Remembering Splatterhouse by Sean B.

There's a special time each year when you want to just celebrate, showing how much you appreciate family, friends and - candy? Okay, so I'm not referring to any major holiday revolving around care and love, or magical bunny rabbits. I'm talking about Halloween, where everyone becomes obsessed with imaginative oddities, the walking dead and eating more candy.
Aside from our favorite horror flicks, we've also experienced the essence of Halloween through other mediums, including popular (yet annoying) songs like Monster Mash, and specially themed episodes from our favorite television shows (I'm ghoulishly looking at you, Simpsons). Of course, what would the celebration of Halloween in our modern culture be without a few video game titles to go along with everything?

One prime example is Splatterhouse, probably one of the most memorable titles that truly targets the scary spirit, with obvious references from western horror favorites. Flashing back to the original arcade version from 1988, you have a parapsychology student by the name of Rick, who wakes up in a bloody mess with a lost girlfriend and an evil "terror" mask attached to his head. All of this occurs inside a mansion dubbed the "Splatterhouse", where you'll brutally hack and slash your way through practically every ghost, demon and monster known to man - how could any gamer not love this?

The controversial but successful Arcade hit migrated to the PC, Turbografx 16 and FM Towns Marty. Multiple sequels were also released, including Splatterhouse 2 and 3, along with a Virtual Console release on the Wii. Namco would later announce their plans for a modern presentation [1] of the slasher classic. Unfortunately the game would be delayed for another couple of years, a cruel series of events for fans who've long awaited a three dimensional adaptation. The good news in all of this is that the wait is coming to an end, as the successor of the slash smash hit is set to hit select stores next Tuesday, October 26.

The newest addition to this iconic series of gruesome bloodbaths and monstrous horrors promises to be an excellent tribute to the cult classic, but like most modern titles we really won't know until we try it out. A few minor changes have also taken place, including a story shift positioning Rick and Jennifer as students under Dr. West, instead of simply wandering into the (assumed to be) deserted mansion as strangers. The looks of the terror mask have also changed from a Jason Voorhees clone to something a tad more unique. Though seemingly unoriginal, the retro hockey mask might have been a better choice in maintaining a more familiar essence that Splatterhouse fans have come to recognize and appreciate. Hopefully this modernized Splatterhouse won't be too over the top for its own good, or too dull and boring for any sort of audience to love. From what we've witnessed so far, the remake looks promising and creative - unfortunately we've been fooled before. We'll see how it goes next week