Zombies Ate My Neighbours And It Was Fun! A Retro Video Game Review

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Zombies Ate My Neighbours is a run and gun or shoot em up video game developed by LucasArts and published by Konami. It was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive consoles in 1993. The game revolves around finding and collecting your neighbors while fending off zombies and other science fiction and horror-themed monsters. Some of the more violent content of the game was censored in Europe and Australia where the game is known as the shortened name, Zombies.

Zombies Ate My Neighbours starts out with you choosing your hero. A boy named Zeke, or a girl named Julie. You are also able to start a cooperative 2 player mode at this point. The game then opens to a title card for the level you are on and then you spawn into the world. Almost immediately you see zombies climb out of the ground and start to shamble about. Pressing the Y button on SNES will fire a water pistol that can destroy the zombies in one hit. Very quickly in the first level you discover a cheerleader hopping up and down. Touching her causes her to disappear and you get credited for “saving” her.

Soon after you come across more victims to save as well as some things lying on the ground. A key for opening house doors, and a 6 pack of soda cans. Hitting the B button switches your main item and causes you to change from your water pistol to these soda cans. Which are frickin’ grenades! You also have access to special weapons with the X button with the same mechanic to switch special items, by pressing the button below it, the A button.

It only takes a few levels of the game to get addicted. Coincidentally that will probably be when you see a zombie touch one of your neighbors, killing them and causing an angel to rise into the sky, deepening your urge to collect them all before the zombies can get to them. You will also quickly encounter a multitude of different enemies. A few of them are werewolves, demonic babies, chainsaw-wielding maniacs, giant ants, UFOs, mummies. Basically all the great horror classic enemies. The weapons range from your Squirt pistol to weed whackers and plates thrown like frisbees. Each weapon having its own strengths against different enemies. Tack on over 40 levels to play along with bonus stages and you’re looking at one jam-packed cartridge!

The game was not a huge seller even though it was released to great reviews with an average score of 85%. This did not stop it from getting a sequel known as Ghoul Patrol in 1994. In later years, the game has earned the honors of being a cult classic of early 90’s video games. It is definitely a must for your retro collection. I have only recently discovered this gem and immediately fell in love. I even managed to get my wife into it and she is not a retro gamer. This game will bring you many hours of fun, alone or with friends. I highly recommend this title to anyone who enjoys a good shooter.

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Initially this post started as a form of protest against @justinsunsteemit. I chose a video game that would get censored by the chinese media. Zombies are NOT a good thing in the chinese culture and this type of content would be banned on a chinese controlled blockchain. The problem is, I chose a good game. This game is extremely fun to play. So I do not want to reduce the chances of people hearing about this game by self-censoring my post, which was my original intention. Go out and find this game and play it! Get a cartridge, download an emulator, anything. Just play it. You'll enjoy it.

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All photos and gifs were taken by me, @lacking using an EzCap 284 video capture device. The raw Youtube video can be found here