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Or How Can a Silly Little Light Gun Game Be So Damn Endearing?

Something really odd has been happening around a vast majority of gaming websites. Many of these outlets are reporting about a good game silently being released by, of all companies, Sega. No, it isn't Sonic Lost World. Rather is a return of an arcade/Dreamcast legend of sorts, Typing of the Dead. This new version, Typing of the Dead: Overkill, is based off of the PS3 port of the formerly Wii exclusive House of the Dead: Overkill. While the newest edition to the Overkill series making people enjoy increasing their word per minute skills, it reminds me why so many people including myself are so enthralled by the House of Dead franchise as a whole.

For the few of you younger who weren't born around arcades in the 1990's ( or don't understand why “winners don't do drugs” despite popular culture dictating otherwise), The House of The Dead is a primarily light gun franchise first rose from its grave in 1996. Its premise was simple: Bad stuff happen at Cuiren Mansion, sister of protagonist was taken, and you fight zom...er mutants to save her (Fun factoid: Despite pretty much being zombies in all of the House of the Dead games, the “dead” you face are always referred to as “mutants”). What differentiates HOTD from other light gun games at the time was its graphics allowing for bullet holes and even dismemberment, for being fast and frantic, and its multiple paths and story endings. It was also known for its really bad voice acting, a trait carried through out all of the series. It wasn't the first light gun horror game but it definitely left its mark on gaming culture, enough to warrant a sequel and my what a sequel it was.

In 1998, the world returned to the nutty non-zombie mutant world in House of The Dead. I'll be real honest, House of the Dead 2 is my favorite arcade game of all time. Originally, this blog was just going about my love of the game considering its 15^th anniversary in November. I own it on my Dreamcast with two light guns as well as my Wii as apart of House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return. While its not much off an improvement over the first one beyond graphics but just the epitome of what good arcade gaming is: a roller coaster ride of thrills, variety, and lots of cheesy dialogue. I mean we're talking grade A 100% Ed Wood grade cheese. In short, this is the definitive light gun game and a pure arcade thrill that you have to experience, even though its very complex and not very long.

Forgive the preceding paragraph gushing over HOTD 2, as it still doesn't answer why the franchise is still around today. The following two games in the series did very little to change the formula either which doesn't help with that answer as well. HOTD 3 added shotguns at the default weapon and route selection while HOTD 4 added a machine gun as the default weapon, grenades, a bit of motion controls for contextual actions, and is still the most visually impressive one out of the bunch. Yet even that still doesn't answer why people and more importantly Sega are still so invested in it. Well, part of the reason is ironically that the Sonic series is in such dire straights: brand flexibility.

It all started with The Typing of Dead, a modified version of HOTD 2 with a keyboard that premiered at Japanese arcades in 1999. Yes, people did go to an arcade to fight zombies with a keyboard. It was strange, it was weird. It was a true sight to behold that not only amazing got ported to the West on the Dreamcast but also the PC. Despite the game swapping bullets for keyboard strokes, its fun and viscerally game play was intact. But that wasn't the only spin off from HOTD that was going on at the time. Tatio was also working on spin off based around HOTD, a 3D side scrolling beat up called Zombies Revenge. And the list continues, from pinball simulators (Pinball of The Dead) to even light gun mini-game collections similar to Namco's Point Blank series (The House of The Dead EX). All of these game still retained the core aspects of the original series while presenting new ideas or ways to present the series. Overkill is a good example of this. Truth be told, without its over-the-top grind house presentation and slow mo gimmick, it wouldn't be much different from any other HOTD beyond being Western developed. However, the strongest thing that HOTD has it going for it is continuing Sega real greatest strength. The thing that's been secretly keeping them a float all these years which most people forget: The arcade.

There's something to be said about Sega's persistent arcade presence that exists even today. There are a certain quality and charm about the arcade games they produce that is extremely hard to copy. An odd balance of the obtuse and the enlighten. What other game company produces games fun games that range from flying in a 2D parallax jet fighter to cruising the city streets looking for fares? Nearly everything that Sega is a company is built from these principles they learned from the arcades. Whole franchises wouldn't exist without arcade roots. Yakuza wouldn't be a franchise without Shenmue which also wouldn't exist without is combat system taken from Virtua Fighter (which also is where Yakuza gets its combat engine too). HOTD is a reflection of all Sega's arcade heritage. Their constant pushing of technical limits and their quirkiness for video games. You can definitely argue that Sega's quality has substantially dipped over the last decade but there's something about the passion that they put into HOTD that still shows that there's still some old Sega still in the company. Its fleeting as it almost seems that every month, it looses employees. However its series like HOTD that show that some of the old Sega it still going strong. Even the Overkill series, made at Headstrong games, had that same Sega consistency towards the arcade. I know people associate Sega to Sonic but the arcades are really where Sega consistently shine. Just see the Smithsonian for further proof of that.

With how rocky modern Sega is financially, is good to see them still making arcade games. Their recent entry is another on rails shooter, strangely based off of the Michael Bay Transformers movies. Despite the dubious license, it still features all of the hallmarks of a Sega arcade game: frantic action, amazing graphics, and horrible voice acting. Some things never change. In the18 years House of the Dead as been alive (?) that's nothing but the norm. And this weeks recent release of Typing of the Dead, it appears Sega wants to keep the series alive for a long time.

 

Other News And Stuff

 

By the way, Typing of the Dead: Overkill is on sale until early November for $9.99 on Steam. It also includes the original House of the Dead Overkill, light gun enabled too.

 

There's also a good bundle sale of three House of The Dead games on PSN (HOTD 3, HOTD 4 which also features HOTD 4 Special and Overkill Extended Cut) for $9.99, $7.49 for PS Plus.

 

House of the Dead 2 isn't the only other Sega related item celebrating an anniversary. The Sega Genesis just turned 25 in Japan.

Happy Halloween everyone.