This post lies in sharp contrast to my writing about Depresso. Instead of pining about unreleased snippets, this will focus on the love of a guilty pleasure fully embraced.
The love I write about today is Zombies Ate My Neighbors, a magnificent send up/homage to the B-Movies of the 50's. Released for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis in 1993, the game was a modest, if only mildly popular, success. An underrated and under appreciated run-and-gun game, ZAMN had the player taking on the role of either Zeke or Julie in a quest to save the titular neighbors from the flesh craving un-dead.
It made a lasting impact on me, to put it mildly.
Considering I was ten years old when I bought this game, its a pretty safe bet that this is where my love of zombie movies, or B-movies in general, stems from. Not only was it a goofy play on Night of the Living Dead and other classics, it was a frantic and creepy game that had a deliciously evil soundtrack. The whole game was one big love note to the drive in movies of yesteryear, with levels labeled as movies I wish to this day were real. Such as:
"Zombie Panic"
"Evening of the Undead"
"Dr. Tongue's Castle of Terror"
"Mars Needs Cheerleaders"
and my personal favorite:
"Dinner On Monster Island"
While the game itself utilizes a fairly simplistic mechanic of run, shoot, save your friends and flee, the surprising depth and joy comes from it's subtle suggestions. Par example - the weapons you use to defend yourself and save the neighbors are generally household items, as though the player is thrust into the game and scrambling for any defense available - squirt guns, fire extinguishers, soda cans,plates, knives and other things found lying around. In a delightful display of appreciation for source material, the item's effectiveness against different monsters is dependent of pop culture touchstones. Werewolves are easily killed by the silverware, weed-whackers cut through the plant-based pod people and exploding cans of soda douse the flames of little hell spawn demons. It's these silly little touches that make the game's world so rich and amusing.
My ten year old self, though, could make little distinction between ironic pastiche and the genuine article. Stuff I found creepy and awesomely spooky was actually just supposed to be awesomely cheesy. Eerie background music helped establish a subconscious appreciation for trip hop and ambient music. The fact that I watch Night of the Living Dead every Halloween? Look no further. The game itself is very straightforward. It's the mood and scene that fascinated me as a kid. When I see things like mash-up artists like Girl Talk gain massive notoriety I think of how this game exists solely to combine disparate elements into one massive in-joke. Basically the entire point is to look as an audience and say "I get the reference!" A very modern notion for a game almost twenty years old, especially when you consider the appeal of Edgar Wright.
Zombies At My Neighbors is a guilty pleasure of mine. I am well aware of its limited appeal and niche game play. It has a minor legacy - a small following online, and it even warranted a re-release on Nintendo's Virtual Console for the Wii, a place to allow the public to play old games on new hardware. If you ever have the chance I'd highly recommend giving it five minutes of your time.
Hopefully you'll find it as charming as I do.
The love I write about today is Zombies Ate My Neighbors, a magnificent send up/homage to the B-Movies of the 50's. Released for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis in 1993, the game was a modest, if only mildly popular, success. An underrated and under appreciated run-and-gun game, ZAMN had the player taking on the role of either Zeke or Julie in a quest to save the titular neighbors from the flesh craving un-dead.
It made a lasting impact on me, to put it mildly.
Considering I was ten years old when I bought this game, its a pretty safe bet that this is where my love of zombie movies, or B-movies in general, stems from. Not only was it a goofy play on Night of the Living Dead and other classics, it was a frantic and creepy game that had a deliciously evil soundtrack. The whole game was one big love note to the drive in movies of yesteryear, with levels labeled as movies I wish to this day were real. Such as:
"Zombie Panic"
"Evening of the Undead"
"Dr. Tongue's Castle of Terror"
"Mars Needs Cheerleaders"
and my personal favorite:
"Dinner On Monster Island"
While the game itself utilizes a fairly simplistic mechanic of run, shoot, save your friends and flee, the surprising depth and joy comes from it's subtle suggestions. Par example - the weapons you use to defend yourself and save the neighbors are generally household items, as though the player is thrust into the game and scrambling for any defense available - squirt guns, fire extinguishers, soda cans,plates, knives and other things found lying around. In a delightful display of appreciation for source material, the item's effectiveness against different monsters is dependent of pop culture touchstones. Werewolves are easily killed by the silverware, weed-whackers cut through the plant-based pod people and exploding cans of soda douse the flames of little hell spawn demons. It's these silly little touches that make the game's world so rich and amusing.
My ten year old self, though, could make little distinction between ironic pastiche and the genuine article. Stuff I found creepy and awesomely spooky was actually just supposed to be awesomely cheesy. Eerie background music helped establish a subconscious appreciation for trip hop and ambient music. The fact that I watch Night of the Living Dead every Halloween? Look no further. The game itself is very straightforward. It's the mood and scene that fascinated me as a kid. When I see things like mash-up artists like Girl Talk gain massive notoriety I think of how this game exists solely to combine disparate elements into one massive in-joke. Basically the entire point is to look as an audience and say "I get the reference!" A very modern notion for a game almost twenty years old, especially when you consider the appeal of Edgar Wright.
Zombies At My Neighbors is a guilty pleasure of mine. I am well aware of its limited appeal and niche game play. It has a minor legacy - a small following online, and it even warranted a re-release on Nintendo's Virtual Console for the Wii, a place to allow the public to play old games on new hardware. If you ever have the chance I'd highly recommend giving it five minutes of your time.
Hopefully you'll find it as charming as I do.
