Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti Review (Nintendo Famicom, 1989)

It’s no secret that the original Splatterhouse is one of my favorite games of all time. It was one of the early horror titles that was actually enjoyable, and it was one of the more gruesome releases we had seen to that point. Unfortunately the only home port of the first title only ever came out on the TurboGrafx-16 outside of Japan. There were other home ports in Japan, but the most interesting one in my opinion is Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti.

Well, maybe the term ‘port’ isn’t entirely accurate. It’s more of a re-imagining, but it’s definitely an odd one. It seems that the developers over at Namco didn’t want to try and release a watered down version of the Arcade classic on the weak Famicom hardware, and so they opted to make it more of a parody. I couldn’t be more happy with the results because this is an awesome game on its own merit.

The game opens with a scene in a graveyard. Jennifer is weeping over the grave of her lost love Rick when out of nowhere lightning strikes and he’s revived but still wearing his mask. A second crash of lightning in the adjacent grave and the pumpkin king is brought to life as well who proceeds to wreck the happy reunion by kidnapping Jennifer. Rick soon sets out to save her, and it’s up to you to guide him through the various stages to finally face off against the pumpkin king at the end and rescue the girl.

One of my favorite aspects of this game are the references to classic horror films. You’ll face off against a Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ vampire, as well as a half man half fly (ala The Fly complete with the teleportation pods). There’s also a lady spewing enemies from her chest cavities in an obvious reference to Alien, and more. Even the ‘Diamond Lake’ stage seems like a spoof on Camp Crystal Lake from Friday the 13th, but instead of Jason Voorhees you’ll encounter sharks ala Jaws.

With all of the American horror film references I’m shocked this game was never released in English. The craziest sequence however is one where you’re warped to Japan, and forced to sit through a princess doing a traditional dance. This is offset by Rick’s ability to fart while watching. The developers had a fantastic sense of humor here, and it even made me laugh.

Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti uses similar gameplay mechanics to the original Splatterhouse; it’s a side scroller but instead of punching or kicking Rick by default has an axe at his disposal. There’s also not nearly as many weapons as before because the only other tool he can find is a shotgun but it’s very rare and has only ten bullets. What’s also different is that the game incorporates an RPG-like experience point system wherein you gain points for every enemy you defeat. When you reach the limit your life bar is extended by one. In my opinion this is a very interesting play on the former system, and helps to further differentiate it from the base game.

Wanpaku Graffiti also diverges in the fact that it’s much more of a platformer and basically leaves its beat ’em up roots behind for the most part. There’s significantly more vertical progression in the stages, and I found it interesting that several enemies attempt to drop you down chasms (which take you to new parts of the stage like the original title) and accuracy is key here. Rick gets knocked by enemy attacks, and the developers use this as a tool to make Wanpaku Graffiti more difficult but with intelligent placement.

Gameplay is pretty basic, but the game does have excellent level design. Hazards are genuinely fun to overcome here, and the enemy placement forces you to plan ahead. With that said this is a difficult game, in fact, slightly moreso than the original Splatterhouse. You’re tasked with avoiding a significant number of projectiles, and every level features its own hazards. If this were a platformer stripped of its themes it would still be an enjoyable game. The developers did an excellent job with every aspect of the design.

Despite this being a parody Namco still managed to keep the spirit of Splatterhouse alive. Some stages are designed to play like a more traditional game in the series. You’ll jump over pits, slash your axe at incoming opponents, and dodge random environmental hazards. It is in these areas that had the character model for Rick been changed this could pass for a more traditional installment in the series. This is off-set by the other sections that emphasize platforming and though these are different the contrast is not stark. It still feels like you’re playing the same game.

The Japanese themed stage is completely hidden, and I didn’t even realize this until my third play through simply because it’s off the beaten path. It doesn’t fit the rest of the game as well as the others, but in a world as crazy as the one in Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti it doesn’t matter.  Many areas of this game reference the original Splatterhouse in some truly ingenious ways. For example, the mid-boss you encounter where you’re tasked with fending off floating knives is alleviated on a serious tone by the plucked chickens that burst out of the oven. It’s hilarious.

In terms of graphics I’m amazed at what the developers were able to pull off on the limited hardware. The characters animate fluidly, and the backgrounds feature surprising levels of detail. Several stages even feature parallax scrolling which is very impressive given the hardware. This is also one of the more colorful games you will find on the NES/Famicom. The references are easy to understand even with the limited hardware. The most impressive part of the game is the final encounter with the pumpkin king simply because the ground moves with neon colors, and there’s very limited flicker as well. It’s still not as impressive as Splatterhouse on the Turbografx.

The soundtrack here is completely re-done, and the compositions completely fit the horror parody theme. They even include a chiptune version of the Michael Jackson song Thriller for when you do battle against the dancing vampire. What’s nice is that the composers didn’t try and copy the original game, and instead made everything from scratch here. The music fits the fun Halloween motif perfectly, and I may one day track down this soundtrack. The audio is bouncy, fun, and I have no complaints.