Retro Review: Zombies Ate My Neighbors (1993)
30 years of campy B movie fun...
It’s that time again, for a Retro Review, where I take some time to sit down with one old video game from the last 15-30 years and give it an honest shake. Now, my last two reviews have scored quite well with 1995’s Command and Conquer and 1999’s Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions both scoring a respectable 7.8/10. This month’s selection? The SNES cult classic Zombies Ate My Neighbors! Let’s see how this 16-bit gem holds up after 30 years and how it compares to the last two games we’ve looked at.
Background
Zombies Ate My Neighbors is an action game from 1993. It was developed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and was ported to the Sega Genesis prior to its launch date. I remember seeing it on store shelves and at Blockbuster back in my elementary school days, but I never played it back then. That’s right, this was my very first exposure to this game and it was… a unique experience.
I knew from the box art that it was published by Konami, but what I didn’t know was that it was developed by one of my favorite game companies: LucasArts. According to Wikipedia, the game was “not a great commercial success, [but] the game was well-received for its graphical style, humor, and deep gameplay.” I’ve not been able to verify the sales data — the gaming industry kind of sucked at keeping track of that kind of thing back then — but I have no reason to not believe this claim.
Censorship in the West
In the early days, Nintendo was a lot more strict about its family-friendly image, and so for many developers that meant censoring their games. Zombies Ate My Neighbors is no different. Perhaps the most notable change is the blood that poured down the screen when the player dies in a level. In the Genesis/Mega Drive version of the game, the character falls to the ground an blood drips down the screen. For Nintendo, LucasArts put stars around the players head — indicating they’d been knocked out — and instead of red blood, it was a purple ooze.
How to play it today
Zombies Ate My Neighbors has been re-released several times over the years. In 2009 it was made available on the Wii Virtual Console, and in 2021 it was ported — along with its sequel, Ghoul Patrol — to all of the 8th generation consoles as well as Windows.
For the collectors among us, this game has gotten quite valuable (and pricey) over the years. For a loose cartridge you’re looking at around $27.75 USD, though if you want a complete-in-box — meaning the game, box, and manual; not requiring all of the extra papers and plastic that came with it — it’s going to cost you about $106. And for the really ambitious among us, a new-old stock, sealed copy of the game is currently priced at $736.95.
Now for those of us that aren’t made of money, emulation is a thing and is a perfectly viable way to play the game. My general rule is that I will emulate a game if I own it. If I don’t own the game and I end up liking it, I will try to find a way to purchase it — whether buying the original cart/disc or by picking up the re-release of it. In this instance, I’m still trying to decide if it’s worth buying. Now, let’s get into the story.
Story
Wikipedia gives an account of the story for the game, but I haven’t found an actual source for it. According to the Wikipedia entry, “The mad scientist Dr. Tongue has created a wide variety of monsters within the bowels of his castle and has unleashed them on nearby suburban areas… Two teenage friends, Zeke and Julie, having witnessed the attack of said monsters, arm themselves with a great deal of unconventional weaponry and items to combat them and save their neighbors from certain death.”
This fits well enough, but I don’t know that there ever was a clear telling of the story when this game was released. I’ve checked the instruction manual and the back of the box, but neither have laid out the actual story of the game. Ultimately, this was an arcade-style action game from the early 90s. The fact that we got a story with at least some depth was impressive.
Gameplay
As mentioned in the story section, you play as either Zeke or Julie as you roam around trying to save your hapless neighbors from the hoards of monsters. The game provides a nice variety of levels, though some seem a bit odd to me. I enjoyed and appreciated the suburbs and the malls; they fit well with the main characters and gave the game something close to an Earthbound (Mother 2) feel in a strange way. However, other levels you’re dropped into weird locations like an actual pyramid. Still, it’s a fun game and the strange level choices don’t really detract at all from the experience itself.
Difficulty
Now don’t let the brightly colored sprites and the whimsical music fool you, this game is tough. The controls are solid and I’m sure if I played it enough I’d get more used to them, but anytime you have to use a 4 directional D-Pad for 8 directional movements in a “combat setting”, you’re going to make things a bit more complex. Some of the monsters are as fast as you, if not faster making it difficult to deal with sometimes, especially when you consider things like line-of-sight. In this game it is easy to miss your target because you’re a pixel or two off. This same problem comes up when trying to rescue the neighbors and when trying to walk through doorways and passages. Getting stuck in a door with a chainsaw guy running after you is a quick way to die!
