Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti is a parody of Namco's 1988 American slasher horror film-inspired beat 'em up Splatterhouse. It took the bloody concept to an overly cute level and somehow, against all odds, made it work.
Wanpaku Graffiti was developed for the Family Computer as a spoof of the original Splatterhouse. It was developed by Now Production, who would go on to work on the series proper for the remaining two games of the classic trilogy. The game has an anime style vibe to it, with crazy situations and characters that are presented in a cute chibi, or super deformed, style.
The plot is kept simple, as it should be for a game inspired by films like Friday the 13th. The game's hero is Rick, an axe-wielding man wearing a hockey mask in the same vein as Jason Voorhies from the aforementioned horror series. A giant living jack-o-lantern known as the Pumpkin King picks up Rick's girlfriend Jennifer off the ground and floats away with her, which sets the game in motion as Rick follows after her.
While Splatterhouse was a beat 'em up game, Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti is an action platform game. Rick jumps across the terrain and slashes at cute enemies like tiny zombies or vampires with his giant axe. He can also pick up shotguns with limited ammunition at various parts of the game. After Rick defeats more enemies, his maximum health will increase, giving him a better chance of getting Jen back. There is a counter at the top of the screen which lets Rick know how many enemies he has to eliminate in order to improve his health.
As a game for the Family Computer, there is quite a bit of chiptune music available. The sound hardware has a timeless sound to it, and some great music has come out of Nintendo's venerable 8-bit machine when given to talented composers. That is certainly the case here, as Anna Puruna and Masakatsu Maekawa have created some fun music that fits the silly vibe of the game very well. The usual hit, slash, and lighting effects produced by Famicom games of that era are also present, and go a long way to make the game an entertaining experience.
Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti is an example of a game that sounded like a weird idea on paper, but actually turned out to be fantastic in practice. Cute graphics in a slasher horror-inspired game should not work as well as they do here, but I'm happy to say that they do work extremely well. The music and sound effects also add to the experience, as does the fun level design. As a Famicom game from the 1980s, there is a password system in place rather than a proper save system that would have required battery-backed RAM back in the day. Luckily, the game has been re-released through emulation, so save states are now available. Even better, now is the best time to play the game as the re-release gave the game its first English localization, which let this game make its way out of Japan officially for the first time.
Final Verdict:
4 out of 4
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