Splatterhouse - Super Deformed (English Translation) Review by: Eirinn - 8.4/10
A gem of the eighties game worldWow. Where to start? Well, first off for all of you fans of the splatterhouse series: this is NOT what you are going to expect. This almost seems like a spoof of the splatterhouse games you know and love. I myself found this approach to "horror" gaming, quite refreshing, if not slightly confusing. You see, I only played one Splatterhouse game as a child (Splatterhouse 3, I believe), and I was a little creeped out (a little kid playing splatterhouse alone in a dark room. Go figure), and quit playing. However, while recently searching for horror games, I found a referrence to Splatter house Wanpaku graffiti, and decided to try it. In case you can't tell by my rating, I enjoyed it rather immensely, though I have no idea why anyone would consider this a horror game. Seriously, there's nothing frightening about it. In all actuality, I found it rather hilarious. If anything, this is what I would call a comedy, or, humor game. Indeed, it seems the developers were trying to make you laugh, and if you're like me, they'll succeed at making you laugh several times.
Now for the reviewing:
The game opens with Jennifer weeping (pink tears, oddly) at Rick's graveside, when suddenly, the grave bursts open, and out comes Rick (if you weren't paying attention before, you are now)! Oddly, her rection to this is extreme joy, though I myself would be just a liiiitle bit freaked out at first, I won't judge her. Her joy however, is short lived, as the evil pumkin-head-thing-dude appears, and kidnaps her, right before Rick's eyes. Begin game.
Rick must fight his way through countless foes who also appear to have been recently resurrected, but with less fortune than he, as it seems they ran out of resurrection juice halfway between dead and alive (Ah yes, the classic "living dead". It never gets old to the story writers, though the novelty has worn thin with me. Still, this game delivers). When you reach level one's first miniboss (there are two), you may find it hard to take him seriously at first. He's a vampire that apparently has a certain taste for Michael Jackson music (lord help us! Vamps just got even scarrier). He comes up through a trap door on a lighted stage, and performs a parody of "Thriller", before beginning battle. However, his humor ends there, and the battle with his minions begins. Upon being defeated, he descends through the trap door. Sound strange? Your odd journey through horror movie spoofs has just begun, and it doesn't get any more normal than this. In later levels, you encounter a girl on a bed, whose chest bursts and an incredibly large swarm of spiders fly out (Alien, anyone?). Once you defeat 40 or so, the girl stands up, yawns, and exits unharmed.
In order to keep from spoiling the entire game for any of you who are brave enough to enter the world of Wanpaku graffiti, I shall spare mentioning the rest of the odd (and quite humorous) parodies of Friday the 13th, Alien, Jaws, and several other films that occour throughout the rest of the game. With all of this spoof type humor, and a surprise ending, that has it's own surprise ending (and if you collect both crystals that are hidden in secret stages, an additional scene), this game sets a higher standard for games of it's time.
Graphics: 10/10 I rarely give out a 10 on graphics, as I set a standard that even flawless graphics only rate in as a 9. To get a 10 from me, the game must go beyond living up to the higher standards of it's time, and deliver a little extra. This game does that.
Let's start with the sprites: they're beautifully illustrated. The first thing I take into account in rating an NES/Famicom game's graphics is the size of the sprites. In a time when great graphics just weren't possible due to system limitations etc. many (if not most) developers would shy away from larger sprites, as a close up reveals more pixelation. However, in a world of tiny little sprites and blimp-like camera angles, Wanpaku graffiti is bold and gives us large sprites with an amazing amount of detail for it's time. The colors are nice, and very well matched to the game's theme. The dark night time colors are well offset by bright lightning bolts, slimey greens and blues, and bright oranges, though I feel they went a bit overboard with the pink on Jennifer. But what really set this game's graphics apart, and earned it that extra-mile 10, are the backgrounds. The part that is so easily overlooked by the gamer, and rarely receives much detail. Just look at the detail in level one's background. All of those gravestones, rags blowing in the breeze, and other tiny details. Some backgrounds even scroll. Couple this with the aforementioned sprites and such, and you have one of the best game's graphically of it's time.
Sound: 10/10
Good music tracks in each level, and nice sound effects. It managed to avoid the "blippy" music and effects that we hear in so many games of it's time, which was very nice to hear.
