DF Retro: The Splatterhouse Saga - Horror Brawling Revisited On Arcades & Consoles
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
- Namco struck gold with the brilliant Splatterhouse - an arcade game that tapped into the horror movie genre that was so popular back in the 1980s. In this DF Retro episode, John Linneman, Audi Sorlie and a special guest revisit the entire series - from its brilliant arcade roots, through its many console ports and its eventual - and unfortunate - demise in the PS3/Xbox 360 era.
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:06 Chapter 1 - Act 1 - Horror Meets Games
00:08:22 Chapter 1 - Act 2 - Inspirations
00:12:22 Chapter 1 - Act 3 - Hardware
00:19:26 Chapter 2 - TurboGrafx-16, FM Towns and other ports!
00:39:33 Chapter 3 - Wanpaku Graffiti
00:43:34 Chapter 4 - Splatterhouse 2
00:49:16 Chapter 5 - Splatterhouse 3
00:55:36 Chapter 6 - Splatterhouse PS3/X360
01:03:25 The Finale 
Игры
![Splatterhouse (Arcade) - Speed Run [13:28] (Former WR)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BDmn-yGiuVc/mqdefault.jpg)
Lol at the moment Richard makes a cameo!! That was classic, I love DF!
"real life murderers.." hahaha, bam richard confused
10:31
Really enjoyed seeing Derek from Stop Skeletons from Fighting! Love his retro stuff too, I'd enjoy seeing more teamups!
it's Uncle Derek btw
The happy video game nerd you mean?
@@JKSmith-qs2ii Nah Derek from the music group Starship Amazing!
Yeah Derek is awesome. Even his old HVGN videos still hold up, even if the production value is not great. I kinda like the amateur-ish style of those old videos, it’s kinda nostalgic, like the older AVGN videos.
Seeing Derek from stop skeletons was such a cool surprise. I really love their channel. We need an episode on classic PC RPGs, Ultima and wizardry specifically and the way their visuals evolved
HEY IT ME DEREK IT ME DEREK :d:D:D:D
First thing I thought when seeing this video in my subscriptions," If Derek isn't in this...".
I appreciate how he spoke about the game's feel, which adds a really nice personal touch to a technical video!
He's a patreon beggar....
@@85wastedyearsand your point is?
10:33 😄
Excellent video 👍
Yeeeah Uncle Derek! The best skeleton!
And who bought me that shirt as a gift??? Who else but my Skela-bro Matt!
Rob from West Mansion: The Splatterhouse Homepage here. Nice work! It was a pretty thorough look at the entire series, which I can certainly appreciate. I thought your assessment of Splatterhouse 2010 was fair, and well thought out - and on the technical side of things, I did learn something I didn't know, regarding the original arcade board. I'll be linking to this video on the site soon.
thanks for all you've done & continue to do, rob. cheers
Hey Rob, you are awesome. Made buy Splatterhouse 2010 and you know what? I LOVED IT. Your website also made me love the series even more, that's what your passion and dedication made. Great to see you here!
@@papelli91 no problem! And thank you.
@@Psyrgery thank you! Hope you've been enjoying the site revival!
I learned about the original arcade board and game too, I had no idea about it at all despite renting Splatterhouse 2 and 3 all the time as a kid.
So great to see uncle Derek in this one as well, was thinking back to his retrospective when I saw the topic :)
How is your comment 1 month old? Or is it just showing that to me? But yeah, was great to see Derek in this! Love his videos. His thoughts on Wildguns made me an old school Natsume fan many years ago
@@Sedifet i was thinking the same thing!
@@Sedifet Also god bless you!
@@Sedifet Patreon :)
He's a patreon beggar....
I absolutely love how the mega drive's Yamaha chip was utilised for the music in splat 2
Yeah. It was really good. Like, Castlevania good (imo ofc). I'm not a dev so it's a little harder to articulate. But, I'll say that some of the sounds that were typical for Genesis/MD's
Yamaha chip were used in such a fashion that the soundtrack itself sounds better than you'd expect it to on the hardware. The composer(s) really mastered that Yamaha!
