Splatterhouse 2 yea or nay?

[Ed Oscuro]

First time I've played a console game in aaages, seems like.

I got the Japanese version. So far:

Yea:
Cool graphical style (even if it doesn't always come through)
Awesome beatdowns and the humorous bits never seem stale to me...I love the little scene before the first boss. Nice changeup in gameplay from place to place, though it does throw out the "your controls are reversed!" thing a bit quickly. (That's the only time I hope, though I found myself jumping into the reverser spirits to "lock" in the reversed controls while I went over pits.)
On Normal setting, not too tough, after a couple plays I was breezing through the first three or four levels. I stopped off at the second form of the stage four boss.

Nay:
*Slowdowns! In the underground corridor branch (you know the one) I got it pretty bad when five enemies or so were onscreen. The good ol' Mega Drive is more capable than that!
*Some graphics (swamp forests) are muddy and the color palette seems...kind of bad, though I can figure out what I'm looking at, at least.
*Junk controller I got with the used MD I finally opened up to play the game, since my Mega Jet doesn't seem to be giving a video signal or something. Was a real chore to pull of simple jumps. (On that note, I need to see if I can't find the Jet's power supply.)
*Also, I'm sad that more people weren't able to see the awesomeness that is the original release's artwork.
*But the title screen says: SPLATTERHOUSE Part II, and the "Part II" reminds me of the Ghostbusters logo, blue glow and all.

Overall, often looks hideous (not always in a good way), but it's fun and controls very well, which is what I wanted. A bit of a disappointment visually after how good Naughty Graffiti generally looks on the Famicom. Take away the gore and it's a pretty simple game though. I have been disappointed at times (like in the fourth boss fight's first form) how simple some of the patterns are to defeat; the game feels best when it's faster-paced as when you have to jump over lots of spikes or the screen is automatically scrolling. This makes me interested in checking out Part III again, because I remember that I didn't think I'd like it as much as Part II, but I know that one has a lot more moves and some other ideas going for it.

Checking in with West Mansion, a lot of the writeups on characters are news to me. Some of the confusion there simply doesn't exist when playing this game. But other stuff strikes me as complexity I've just skipped over: I thought you kicked the fish off, but I didn't try shaking. The difficulty for the hanging babies fight seemed right, but I never used the weapons, just knocked them down the old-fashioned way (haven't you ever had to knock babies out of the ceiling? It's hard to sleep with them mewing and puking). It's also clearly a brain that you have to bash in at the end of the third stage, instead of the weird shrimp fetus thing that shows up in the US / PAL release.

[retroman]

i liked it for the genny....but i like the first one for tg16 better.

[Melf]

I like part two a lot, and it's one of my favorite Genesis games. I like how it tried to do all kinds of neat effects back then. Great stuff.

[Drixxel]

One of the first Genesis games I played, back when a weekend console rental was a big deal. Haha, I remember drawing crude pictures of the stage bosses in my elementary school journals, those may have sent curious messages about my mental development to the teachers at the time.

The gameplay may be simplistic, but I love this game. The horror theme is greatly executed and there's always enough of a payoff at the end of a stage to keep going. I've never thought the backgrounds looked funky, but now that you mention it, perhaps the art & palette is a bit weird at times.. at least Rick's mask is white, I suppose.

[kupomogli]

I liked both Splatterhouse 1 and 2 a lot.

I hated Splatterhouse 3 as it's your generic beat em up with Rick as a main character. However, unlike normal beat em ups it just felt much slower paced and unfun. Maybe it's the fact that I dislike beat em ups regardless unless they're really good.

[Dire 51]

*Also, I'm sad that more people weren't able to see the awesomeness that is the original release's artwork.

That so few outside Japan have seen it was one reason it was remade for the new game.

Checking in with West Mansion, a lot of the writeups on characters are news to me. Some of the confusion there simply doesn't exist when playing this game.

Confusion? What confusion? Keep in mind, when I wrote all that I only had the American version to go by, and I haven't updated that section in probably seven years or so (although I should, using the Lost in Translation article as a guide).

But other stuff strikes me as complexity I've just skipped over: I thought you kicked the fish off, but I didn't try shaking.

You can do both, IIRC. I'll have to go back and check. edit: just confirmed you can shake them off in both US and Japanese versions.

The difficulty for the hanging babies fight seemed right, but I never used the weapons, just knocked them down the old-fashioned way (haven't you ever had to knock babies out of the ceiling? It's hard to sleep with them mewing and puking).

It's more of a challenge to use the weapons. You can only knock the chainsaw down with the shears, and you only get one shot at it. If you throw the shears at the chainsaw and miss, the shears fly off the screen, forcing you to beat the chainsaw with your fists, which causes it to vanish when it hits the ground.

It's also clearly a brain that you have to bash in at the end of the third stage, instead of the weird shrimp fetus thing that shows up in the US / PAL release.

I played through Part 2 quite some time ago, but I don't recall there being any difference between the two. For that matter, I always thought the thing in the U.S. version resembled a face.

edit: comparison pics. Part 2 on top, US 2 below:

[starsoldier1]

I love all the Splatterhouse games. Any problems I have with them are pretty minor and they all kickass.

[mobiusclimber]

I loved the two Genesis Splatterhouse games when I first played them, but even back then I knew they weren't nearly as awesome as the first game. Now that I own all three, I can definitively say they are not nearly as awesome as the first game. Of course the Japanese version of the first game is far superior (and I'd love to be able to play the arcade version some way other than thru MAME). Why is it so hard to jump in the US version? (Or am I the only person who has this problem? But playing both I gotta say it's super easy to clear over stuff in the Japanese version.)

[Ed Oscuro]

Huh, curse my component connection. Coulda sworn that was a brain - though I pounded the thing as soon as it appeared, so hey apparently I was mistaken.

Thanks for the corrections & information Dire!

[Dire 51]

(and I'd love to be able to play the arcade version some way other than thru MAME).

If you get the new game, you'll be able to unlock the arcade game, along with 2 & 3. They aren't DLC, not preorder bonuses or any of that garbage - they're genuine play the game, meet the criteria unlockables.

Huh, curse my component connection. Coulda sworn that was a brain - though I pounded the thing as soon as it appeared, so hey apparently I was mistaken.

Thanks for the corrections & information Dire!

No problem. And hey, this post has made me realize how out of date my Character pages are, so I'm in the process of having them rewritten to bring them up to date with all of the info we've found out over the past few years.

[mobiusclimber]

Cool, one more reason for me to pick up the new game when it finally gets released.

[alexxx]

One of the first Genesis games I played, back when a weekend console rental was a big deal. Haha, I remember drawing crude pictures of the stage bosses in my elementary school journals, those may have sent curious messages about my mental development to the teachers at the time.

The gameplay may be simplistic, but I love this game. The horror theme is greatly executed and there's always enough of a payoff at the end of a stage to keep going. I've never thought the backgrounds looked funky, but now that you mention it, perhaps the art & palette is a bit weird at times.. at least Rick's mask is white, I suppose.

That is so funny... I remember playing this game for the Turbo Grafx, and I wrote some kind of story that was somehow related or based on splatterhouse. I gotta see if I can find it, it would be so funny to look at it again. I think I remember something else related to video games in school... I just loved the Nes/TG so much, I must have consciously tried to think about it in school....

I have the US TG release, the US splatterhouse 3 and the English ( I think) splatterhouse 2, although the seller broke the sides of the cart to actually play it, instead of using a converter!