Splatterhouse 2 (Genesis/Mega Drive)

Developer:

Now Production

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Release Date:

1992

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Systems:

Mega Drive

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out Mega Drive brawler Splatterhouse 2! I figured I should play something with a bit of a horror theme for Halloween... for a change. I generally only remember to play a Halloween game 40% of the time, so you got lucky this year. Or unlucky, if you came here hoping to get away from it.

Horror's never really been my favourite genre to be honest, plus I get bored of side-scrolling beat 'em ups very quickly, but I found Splatterhouse 2 at #1 on Horror Geek Life's Top 10 Spookiest Horror Games on the Sega Genesis so it has to be something special. Unless it's just not a very spooky console. Splatterhouse 3 also made the list, but not the first Splatterhouse... which makes sense as it was never released for the system. Splatterhouse 1 started out on arcade and was ported to TurboGrafix-16, FM Towns, PC, but not the Mega Drive. The two sequels, on the other hand, were Mega Drive exclusives. So that must have sucked for all the TG-16-owning Splatterhouse fans who wanted a sequel, and the Sega-owning completists who wanted them all.

The original arcade Splatterhouse was by Namco, but this sequel was outsourced to Now Production, the folks who'd made the Splatterhouse spoof spin-off Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti on the NES. They've got 70 games listed on MobyGames and they're still going strong to this day, releasing Switch titles like, uh, Spaceship Curse, Seal Electric Railway, and Shark Copter vs. Zombie Dancers.

Bloody hell, I've written Splatterhouse 9 times and it's only the intro. 10 times now. Alright I usually stop after the first hour, but that would probably be enough to beat Splatt... this game twice over, so this time I'm only going to cover the first ten minutes. Fortunately I can probably drag those ten minutes out all night, as I'm crap at these kinds of games.

Content warning: this is a horror game so it's going to be a bit horrible at times. Lots of 16-bit gore and nastiness. There'll also be spoilers for the first game.

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The game begins with a black screen, white text, and creepy music.

"It's been three months since your escape. Haunted by guilt and tormented by nightmares… nightmares of… Jennifer's screams and the infernal temptations of the mask."

Uh, who's haunted and tormented? I think the narrator missed out the bit that connects the line to anyone. It seemed like it was leading somewhere, but then it didn't.

Then we see Jennifer herself, who I guess is a pixie. Turns out that the Mega Drive can do digitised speech, kind of, as she yells "HELP ME!" and then screams it a way that makes it sound like it's the sound chip that's being tortured. Then she disappears into the pit.

More text comes on screen, this time in red, saying "She doesn't have to die, Rick." I guess that's the mask talking. Also I'm playing a guy called Rick apparently.

The resolution changes and the camera dives into the eye of a cackling skull mask.
 
I guess the mask scared the narrator off as it's the only one doing the talking now.

The mask continues putting ideas into Rick's head, saying "We can save her. Go back to the house." The game implies that she's been trapped in a nightmare house for three months, so Rick probably shouldn't be getting his hopes up. Especially as you can see the house's burned out ruins on the left of the screenshot.

What the game doesn't mention is that Jennifer already died in Splatterhouse. She turned into a monster, got beaten up, then vanished (it was bit of a bleak ending). So Rick definitely shouldn't be getting his hopes up.

While the red text is appearing the camera continues to pan across the scenery. It even pans across the scenery when the text isn't appearing. In fact there's a full minute of nothing but parallax scrolling and music before the text finally comes back. It's pretty good music, halfway to sounding like something from Castlevania (YouTube Link), but it had me worried that the game had broken.

Japanese version

The Japanese version features English and Japanese text in the intro simultaneously, which is something I can't remember ever seeing before in a game. It's not the same English text though; in the European and US versions the mask's saying "I'll find you there... Only I can give you the power," at this point.

And that's the end of the intro. That's all the context we're getting for what's going on here.

Hey it's got a sound test! It's a shame that they never put sound tests in games anymore.

It's also given me a choice of three difficulty levels: 'normal', 'difficult' and 'game master'. I think I'll leave it on normal, which I suspect is actually pretty bloody difficult. The game does feature passwords though, which means that it has infinite continues... well, in the Europe/US version anyway. In Japan Splatterhouse, Part 2 gives you just five continues to finish the game (but it has a stage select cheat to make up for it).

One thing the game doesn't have is a co-op mode, which is a bit weird for a scrolling beat 'em up. I mean who wants to play through one of them all on their own? The controls are a bit limited as well, as I've only got two buttons: jump and attack.

Alright here I am, a dude in a mask, on his way to a creepy house in a forest.

I was expecting the game to let me walk up and down like in Golden Axe and Streets of Rage, but I guess it's not that kind of brawler. It controls more like a platformer, as I can only walk left, walk right, duck and jump. Like Altered Beast I guess.

Also it seems like I've only got four hit points. The Japanese version gives you five hit points on 'normal', but it only gives you two lives, so there's a trade-off. I'm not sure which is easier.