Agreed! I wish they put the same effort into the sound effects as the music. It would elevate it to the arcade level.
I love that they show Rich instead of real life murderers when mentioning one of the inspirations for Splatterhouse was real life killers, not only a great gag but also a way to stick it to serial killers who want fame and attention, a great way to avoid sensationalizing them like the news does.
Well said.
Yeah... "instead" 😬
@@AthosJosue Oh daaamn! Haha. Going for the jugular. Well, if I had to get murdered by someone, I’d hope that they were as civilized and intelligent as R.L.
Oh...so they weren't implying that Rich was a murderer then. 😆
Since when has that ever been the reason why serial killers do their killing?
seeing uncle derek on a digital foungry video was a delightful surprise
I always liked he was wearing something like hospital scrubs in the first games. Dressing him like WWE John Cena in the last game and it not being an homage to horror/grindhouse movies shows they didn't really grasp the spirit of what those games were.
I still remember playing the arcade version of the game back in late 80s early 90s. Man those arcades were so cool, dark, full of loud sounds and bright Neon lights, scary older kids, mind blowing graphics and games.
I grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s so I saw the eventual end of the arcades at least in America. I remember going to the mall every day after school and getting a dollar or two to play arcade games before I went back to the food court to eat. One day I went to the mall and the arcade was closed. Tragic end but I am glad I got to play the final arcade games like CarnEvil, Capcom vs SNK, Crisis Zone, House of the Dead 2, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Silent Scope, San Francisco Rush... RIP arcades
@@aceofhearts573 Amen! Good thing that there are still collectors who run "private" arcades for the niche market. I doubt they really make any money but hey, it's not a real hobby if it doesn't cost all your money.
10:33, scariest moment of the video
C'est magnifique.
I legit burst out laughing
Hey, it's Derek! I appreciate hearing him speak about the game's feel, because it adds a really nice personal touch to a technical channel!
Incredible production and fantastic story… thanks so much DF team!!
The splatterhouse 2 mansion is actually a different one located nearby the original, the dialogue suggests Rick hasn't seen it before and that he doesn't know what to expect inside.
i loved the 2nd game as a kid but I never understood the story at all
Yeah, the JP version clearly states that it’s a different mansion.
@@lordpicklenips3407and that Jennifer is trapped in the land of the dead.
Love me some splatterhouse
Nice seeing SSFF Derek. Great inclusion.
Oh yeah that time again, been really looking forward to this. Thanks John and Audi.
Me and my mates played this in the arcade way back when- we absolutely lost our shit when we first saw that Jennifer transformation, it was horrific and left us all a bit stunned. Seems silly now but we grew up in the arcades playing stuff like Terra Cresta, Moon Patrol and Mr Do, Splatterhouse was shocking back then. Happy memories- Cheers DF!
Did your friends still like games or they moved on
@@aceofhearts573 Most still game where they have time, it's a kinda lifelong obsession!
These retro deep dives by DF are so good! Congrats to John and the rest of the contributors on such an awesome series!
An incredible video, thank you so much for the time and effort that was put into this.
Superb work everyone, absolutely loved this, thank you 😍
Man the amount of research you guys put into those videos is insane. Well bloody done.
One of my favorite Retros yet. Great, and what a delight to see Derek too.
Just some peripheral info:
The PC-Engine difference in missing detail, color, and frames isn't because the game is hitting PCE hardware limitations, but rather it's the limitations of the rom. Not saying the PCE doesn't have hardware limitations compare to the arcade graphics chip, but that this game doesn't hit the limitations on the PC-Engine hardware. Other than specifically reducing frames or tiles for backgrounds to get game contents to fit in a rom, PC-Engine games of that era typically keep the tiles/cells stored in 3bit color instead of 4bit color to save space as well, so this reduces color fidelity per area (tile or sprite) - keeping the game from being more colorful and more shades than it could have been. It's pretty amazing they were able to pack the arcade game into the PCE's game rom size of 4 megabits.
