What can be better than quality classic games? Only quality classic horror games! The SNES is famed for its collection of blood-chilling titles, which were scaring the hell out of Nintendo fans back in the day. Though modern gamers are not easily spooked, true aficionados of retro classics tend to scour abandonware sites in search of old-school horror games. So let’s mow through a bunch of some spooky SNES horror games in today’s post.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Zombies Ate My Neighbors is over-the-top madcap fun. You play as a teenage kid trying to save your neighbors while the town is getting overrun with zombies and not just them. There are over 50 levels with all sorts of callbacks to various horror films and B movies. What makes this work is a wacky sense of humor along with solid and detailed graphics. As for monsters, they are fun to look at. You’ll see all sorts of bizarre stuff like these creepy little axe murdering kids. There are pretty insane boss battles, too in the later stages. Your main weapon is a squirt gun, but you also have a variety of special weapons like soda pop grenades and freezing fire hydrants. This game gets ridiculously difficult at some points. But it’s still a blast, especially with two players.
Clock Tower
Clock Tower was developed and released by Human Entertainment on the Super Famicom in 1995 and never saw a release outside of Japan, although English-banned translations do exist. But now that there are plenty of SNES ROMs, which allow you to play old classics in enhanced quality, the chances are good you will be able to put your hands on even the rarest of the SNES games. And Clock Tower is totally worth checking out. You play as Jennifer, a young girl getting stalked in a dilapidated mansion by a malicious murderer called the Scissor Man. Your objective is also clear – to escape the creepy guy armed with scissors. As you might have guessed (if you never played it before), the atmosphere of the game is unnerving, and as you search the mansion, you’ll find out more little tidbits about the story along the way. To say too much about this game would be a disservice to it. Definitely, check this one out, if you get the chance.
Musya: The Classic Japanese Tale of Horror
If you’re into exquisite horror tales, you should definitely try out Musya: The Classic Japanese Take of Horror. It’s a rare gamer that managed to play it back in the day, since this title was hard to come by. But today, it’s much easier. In this game, you assume the role of a spearman whose noble mission consists in saving Shizuka from the underworld. Apart from a captivating storyline, this game is famed for its smooth dynamic gameplay and cool graphics. Many gamers like the vibe this game gives off with the darker art design and detailed depiction of monsters you need to slay during your quest. The only considerable drawback is controls that are awkward and stiff. Still, you can avoid this problem altogether if you download a Musya ROM and play it with your emulator.
Porky Pig’s Haunted Holiday
So, one night, Porky Pig was reading vacation brochures and planning a holiday. Then, he fell asleep and had some horrible nightmares about actually being on a holiday. That’s the premise for Porky Pig’s Haunted Holiday, which is another horror game worth a mention. When playing this simple yet exciting platformer, you need to navigate Porky Pig through all sorts of spooky environments. The controls here are quite simple and convenient: you can jump, run, duck, and toss fruit at violent enemies. At first sign, it may seem that this game is geared more towards a younger audience. But most fans of good old adventure games will find Porky Pig devastatingly engrossing and fun. What’s more, the graphics and animations are quite impressive, especially for the 1992 game.
Nosferatu
Developed and released by SETA in 1995, Nosferatu captivated thousands of fans of classic vampire movies with its dark romantic atmosphere and non-trivial gameplay. It’s so much fun kicking your way through slews of classic movie monsters and helping Kyle save his girlfriend from the claws of the title character Nosferatu. Not only will this cinematic platform enchant you with its exciting plotline and quests, but also make you exercise your gaming prowess and deploy your shrewdness to outwit your enemies. As for control, they are a little bit clunky, and it can be tough to get the hang of some of the combo moves. But the overall atmosphere and dark undertone of this classic title can definitely offset its limitations.
These are only so of the immortal horror classic the SNES presented to all fans of the genre. Make sure to pay tribute to the SNES’ legacy by playing some of its games today.