OMGJeremy

Humpday Gaming: Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Only a few games really defined the 16-bit era for me, and Zombies Ate My Neighbors would probably be at the top of that list. Just the name alone is so completely awesome. Thankfully, the rest of the game was just as amazing, spanning dozens of levels, endless horror movie parody characters, and some rock solid overhead shooting. I played the Hell out of this game on the Super NES, and was actually one of the few games I saved up my own money to buy. Obviously, I’ll never be able to say enough about this 16-bit gem. Instead, let’s just take a look at a few of the things ZAMN did seemingly effortlessly, while other games like it perpetually floundered.

The Concept:
How could anyone not love a game based around parodies of every single horror movie ever made? It also did this in a way that was constantly clever, and never felt like it was trying to beat you over the head with its humor. Instead, it relied on a massive cast of enemies and locations, all set to great themes (Fighting Chuckie dolls in a store, running from Jason in a giant hedge maze, fighting a huge baby in a mall, etc). Every stage seemed thoughtfully put together. This was definitely a change of pace from what many developers of the time would do, which was to usually just make a giant set of random stages, then populate them with random enemies without much thought. It always felt fresh, even after the twentieth stage. This was an amazing feat for a genre of games that grew tedious after a few stages.

How can this be anything OTHER than awesome?

Shooting Stuff Was Actually Fun:
Believe it or not, a lot of overhead shooters from back in the day were simply not very fun. Much like how modern FPS games, there was just a certain something missing in many overhead shooters that instantly made them feel stale. Zamn avoided this by not only offering solid shooting throughout, but by adding tons of random assed weapons to use at any given time. Sure, you had your basic watergun at all times, but it was way more fun throwing Popsicles at blobs, mowing down enemies with a weed wacker. Not only were they fun to use, but using them on particular enemies had devastation effects, so there was always a sort of paper/rock/scissors thing going on with what you had available to use. This kept your mind working, while keeping you from just mindlessly shooting stuff until your brain shut down.

Blow zombies up with pop cans? Sure.

The Levels Were Completely Non-Linear
So I’ll wager that 90% of the overhead shooter genre from back then would have you stuck to a very set path throughout the game. A path that was littered with the same enemy placements, same power-ups, same everything every single time you played it. ZAMN is nothing like that. Every level was open for exploration. While the neighbors you save stay in the same places, it was all up to you on how you went about getting them, and in what order. Did you want to save the neighbors closest to you, or just circle back around, avoiding a lot of the wandering enemies? The game also awarded exploration with caches of weapons or keys to open doors, unlocking new shortcuts that could be taken. Nearly every game you played was different, and it kept the game constantly fresh and fun, while avoiding the repetitiveness that most overhead shooters suffered (and still suffer) from.

Go anywhere, but just don't let this guy find you.

The Game Had Some Of The Best Graphics And Music On The SNES
It’s no secret that I’m a huge pixel art fan, and I think a lot of that stemmed from just how well drawn everything in ZAMN is. Every character, monster, and level popped off the screen, and is so well drawn that it created a style that was simply too charming not to enjoy. The game was colorful without being the overly bright cartoony mess that many 16-bit games were. The characters had a great style (the zombie is still one of my all time favorite character renders), while the levels were rendered with a loving detail for all things horror. The music helped the great style along, with one of the best soundtracks ever made for any game. To this day I still remember almost every single track in the game. If that’s not a memorable soundtrack, then I don’t know what is.

You know it's pretty great when you can stitch it and still have it look awesome

It Was Just…Fun
Whatever magic Lucasarts used for Zombies Ate My Neighbors, it has rarely been tapped again. In my opinion, the overhead shooter peaked with the release of ZAMN, and nothing much has tried for the crown since. It also says a lot that playing Zombies Ate My Neighbors is just as fun today as it was then. Especially with a friend. Lucasarts did try to make a sorta-sequel called Ghoul Patrol, but it seemed that all the great talent and creativity from ZAMN was replaced with non-stop by-the-numbers stuff. The personality was completely gone, as was much of the fun that ZAMN so effortlessly dished out all the way through the game. It speaks volumes that even the worst stages in ZAMN are more fun than large chunks of the second game.

I could honestly sit here all day and throw out examples of why Zombies Ate My Neighbors is one of the best games ever made, but I think the above will have to do. If you’ve never been able to play it, then I still can’t recommend you do so enough. It’s still more fun than just about any modern co-op game released. So do yourself a favor, and get your watergun ready. You’re gonna need a ton of holy water to stop everything that ZAMN throws at you. There is however, no stopping all the fun.

MWAHAHAHA.