4 Mib or 4 MiB?
@@bb010g About half of 1MB
@@bb010g 4 Megabit. (512 kilobytes)
This was an awesome episode, thank you!
Excellent, EXCELLENT video!!!! Thank you guys. Much appreciated.
I was one of those lucky to stumble upon this gem in an arcade when I was around 7-8 years old. I was instantly hooked by the looks and sounds of this game. It had a nightmarish quality that burned into my mind.
The crt footage of the game looks absolutely spectacular. Thats how its supposed to be played. I really wish I could play all retro games like that.
Really love this mini documentary style. Fantastic, keep it up.
John, thank you so much for what you do with DF Retro and even more specifically, for Splatterhouse here! You are awesome and I cant get enough of these! I would lose my shit if they re-imagined the Spatterhouse franchise in Unreal Engine 5 with all the insane tech we have now. I not only still own these masterpices, but have played and completed all the Splatterhouse games (TG16, Genesis and 360) and I love and enjoyed all of them though the first was really impactful to me. That said, I have to mention I actually kinda liked the direction of Splatterhouse on the 360 and and would love to see another one on PC/PS5/Series X only (so as to NOT shackle them to older hardware). Good lord, could you imagine what they could get away with gore-wise these days (no micro transactions/NFTs/Games as a service bullshit plz)? Might be insane awesome! Or they could simply revisit the first two, but do a remaster of them while keeping everything that made those games what they were and still are today. Kinda like what they SHOULD have done with the GTA "Definitive" trilogy thing Rockstar messed up so royally.
Wow, Splatterhouse 3 had a really good idea with that map and open-ended design, more brawlers should be like that!
I remember seeing it as a kid after being a fan of the 2nd game and not liking the idea. Can't remember if I even ever tried renting it because of that, doh.
The time limit ruined it. Just like in Alien 3. Developers are pretty stupid to put time limits on games that require exploration.
I'm always looking forward to the next DF Retro video. Good stuff as always.
Omg it’s Derek, it’s him Derek! I can’t watch his whole segment as I don’t want the spoiler, but he was a great choice for a special guest.
This series really needs a comeback and/or re-release on modern platforms 🤔😏
The first one is on a namco museum for Switch
it did in 2010 and failed spectacularly, so no.
@@tchitchouan That was eleven years ago and had a very troubled development. I don't care if it comes back, but you're just being snarky for the sake of it.
@@SK91NO And that rerelease (of the completely uncensored arcade version, mind you) got the collection a T for Teen rating. Meanwhile, the TG-16 Mini got an M for Mature rating when it included the port of Splatterhouse.
It always blows my mind how in-depth these videos are. Everything from cultural inspiration to tech covered for an entire franchise in just an hour.
Great episode homies. Thank you for your hard work, already looking forward to your the next project 💕💕💕
This episode was uploaded an HOUR ago. This liked comment was made a MONTH ago. umm..... ??
@@mickael486 patrons get videos sooner.
I used to really love this game when i was a kid, and i still do!
Really unexpected video, but awesome as always.
John, you forgot the main thing on your Splatterhouse 3 covering: "Jennifer has become a mindless beast." Now everyone can thank me for the lost hours of sleep.😁
The original arcade is still my preference. It had the best art direction, level design and creature design out of any of the following sequels.
Splatterhouse has always been one of my favorite arcade games and this video explains why. I love this video.
I only played Splatterhouse 3 on the mega drive when I was a kid, and I loved it. It used to scare the sh*t out of me hahaha!!!
It is an entertaining, well documented and well presented retrospective. I have never played the game but definitely want to !
The participation of Derek is also welcome here. Amazing job !
Really appreciate the DF Retro Episodes I hope they continue forever
Loved the Grindcore soundtrack of the 2010 Reboot, on the gameplay side it was decent enough and you somehow totally forgot to mention the extreme gory kills.
