The Wonder Years 8.28.08: Week 69 - Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 08.28.2008

Resident Evil meets 1950s schlock horror in the hardest game you never played.

Disclaimer: Due to an unforeseen circumstance, this week's column has ended up as a 'redux' version of a column I wrote over a year ago. Apologies for anyone who was expecting some new material, but I figured it better to get a column out this week than not given that I missed last week too, even if that one was pre-planned. I'll more than make up for it next week though, just wait and see...

Welcome to the column where all gamers of a certain age come to wallow in 16-bit nostalgia. I'm your host, Owain J. Brimfield, and I'll be discussing some of the hidden gems and instant classics of gaming's golden era. Some of these games may crop up in downloadable form at some point, some may be consigned to the annals of history. Either way, they're worth tracking down if you missed them first time round, or replaying if you were lucky enough to catch them. Let's take a trip to:

ZOMBIES ATE MY NEIGHBORS

(Konami, Genesis & Super NES, 1993)

Or simply Zombies as it was known in Europe, to avoid offending our delicate sensibilities. Zombies is probably the foremost example of a cult 16-bit game - critically acclaimed, it's not so obscure that 99% of gamers will never have heard of it, but at the same time you won't find many who have actually played it. Those who have had that good fortune, however, will tell you that it's a fantastic little game well worthy of your attention. Just bring some caffeine, as you'll be in for the long haul. The setup is simple but effective - a suburban neighborhood has been overrun by a vast array of horror movie monsters, and only two water-pistol-wielding teenagers, Zeke and Julie, can save the day. Battling through hordes of undead goons with weapons ranging from footballs to bazookas, the object is to save your neighbors from being eaten. By zombies!

The game harks back to a time when games could be incredibly uncomplicated without sacrificing an iota of gameplay. There are few puzzles to be solved outside of the occasional maze or tricky mini-boss; the emphasis is placed entirely on saving the good guys and blasting the bad guys while racking up a tidy high score, and as a result it's hugely satisfying. The game may not operate on many levels, but it certainly masters those on which it does - as a straightforward top-down blaster against ever-increasing hordes of enemies, it's unparalleled outside of the more traditional spaceship-based shooters. Of course, while delivering on the ‘fun' front, this can lead to inevitable frustration.

To put it bluntly, this game is rock hard. With upwards of twenty enemies on screen at some points, limited ammunition for the better weapons, and a massive 52 levels to get through, the odds are already stacked against the player. The real kicker, however is the password system. Rather than saving the player's progress, the game instead issues a password after every fourth level. However, using this password will take you to said level sans all your carefully accumulated soda grenades, holy water, magic potions and Pandora's Boxes. If anyone can claim to have started the game from around the halfway point and made it to the end, then they deserve all the kudos they can get. What this means, then, is that if you want a decent stab at seeing the final boss, you need to play for around five hours straight. See what I meant about the caffeine?

Of course, if things get too tough you can always team up with a friend in co-op mode, which in theory increases your chances. In practice, naturally, you end up fighting over the best weapons, and your buddy always seems to run over a cheerleader with a lawnmower at the worst possible moment. And, if you're anything like as chauvinistic as myself, you blame your poor performance on the fact that you had to play as the girl. Sadly, due to human limitations, it's even less likely that two of you will soldier through all the way to the evil Dr Tongue, so this option was always more of a high-score blast ‘em up, and doesn't stand up quite as solidly as the single player game.

But I digress slightly. Perhaps the greatest compliment that can paid to the game is that everything about it is eminently memorable, from the gloriously cheesy organ music to the perils of being ‘blobbed', to the axe-wielding evil dolls that must have contributed several hundred additions to my swear jar, the bastards. The developers' love for their game is clearly evident, a trait that marks out many early 90s offerings as classics. Although I won't claim Zombies to be quite worthy of joining the true masterpieces of the 16-bit era, I have fonder memories of this title than many of the other games in my collection, and it still takes its place for a quick blast every now and again. Sadly, these days I have neither the time to make a proper run at it, nor the intestinal fortitude to start from level 23 with only a water pistol to my name. With Zombies available to all gamers nowadays courtesy of the Virtual Console, hopefully the game can be brought to the attention of both a new gaming generation, and those who missed it the first time around. It's an awesome run-and-gun blaster that has a greater shelf-life than a lot of more recent releases, and plus you can really indulge your inner geek with all the in-jokes and references. And let's face it, we're all geeks at heart aren't we?


Zombies trivia

• The game received the sequel treatment in the Super NES-only Ghoul Patrol, which was sadly nowhere near as enjoyable, and had a much worse name.
  
• Entering a special password will take you to a hidden "level 0" entitled "Day of the Tentacle", an homage to the LucasArts classic of the same name.
  
• Each of the 52 levels is named in reference to an old-school horror / sci-fi movie or novel. If you can name every one, you are officially super cool!

The Videosphere

Let's take a look at this week's video highlight of Zombies in action. This is actually a pretty damn epic video this week, as one brave gamer has managed to post his entire 50-minute attempt at beating the game onto YouTube. It's worth it just to see quite how far he manages to get. Even if he does pick the girl.




And finally…

Thanks for reading folks; as always, reader feedback and suggestions are welcome. Next week in "The Wonder Years" - well, I'll be honest, I'm likely to have something a little different and a little exciting for you, so make sure to tune in and check it out. Until then - keep it real, keep it retro.