It's March 13th and I played and beat Splatterhouse for the Turbografx in about 6 hours.

Splatterhouse is awesome. It's fun to see the American horror film industry all mashed together as the inspiration for this arcade beat-em up. A couple of parapsychology students Rick, and Jennifer travel to the abandoned, far-situated, home of a disgraced parapsychologist named Dr.West; Both students fall unconscious as they near the "Splatterhouse", and Rick wakes up alone with a cursed mask glued to his face, he approaches the haunted mansion to find his girlfriend. What a mercenary premise, it's crimping from so many different sources but it all stitches together into something really fun; I'm unsure if the mask is what makes Rick massive as fuck or if he's just built like that.

The gameplay of Splatterhouse is much more about intuiting and situating your hurt box than it is actually beating up the creatures you encounter. Like I said earlier, Rick is massive, and despite being fairly responsive in maneuvering, he's going to get clipped by all kinds of attacks and hazards. Sometimes the hitbox of attacking does not overlap certain areas of your hitbox, it's actually very particular. You will get swiped in the head as a bird sails just over your punch attack, or you'll do a jump kick and get hurt by an enemy making contact with your lower, un-extended leg. There's quite a lot of platforming hazards as well: armored enemies, and slides that send you into hazards. The last level involves super precise movement as immolating figures fall from the sky. Rick is supposed to feel powerful, he's like a cross between jason vorhees and ash evil-dead, but that power also means you have to account for your massive frame against smaller enemies. It's great

Speaking of Evil dead, the game seems to be citing that as a primary inspiration but there's little touches from games all over. Rick's 'not' Jason mask and his blue, Michael Meyers, jumpsuit, Interiors straight out of evil dead covered in flesh that reminds me of John Carpenter's The Thing. There's even a boss around the middle of the game who's giving Part 2 Jason and maybe even a little bit of leather face. Not to mention an ending ripped almost straight from The Shining. There's a clear amount of affection in this game that is also forward thinking, The bag headed chainsaw boss feels like something in of itself while paying homage to clear inspirations. Over all I really enjoyed Splatterhouse and can easily put the sequel on my too-play-list.

As for what's next I've been commanded to play Trinity by Brian Moriarty so that will be something to look forward to as I do a little unplugging and visiting friends in the coming weeks. Best Wishes.