Whoa, I can kill things in one punch! That probably shouldn't be a huge shock, considering that Rick's arms are as wide as tree trunks, but I just assumed I'd have to smack enemies around for a while before they died. I had a vague idea of what the game would be like, but this isn't quite what I imagined.

It's got a really arcade feel to it as well, which I did expect seeing as it's the sequel to an arcade game.

Splatterhouse (Arcade)

In fact it plays pretty much identical to the arcade game and looks a lot like it too. Seems they weren't tempted to mess with the four year old formula. The mask looks a bit different though, as they decided it'd be better not to get sued by the people who made the Friday the 13th movies for ripping off Jason Voorhees.

Hang on, the way I'm punching bats and jumping over traps here feels really familiar somehow. This must be what the Sega CD version of Bram Stoker's Dracula was trying to be!

Splatterhouse (Arcade)

I was wondering if the original game's intro gave some context and explained who Jennifer is, what the mask's about, why Rick's dressed like a slasher villain, and what's actually going on. Nope, not in the intro anyway.

Rick and Jennifer run to a mansion in the rain, there's a scream… that's it. All I've learned is that Rick looked like that even before putting the mask on.

Haha, the dumbass fell into the monster pit.

One thing I've already noticed about the game is it only features a couple of enemy types on this stage but it uses them in different ways so you're always facing a new problem. Plus that guy didn't fall into there by accident, everything here is planned and intentional.

Agh, one of the wee little bitey bastards fell down from the ceiling and bit Rick's ankle! I just lost my first hit point heart here and Rick's clearly not happy about it as he yelled out a low pitched "OOOOOHHH!"

On the plus side I found a metal bar on the floor and now my one-hit kills are even more one-hit! Though I'm still going to mash the button, because I'm bad at games.

Okay I think I've figured out why it's called Splatterhouse.

See what I mean about how it uses the two enemy types in different ways? I've never seen them do that chestburster attack before. The game likes to surprise you.
 

Hey I was right next to the stage exit. It's not just there for my benefit though, as that enemy on the right turned around and made a run for it when he saw me coming. Castlevania enemies never did that!

By the way, there's a type of shading that pixel artists are told not to do called 'pillow shading' and if you want an example of that just look at Rick's clothes. There's a dark outline and then it gets brighter towards the middle, without any relation to where the highlights and shadows would actually be.

Aww, Rick automatically dropped the bar before going in the exit. What the hell dude?

I got this little bit of a cutscene when I stepped through the door, revealing the ultimate fate of the cowardly monster as it chose the least terrifying of its inevitable deaths. It's a bit tragic really, as I don't get points when the boss kills them.

What's even more tragic is that I have to fight the boss now. I suck at boss fights!

Agh, I figured that his spit was going to be acid but I didn't get out of the way in time. That was my last hit point, so Rick let out an extra-deep "OOOOOOHHHH" and face-planted the filthy stone floor.

The game faded to black, then put me back into the same room with the boss sliding in from the right again. So the good news is that I wasn't sent back to the start of the level, but the bad news is that I have to defeat this guy without taking four hits of damage.

Man, this game loves to troll me!

It's all about trial and error and memorising patterns. As long as you remember what to do and can pull it off it's no problem, but getting that knowledge can take a few deaths... and not all of them fair.

I beat stage one!

Also here's a look at what the mask looks like in the Japanese version of Splatterhouse 2. You might expect a game series all about a scary mask would try to keep the design of the mask fairly consistent and iconic, but the thing's all over the place.

Wait, he's trying to find a passage to the house? I thought he was in the house already. This game has next to no story and I still can't follow it.

STAGE II

Stage 2 put me in an elevator and then dropped green monsters on me that like to bounce around. It didn't really work out.

The trouble with Rick is that he's not the most agile of heroes, so you can't just rely on reacting fast enough to dodge enemies, you need to pay attention to what the monsters are doing and work out a safe-ish place to put him for the moment. Ideally somewhere you can punch them from.

Oh damn, I ran out of lives. Not the worst place for it to happen though really, right at the start of a stage. I was going to have to repeat the whole elevator sequence either way so using one of my infinite continues here really makes no difference.

EVENTUALLY

 

I got past the lift with two lives remaining!

Getting past these purple creatures is a bit trickier though, as they take two hits and like to stand on the spot and keep punching. When they're bouncing around they're not a problem, but on the ground I keep walking into their punches as I'm trying to get close. Then I lose all my lives, choose to 'retry', and have to do the bloody elevator again!

Oh, hang on, it turns out I can just duck while they're punching, and then they can't hurt me at all. Well now I know that.

Spikes... why did it have to be spikes?

The ones in the middle keep moving up and down, so I need to pick the right moment to jump over the first row, then run across and jump over the last row. The tricky part is that I need to be standing right next to the spikes when I jump or I won't get enough distance to clear them.

Landing on spikes isn't the end of the world, it only costs a hit point, but I'm only allowed to make so many mistakes in a stage. I've found no healing items at all so far, so when my four hit points are gone I'm kicked back to the start of the room, and when all my lives are gone I'm kicked back to the start of the elevator. Again.

Oh cool, I got an extra life at 20,000 points! That's going to help.

