Retro Gaming Magazine Jan. 2014 | Page 8

Zombies Ate My Neighbors by Konami Words by Michael Crisman Every nightSega Genesis—1993 Words by Michael Crisman mare you can imagine from the walking dead to Martian invaders, killer dolls to chainsaw maniacs, mummies to werewolves, is out to get you! The police can't stop 'em. The army can't kill 'em. It's up to teenagers Zeke and Julie to use their knowledge of horror film monsters and their weaknesses to rescue their neighbors from grotesque, slimy death spread over more than fifty stages of horror in LucasArts' cult 16-bit action/adventure title, Zombies Ate My Neighbors! But when you pit the Super Nintendo version against its Genesis/Mega Drive brother, who winds up in a hollow grave? While both versions of the game are identical in terms of content, featuring the same monsters, stages and weaponry, the Super Nintendo version decapitates the competition in every area. Its wider color palette showcases the nightmarish freaks that much better, the hardware does scaling and transitional effects Did You Know...?  ...in the UK the game is just called “Zombies,” and the chainsaw maniac is instead an ax-wielding lumberjack?  ...the password system is all but useless – it takes you to the given level but doesn't give you any weapons or items you would have picked up along the way?  ...the first bonus level is the only place you can see the Purple Tentacle monsters, an easter egg referencing two previous LucasArts games: Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle.  ...LucasArts created Ghoul Patrol for the SNES by re-using the ZAMN engine for an unrelated game and called it a sequel in the hope of driving sales.  ...after finishing the game, players are treated to a final “credits” level, where they meet all of the people involved in its development, some of whom actively try to kill the players?