speed.  The most unusual power up you’ll find is a beaker full of mysterious liquid that will transform you into a large purple version of the Incredible Hulk.  This gives you amazing strength as well as a bit of invulnerability. 

The game’s humor comes from the campy approach to an already campy genre, B-level horror movies.  Each of the game’s 55 levels has an appropriate title; Zombie Panic, Terror in Aisle 5 and Evening of the Undead are just a few.  The main characters are a stereotypical couple of kids from horror films in the 1980’s.  Zeke, has the attitude.  You can tell by the spiky hair, 3D glasses and the skull on his shirt.  Julie is the pretty girl next door with the large chest and short pants.  You can play the game solo or with a friend.  You should never go through the zombie apocalypse alone.  You’ll feel right at home with the soundtrack to the game that features tunes ranging from eerie grave yard tunes to up tempo, but cheesy store music.  It sets the mood perfect for this hilarious adventure.  While there’s no real story to the game you get a lot of funny moments seeing the different neighbors just standing around, usually doing something ridiculous. 

The game is controlled using the D-pad for movement and the Y button to attack, and you can switch weapons with the B button. The X button allows you to use a power up and you can cycle through them to find the one you need with the A button.  The game moves very quickly, but is fluid.  There are a large number of enemies that you can face at any one time and having the appropriate weapons will make things much easier.  The game is still brutally hard, but it might help a bit. 

The game was developed before the establishment of the ESRB and as such it did feature some difficulty getting to retail.  Nintendo had a policy of no violence in their games and you couldn’t have things like blood and gore so the developers had all that changed to green ooze.  When you die, rather than seeing the screen streaked with blood it gets covered in a purple jelly like substance, telling you that your game is over.  In Europe the game was known simply as Zombies and the chainsaw maniac was replaced with a lumberjack wielding an axe.  I don’t know which is scarier. 

Zombies Ate My Neighbors is the perfect co-op adventure on Halloween.  Who doesn’t like killing hordes of zombie and giant ants while running around a shopping mall wearing 3D glasses?  No one, that’s who.  The game is available right now on the Wii Shop Channel for 800 points.  If you’re having a get together for the holiday take a few minutes and pop the game in for a bit of campy, horror fun.  You won’t be disappointed.