SNES: Zombies Ate My Neighbors
November 19, 2008 - 8:01 am - Posted by Sean
In this lighthearted SNES shooter, Konami parodies a number of classic horror films to good effect.
Released at a time when Nintendo didn’t allow blood in their games, Konami made the graphics in Zombies Ate My Neighbors appear cartoonish and whimsical in order to tone down the violence.
Playing as a boy or girl, your character must rescue a certain number of civilians from rampaging monsters in a series of imaginative overhead stages.
You’ll make use of unconventional weapons like water guns, pop sickles, and exploding 6-packs. Items you can collect include a potion that temporarily transforms you into a super-monster.
The graphics in Zombies Ate My Neighbors are beautifully detailed, and each of its 50+ stages boasts its own unique theme. There’s a mummy-infested pyramid, a school invaded by aliens, and a mall loaded with zombies, just to name a few.
Creatures include a wide range of movie monsters ranging from the Creature from the Black Lagoon, to little Chucky the doll, to a chainsaw-wielding Leatherface.
Another feature worth mentioning is the catchy music that plays throughout each stage. I would love to have the soundtrack to this game.
A two-player simultaneous mode is included, but that requires cooperation to keep both players on the screen, which is more confusing than fun.
Overall, Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a winner that will especially appeal to gamers who enjoy horror movies.
You say you want the soundtrack, hmm? Well, it’s not quite the OST but OCRemix has some remixes of the game’s songs here.
Thanks for the link suggestion Luke. I’ll check it out.
OC remix is responsible for loss of many of my hours T_T
@Luke: So what do you think of this game? Have you played / own it?
@BitMaster: Same to you, have you played the game and if so, what are your thoughts on it?
I couldn’t get into this one. It does have some good game-play elements in it, but I am huge huge fan of the zombie genre and at the time this was the closest thing to a zombie slaying game one can get. The only problem I had with it, was the way they handled the game. It was way – way to whimsical and I never got that edge of my seat feel that I always wanted from a zombie game. I understand what approach they wanted with this title but I was just turned off do to my lust and starvation for a serious, gritty zombie game.
If you take away the theme and it were just wire frames and gameplay, the gameplay is there and pretty good IMHO.
I do hate the main character – however the chick is cute, so she’s ok LOL
I’ve never owned it, but I somehow still managed to play it a lot as a kid; I guess I just happened to know a lot of people who did own it. Still, I could pretty consistently get to the Egyptian level, which I think is the fifth level? If that’s how far I could get out of 50+ stages, I guess I wasn’t that good at the game. I usually started with the Day of the Tentacle level, but I can’t remember if that helped or hurt me.
Also: I hated the mall level, mainly because I hate hate hate the little dolls. Hey, game designers: invincible, highly damaging, and moves fast – pick only two of the three.
You’re right about the two player mode not being very fun. The combination of large sprites, a maze-like layout, and not being able to separate make it really hard to get anywhere unless the two of you coordinate things really well, which sadly doesn’t happen in most gaming relationships. Even if you are coordinated, you just don’t have enough space to play in. I’m betting a remake using online multiplayer so you don’t have to be on the same screen at all times would be awesome though.
@BitMaster: It seems with this game, people either love it or hate it. For me, it seems pretty fun but I’ve only played it a handful of times. I just recently acquired this game but I plan on giving it a lot more play so I can really get into it.
@Luke: Agreed, I also dislike the mall level for the exact same reason. Those dolls are giant and seriously bugged me while playing.
I think it would be cool if this game was remade with online multiplayer action, but since most of today’s gamers seem to only be into first-person shooters, it will probably never happen.
Don’t get me wrong, I like FPS games, but at least I still own classic systems and of course a giant retro game collection to play fun and entertaining games like this.
I apparently missed this game when it was released. It sounds pretty interested and I do like Zombie type games. I’ll look around and see if I can find this game.
@Billy: You should be able to pick this game up for less then $12.00 USD from eBay or possibly your local used game store.
@Sean: You really need to check out the Xbox Live Arcade if you think a game like Zombies Ate My Neighbors wouldn’t fly with today’s console crowd. When they’re releasing classics like Smash TV and Battlezone, I think this game would fit right in.
No, the problem is that it’s a Lucasarts game, and once they leave an IP behind they almost never go back and pick it up again (seen any Monkey Island or X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter games lately?).
@Luke: I currently don’t own an Xbox 360, so I can’t check out Xbox Live Arcade.
@Sean: Well, you could always just scan their game catalog online.