Given the rough development, it's a totally fine game. I enjoyed it a lot as a fan of the franchise.
guys BRAVO👏👏👏👏👏
seriously, how detailed and thoroughly you make those videos is incredible!😀😀😀
I understand John's complaints about the 2010 reboot, though he is seriously the first person I saw who actually didn't like the overall aesthetic (pretty much everyone loved Jim Cummings' take on the Terror Mask), but I still absolutely loved it. I played it after seeing Derek's old Happy Video Game Nerd episode about it, and while I fully admit that it is very flawed due to its troubled development history (seriously, John didn't even scratch the surface of the troubles brought up in that Polygon article!), I had a blast playing it.
As for the future, Splatterhouse was one of the series that had an "Encore" trademark applied by Bandai Namco, same as Katamari Damacy & Mr. Driller had in the past. With all signs indicating that Klonoa will be the next one to have its "Encore" trademark result in an actual product, I am really hoping that "Splatterhouse Encore" winds up being a remaster of the 2010 reboot that fixes most of the technical problems (namely the framerate, insane amounts of loading, & the old games' technical issues). I'd buy that Day 1, without a doubt.
I also rather enjoyed the edgy/chaotic tone of the 2010 game, gave it a real 2000 AD comics feel. Jim Cummings is an absolute highlight. I remember picking up the game at random in a Buy 2 Get 1 sale (I think Singularity and The Sabotuer were the other two, which I didn't care for) with no expectations and had a fantastic time.
I was also super excited for the Encore leak, but recent trademark stuff seems to imply they let that one lapse, and whatever plans might have been scrapped. The fact that we've been waiting so long for just Klonoa is also a bit worrying.
I'm surprised he never touched on the story. I felt like the 2010 reboots story was really well told. It's essentially the same "Rick saves Jenny" story we've had, but with a more Lovecraftian twist to it.
Great episode, guys! I loved it.
Excellent as always. Cheers mates.
Great video! Thanks for bringing back the memories.
Excellent episode as usual. Also go for some more team ups with cool retro youtubers!
10:33 viewers beware you are in for a scare.
What a horrifying game series.
I was expecting the controversies that arose when Splatterhouse came to west for its graphic violence and gore.
One of arcades' first violent and gory video games.
In all, Thank you so much for this beloved video; the editing and timing it took for completion was well worth it.
Fantastic treat of a video. It's been about 8 years since I've seen Derek and its nice to see he hasn't changed much.
John and Audi, you guys are just killing it with these DF Retro videos.
Welcome back. Love the video
I love that decapitation sounds from the arcade version. It doesn't make any sense, but its so satisfying.
This video is such a masterpiece. I lost it at the Richard cameo though. Chefs kiss!
Enjoyable episode. I was lucky enough to play the arcade original around the turn of the 90s and it brought back memories!
Walked into a dingy cafe in blackpool one night when I was a kid, and there, in the corner was a 'Splatterhouse' arcade machine. £4 later, I was hooked.
Blackpool is legit! definitely goes with the grimy Splatterhouse vibe
Great video. I have a fond memory of watching in wonder as someone beat the Jennifer level of Splatterhouse in Golden Penny arcade in St Austell Cornwall. Excellent game and excellent arcade.
It's always a good Sunday when DF Retro hits the notifications
Thank you so much for making this video on one of my favourite brawlers.
Also thanks to SSFF back in his HVGN days I was introduced to this series and I had insane amount of time kicking monster ass... however the 2010 reboot... I really wish I could love it even with it's massive warts n all.
I loooooved Splatterhouse on the TG16. Can't wait to watch this.
Love your videos and retro knowledge, John.
One of my favourite videos. Hummer and quality crossover.
Been waiting for this for weeks!
Awesome look at the series and it's always good to see Uncle Derek pop up!
Great video! That’s so bizarre how the 2010 vs OG music comparisons show they aren’t even in the proper key in the 2010 rerelease.