I finally made it all the way to the stage 2 boss! Took me a while though, which is why I'd really appreciate it if he'd stop killing me. What am I even meant to do with these floating heads? Dodge them? Punch them?

Ah, punching them works! So I've worked that bit out.

But I can't punch that I guess.

There goes my 20,000 point bonus life. Now I have to start the fight again and I can only make three mistakes as the fourth fuck-up is going to send me all the way to the elevator again. I'm really losing my enthusiasm to be honest; I can deal with retrying something until I get it right, but having to replay an entire stage and walk all the way to the boss again is draining my will to continue.

My attention's really starting to stray at this point and I'm finding that I have to keep to dragging myself back to the game. Though on the bright side I'm very active in the Super Adventures Discord server at the moment!

Oh I have to kick him in the forehead to damage him! Took me long enough to figure that out.

It wasn't that hard to beat him once I knew the pattern. It's just like learning how to play a song, as you memorise each section and practice until you've got the timing right. Except afterwards all you've learned is how kick a purple guy in the face.

Alright, the next stage is a foul river! Wait, we're leaving the house already? I thought we were supposed to go there to rescue Jennifer?

I think what's going on here is that we're heading for a second house, and we passed through the ruins of the house from the first game on the way. This could be entirely wrong though, I don't know.

STAGE III

The good thing about having to replay stages over and over again is that you eventually look like you know what you're doing. That poor monster was so terrified of my awesome slide kick that he leaped into the deadly water and killed his own dumb self.

I can only manage to pull off the slide kick maybe 20% of the time, but when I do it generally fills my heart with joy. Unless I keep sliding all the way into a pit, then I'm less joyful. You need to jump into the move, so it's a bit awkward, but it does double damage and that makes it worth the trouble. Plus it looks great.

Now that I've reached stage 3 I've got my second password and I never need to go back to that lift again! It's "IDO GEM IAL LDL" by the way, though you don't have to type all that in with a controller. Each three letter section is on its own line and you cycle through them until you find a match.

LATER

I think this might be the boss fight, but it's hard to tell. Right now I'm fighting a chainsaw and a pair of shears and they're just flying all over the place. No clue how I'm supposed to figure this out.

Oh, the chainsaw isn't swooping, it's popping down from holes in the ceiling! If I keep track of its pattern and stay out of the way I can focus on the shears first and punch them in the blades until they die.

Splatterhouse (TG-16)

There's a bit like this in the original Splatterhouse as well, where a room comes to life and you have to punch the chair and dodge falling candles. It's a bit more impressive to look at in action.

The original Splatterhouse never got a Mega Drive port, but it did come out on the TurboGrafx-16... and they changed the mask again. It's purple here!

Well I took care of the shears and the chainsaw, but then these guys started dropping from the ceiling and puking acid on me and I don't even know what's going on anymore. The game's weird!

I was doing well though... until I wasn't. Unfortunately with zero lives left my failure here put me right back to the beginning of the river level and I just don't have the patience for that any more.


CONCLUSION

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You can tell right away that Splatterhouse 2 was based on an arcade game, it's got "arcade" tattooed onto its giant arms and stitched into its horrifying underwear. There's only a small amount of content here, 8 levels, 30 minutes of gameplay if you know what you're doing, but the game is all about learning the sequence through trial and error. It's simple enough to pick up and play, but you practice it like an instrument. It's not really that unfair, you can do pretty well just by taking your time and reacting quickly to what's happening, and there's no time limit or any way to screw up and get a bad ending. But you only get to make a few mistakes before you're sent back to repeat the whole section, so you will end up replaying whole stages over and over. Fortunately it's got infinite continues like Castlevania to take some of the sting out of it, as well as passwords so you can rage quit and then come back later.

The game reminded me of Castlevania in a lot of ways, as even though it's not a platformer it's definitely closer to it than it is to something like Streets of Rage. It's a lot more zoomed in but you're a still a slow-ass badass kicking ass up and down some creepy-ass mansion (and its equally creepy environs). The music's not quite as catchy as a Castlevania game and there's a real shortage of wall chicken, but the protagonist's walk cycle is just as weird as any Belmont. Not that the music's bad. Plus those visuals are as gory and messed up as anything you'll find on a 16-bit system. It's obvious they knew what their selling point was.

I can appreciate what the game's doing and I'm glad I played it so I finally know what it actually is, but I don't see myself going back to it. I'm not really into memory tests or mastering levels, I usually get bored before I git gud. Give me instant restarts and I'll be tricked into trying again, but this gave me ages to contemplate quitting. Especially as I had it paused a lot of the time while I was checking the internet/Discord/etc.

So by my rules I really shouldn't give it a 'Not Crap' star... but it does actually seem to be a pretty decent game with a lot of fans, and I don't want to put people off giving it a try if they haven't already. I've played some real trash and this isn't that at all. It just really wants you to keep inserting your unlimited virtual cash is all.

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Thanks for reading, and have a happy Halloween if you're into that!

Feel free to leave a comment by the way. Maybe see if you can use the clue to figure what game I'll be putting up next on November 7th.