Story 10/10
I'm rating the whole story here, including the ending (which I found epic to say the least). All in all, for an 80's game, it is a very good story. An opening scene that gives you a rundown (without use of text, unfortunately) of what is going on. Many games of it's time didn't offer the courtesy of a reason as to why you were doing what you were doing, let alone have a real story to tell. Even the iconic Mario bros. just dropped you in world 1-1 and had you fight your way through the first three levels before clarifying anything about what was going on. At the end of 1-4 it hit you: "oh, I'm saving a kidnapped princess". Unless you read the text on a game's box, you often had little to no idea of what was going on. Not the case here. From the opening cutscene (and a cutscene in a game back then? Almost unheard of), you know exactly where you stand and what you're fighting for: rescue Jennifer (though you aren't told her name). The ending cutscene is a big shock, and has an almost equally surprising twist at the end. An ending with a surprise ending! See? Epic. Plus the ending can be altered (albeit ever so slightly) by finding both hidden levels and collecting both crystals. Doing so adds an extra still scene or two, that may look familliar to fans of the Splatterhouse series.
Addictiveness: 8/10
Funny thing, but I actually wrote this review after I completed the game, and gave it a four in addictiveness I believe, then changed it to a six simply because I feared a four would send the wrong message, as this game is definitely on the right side of a five in every department. I even went so far as to say in my previous notes (yes, I take notes on my reviews before posting them) that there was about a 40/60 chance that I would play it again in the near future, and that once you played it through, there was no reason to replay it. However, when I got to the Sound section, I was a bit unsure on the quality of the sounds and music, as I hadn't played this game in about three months. And since I was never planning on reviewing a game back then, I didn't listen as closely, or note the details of the sounds. So it was with this issue at hand, I decided to replay part of the first level, just to be sure that I gave an honest and fair review on the sound. So I played all the way to level one's Michael-Jackson-wannabe vampire miniboss, and I realized "Hey, this game is STILL a blast!". I began to realize then that I wanted to replay it. That said, this game has a high replay value, simply because of the amount fun that it offers. While most games earn a high replay value because of their extra unlockable features, and their alternate endings etc., and this game has nothing to offer in those areas, it manages to pull out a high replay value still. A game that's this much fun to me the second time around even though nothing has changed is a very rare thing. Very, Very solid gameplay, tight controls, and gameplay that equals that of even the best platformers out there: Splatter house - wanpaku grafitti is definitely a game I'll replay a few times.
Depth: 4/10
Unfortunately, I'm probably being generous here, simply because this game deserves a rave review. Still, there isn't much by way of depth. It's simple and straight forward, which is actually one of it's charms. It's a blast, and you don't really have to think much. Just hack your way through a bunch of goofy (sometimes almost cute) monsters until you reach the final boss. Then you hack at him a bit too. I can only think of one instance in which I had to employ some strategy in all of the hacking: in a level that resembled a sewer (it may have actually been a sewer). There is a monster that serves as a sort of miniboss. I lost quite a few lives on that little guy, until I figured out that I should enter the battle in the water, rather than on the cement (remember that! See, there's a handy little tip. It really DID pay to read this lengthy review). Other than that, it was just hack. Laugh. Slash. Slice. Laugh. Splat. Laugh. Repeat. One bit of depth is that as you hack your way along, you will notice a counter at the top of the screen. This counter tallies up your kills (if you can call them kills, since the enemies are already dead). Once this counter fills up, your maximum health will increase, and the counter will reset. A sort of levelling system, giving this game somewhat of an RPG element. A great idea in my opinion. Also there are two hidden levels and a possible change to the ending.
Difficulty: 5/10
While it has some tougher spots, this game really isn't all that difficult. And the password system just makes it that much easier. Too bad not all games of it's day utilized this capability (passwords). The only downside to the password system is your health bar will probably be shorter than it was before.
In conclusion, this is an incredible game. One of the giants of it's time, really. It's a pity that we didn't see any true sequels to this one (we did see a few sequels, but the name and characters were all they had in common). Why games like this are so rare, is a mystery to this gamer. But at least, thanks to Vizzed, we can now go back and play them again. I highly reccomend this game to anyone with a taste for spoof humor, and platformers. Splatterhouse Wanpaku graffiti definitely does not disappoint. It is indeed a gem of the 80's game world.
Graphics
10 Sound
10 Addictive
8 Depth
4 Story
10 Difficulty
5