Fantastic video guys. Absolutely loved it. We had a cabinet in a cafe next near where we used to catch the bus to school, circa 1989. They had Wonderboy and Final Round (boxing game) too from memory. We'd rock up to the cafe an hour or so before we needed to catch the bus. We'd buy a slice of buttered toast and spend what we had left of our pocket money from the previous weekend, trying to get as far as we could before we either ran out of money or we had to run for the bus so we weren't late for school. Great mention for both the FM Towns and PC Engine which were legendary consoles back then... that nobody had ever seen or played on. One of our friends at school was Japanese and he used to eulogise about them as being "arcade perfect" platforms but also about how expensive they were compared to the NES.
So awesome to see this series getting some love from you guys! Wish the ps3/360 reboot sold better so this series could keep going. Such an underrated game.
Great Retrospective!!!
Great video, thanks all of You 💪
Great video!
DF Retro - the reason I'm subscribed
Really enjoyed the vid, cheers 😉
House by the Cemetery and The Beyond were the first DVDs that I purchased myself. I definitely recommend watching them with subtitles and the Italian soundtrack.
Dude the editing in these videos just bodies what most other video game retrospectives offer.
Amazing video! I was positively giddy starting this up and strapping in for an excellent examination of this series.
I have ADORED the Splatterhouse series since I played it in my local arcade. My biggest wish is a PC release of 2010 game. I'd even take back-compat with the Series S/X. I rebought a 360 for the 2010 entry and Shadows of The Damned(which is back compat), but I'd seriously love both to come to PC.
Oh man, hadn't thought about Splatterhouse in forever lol. Nice!
Yay! I've soo been looking forward to this
The handheld version of Splatterhouse is one of my favorite little trinkets in my collection. It blows standard Tiger type handhelds out of the water. This whole series is so good, I’d love to see a new entry one day
As a child of the 80s, I was torn over whether I would end up enjoying this video or not. The length of the video was almost prohibitive, but then I went ahead and pushed play for the grins and giggles. I came to the Splatterhouse series well after release, and never really appreciated it for what it was. I was almost immediately captivated by the typical gusto and attention to detail, thank you this amazing exploration of a series I had so wrongly overlooked in my youth.
I've been playing this for the last few hours. Very addictive!
I can't believe the quality of this documentary... :) and i can't believe that we lost a PS3 during the production. :(
Great work!
*Pours one out*
i remember completing arcade version of this back in day ! classic !
Splatterhouse (2010) needs a PC PORT !!!
RIP to that lost PS3. You will be missed.
DF Retro together with DF Direct Weekly are my favorite segments!!!! Here's some algorithm!!!!!
I remember playing the first game on my Turbo Grafx 16 and getting my mind blown with the gore and animations.
Ive only played the 360 version. I didn't read reviews back then and just thought it looked cool. I had a lot of fun with it, and found out it was considered bad years after the fact. I should revisit the game in light of this video.
Count me as one of the few who love the 2010 version, despite its technical issues. Still have my original copy AND the Terror Mask pre-order bonus statue. I'd give my big toe for someone to take another crack at the series today, and am genuinely surprised Namco never used Rick in anything else. He'd be a fun addition to Tekken or SoulCalibur or, if I had my druthers, as a guest character in Mortal Kombat where he would perfectly fit in.
So sad there was no PC port of that game
@@aceofhearts573 Even worse, it's one of the few games that still doesn't work via emulation through RCPS3 or Xenia.
Awesome work
Great video as usual guys. Splatterhouse was the reason I got a Turbo Grafx. The game rocked and the Genesis sequel is even better.
Uncle Derek sent me! Also just love splatter house never got a chance to play them myself but I really enjoy the game design from what I've seen in play throughs and such
Omg I loved everything about this ep
Happy new retro!!!
YESS!!! So happy to see Derek in this one!!!
Great retrospective, very comprehensive. It's a good series that deserves a return. A real shame Splatterhouse 3 wasn't given a PAL release. 😢
Great video! Splatterhouse is available for Nintendo Switch in Namco Museum (2017) and the physical version is called Namco Museum Arcade Pac. Not to be confused with Namco Museum Archive vol 1 & 2 (2020) and Namcot Collection which are NES games.