Weapons
Now when you do get stuck in the doorways (and you will) you’ll need something to fight back, and this game gives you plenty of… unorthodox… weapons to choose from: a squirt gun (water gun), soda cans, ancient artifacts (crosses), a weedeater, silverware, bazookas, and more. As you would expect, certain weapons are more effective against certain enemies to give you an advantage in your search and rescue mission.
The selection is more than a little weird, and it does make me wonder if the developers originally intended to make the game more realistic with the squirt gun looking like an assault rifle and the inclusion of the bazooka. In any event, taking down werewolves with silver cutlery definitely adds to the charm of the game and probably helped avoid the ire of Nintendos localization team and the censorship that a more violent game likely would have faced.
Items
In addition to your weapons you can find useful items on the ground, in trash cans, inside cabinets, and behind locked doors. You have basic game items like keys and first aid packs to restore your health, but you have other items that will prove very helpful in dealing with the monsters. The speed shoes are great for making a quick escape from monsters that are just as fast as you. If you can’t get away and the monster chasing you is too tough to take down quickly you can drop a creepy clown decoy. My personal favorite was the red potion which transforms you into a big purple beast that is invulnerable to damage and has a mean jab. In this form you can make quick work of the formidable chainsaw maniac. If all else fails, open Pandora’s Box and enjoy the show!
Enemies
The variety of monsters you’ll face is honestly quite impressive. Just take a look at this excerpt from the instruction manual, and playing the game blind for the first time in 2023, I still got a bit of a surprise and a thrill from each new monster I encountered like I would have if I’d rented it from Blockbuster back in the 90s.
And then there are these things. I’m still confused as to why there are giant babies running around that you have to fight.
Graphics
Zombies Ate My Neighbors released in the heart of the 16-bit era and it feels like it. If you love 16-bit pixel art graphics, then you will love the way this game looks. If you can’t stand them, then you probably won’t like these visuals too much. To me, a 90s kid who grew up with the SNES and the N64, they look great! Coming out in 1993 means that the developers had a couple of years to get a grasp of the hardware and where they could push the limits, though it wasn’t as visually impressive as some of the later games in the SNES library.
In addition to the graphics of the game, I want to talk about the visual style/aesthetic as a whole. The color palate reminds me a lot of what you’d see in something like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. However, unlike A Link to the Past, this game doesn’t try to take itself seriously. It’s campy and over-the-top level and it knows it.
The levels of the game a quite varied at times. You start out in your neighborhood and play several suburban levels at day and at night. Both day and night, the ambiance of the game is lighthearted and fun, but still gives you a sense of urgency to get through the levels as quickly as possible, especially in later levels when nightfall means the people you’re trying to rescue will turn into werewolves and be counted as a loss in the scoring.
Also, can we just take a minute to appreciate just how early-90s Zeke is? I mean red Chuck Taylor’s, a black skull tee, spiked hair and those blue-and-red 3D glasses? If ever you wanted to encapsulate the culture of the 1993 suburbs, then look no further!
Soundtrack
The soundtrack is one area this game really shines. Most of the tunes are really catchy, but at the very least they’re all good. My favorite track is probably the Boss Battle theme (15:30 in the video below). Composed by Joe McDermott, the songs are — in a word — campy. Mike Seiblier described the game’s music as an “homage to the spooky, over the top music found in old, scary flicks.” I couldn’t agree more with that description, and it’s great because of it!
Rating: 5.2/10
Story: 4/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Graphics: 7/10
Soundtrack: 8/10
Nostalgia Wild Card: 2/10
Overall Rating and Final Thoughts
This was a fun game. It’s not my preferred kind of game from the 16 bit era, but I definitely got a kick out of it. The controls could have used some work and at times the challenge felt more than a little lopsided. To be clear, Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a tough game — especially if you’re just getting started with it — but if you stick with it and learn how the monsters operate and what weapons work best against each one, it feels like it’s fair. Except for the giant baby. That thing is totally not fair.
Should you try the game? Absolutely! Give it a spin and see what you think. If nothing else, it will give you an opportunity to experience a game unlike any other.
