/vr/ - Retro Games

>>9496612
It is, indeed. But it also is pretty challenging (if you aim for specific endings). Rick is even more badass in the third installment, too. I've replayed this game many times already, but to be honest, from these only one or two maybe were 1CCs.

I'll give them credit for trying something new, but they should have come up with a story about the mask splitting in two so you can play as two Ricks or something.
also that damn time limit is annoying, you can't enjoy the brawl.

I also prefer the first two games. More iconic moments and enemy/boss variety. Single plane beat 'em ups are kind of underrated.

Making a belt scroller was a natural evolution at that point but the combat is just kind of decent. By the way, I'm mainly talking about the Japanese version (which is in English).

>>9496637
>also that damn time limit is annoying, you can't enjoy the brawl.

This is one things they changed with the localization. The time limit is much shorter. This forces you to take the shortest route to get the good ending. In the Japanese version, the non-linear setup of the game feels like it's just there to just give you some extra replay value and variety on different playthroughs. You'll have plenty of time to get to the end in time no matter which route as long as you play well, except maybe on Game Master difficulty.

They also made changes to the combat, halving the damage of your regular combo but turning your spin kick special attack into a super move which does huge amounts of damage. In the Japanese version, the spin kick is just a regular "get off me" move like in Final Fight. As a result the most effective way to play the localized version is to spam it. You can even pretty much ignore your mutant mode. In the Japanese version it's better to use your entire toolset and strategize for when you want to spend the resource to turn into a mutant.

>>9497535
Aah, so its Sega of America fucking around during their "localization" again eh.

>>9497535
Not true. You get a super rick orb in every single room and super rick has a move that has a hitbox thats as big as whatever you're in.
Once you get an orb, go super rick spam breadsticks(it literally looks like breadsticks popping out rick) and breeze through the game in like 15 minutes.
The only exception is the evil one, he actually blocks it, hes a total bitch to kill if you dont loop him.

>>9498480
Well, you don't really need to do that and can just spam the easier regular spin kick instead is what I'm saying.

Coincidentally I was playing through this series at recently and just beat this game on Game Master (Japanese version).

>>9496612
I liked a lot of the changes they did, as well as the new and extra disgusting monsters. What I like the most is Rick's design though.

There's a real appeal in the original, straight up:
>"Let's make a game where you fight your way through a bunch of evil and nasty monsters to find a girl, but you're actually an escaped mental patient and your goal is actually to kill her! Wouldn't that be outrageous?"
>"Like a twisted reversal on the damsel in distress lmao! Let's make him look like Jason Voorhees!"
>Later on: "But actually, wouldn't it be more fun if we made him a hero rescuing his girl instead?"
>"But we have to ship the game really fucking soon, we don't have the time to draw an all new player character."
>"Uh... uh... Let's say that the mask he's wearing is actually magical, guiding and empowering him to fight the monsters to save his girl! If we switch the positions of the sprites a bit for the intro animation so he isn't chasing her, it'll work."
It's a really funny progression for a character's concept which ends up making him sort of unique from the get-go (even with the ripped off design), and I really love it already in the first game. However, with him then coming into his own with an original design, that kind of completes Rick Taylor as a videogame character, so that he doesn't feel like a half-baked knockoff at a glance.

The design of the Terror Mask in the third game feels like a sort of mix between the old hockey mask and the skull mask. There's a lot to be said about what went wrong with the 2010 reboot (and there was a lot), but setting aside the fact that they likely were simply uninterested in the legal risks of using the roided out Jason look from the original arcade game, going by the mask from Splatterhouse 3 was the most aesthetically interesting choice.
Theoretically more marketable too, with his cool look which stands out, if the game hadn't fallen on its face.

I hope Namco gives Splatterhouse another chance one day.

>>9500025
You have a source for that original plot for the game?

>>9500973
I'm trying to find that, but it seems that I cannot, so I wonder actually if this is something I'm misremembering, or if I'm repeating something I read or was told which wasn't fully accurate. I'll keep looking a bit to try to find it.

>>9500025
There were rumors about it getting a remake a while back:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/09/17/bandai-namco-trademarks-encore-editions-for-splatterhouse-mr-driller-klonoa-and-more
Mr. Driller and Klonoa eventually got remakes but Splatterhouse is still MIA. Not really sure how I feel about it because I don't really want the original trilogy remade if they aren't willing to go all in on the gross and gore like the originals did

>>9496612
I never actually watched gameplay of it until a few days ago, it actually looks really fun to me. I like the idea of being able to choose a route through the house, sort of like the later Castlevania games. It's also one of the few horror games that looks fun and interesting to me outside of CV if that even counts and a few others,

>>9502235
It is fun. There's just some annoying stuff in it like enemies having too much health while also being able to almost one-shot you.

>>9501648
Consider the 2010 reboot.
>Namco: "We want you to make a new Splatterhouse game, it'll be a straightforward brawler with lots of blood and gore, taking after horror movies. We want you to be a little edgy about it, that's in the series' blood and it should be marketable to American youth."
>Bottlerocket gets to work on this
>except Jay Beard, the project lead, doesn't want to do Splatterhouse
>frequently makes drastic changes which Namco repeatedly catch and object to, telling him to adhere to the style guide and plans (infamously, a PiggyMan redesign which was widely disliked by fans, then replaced with a traditional one)
>he eventually hides this shit from Namco, but they do get wind of it at times from the devs, partially because some actually wanted to commit to the property, partially because development was going like fucking shit and they're spinning their wheels
>delays and problems all around
>eventually Namco has enough of all the bullshit, they shut down production and repo the devkits
>HOWEVER
>Namco doesn't give up on the game, they set up a new temporary studio for the team, as to try to salvage all that's been done on the game and to piece it together into an actual Splatterhouse game
>they obviously do this with the omission of Jay Beard (who for his crimes, is serving a sentence in the Amazon Game Studios)
>the resulting game is imperfect and flawed, but it is actually a Splatterhouse videogame
Of course, part of why Namco would go through the trouble to salvage the game is probably to try to make the investment bear some sort of fruit, but I assume that at least some people there have some sort of love for it and wanted to actually deliver a game for fans. It would have been very easy to just cancel it altogether to cut their losses, but they didn't.

Maybe a new game wouldn't be in the cards now, but a fixed up re-release of the 2010 game could be worth it, and if it does well, perhaps the series would have more of a future.

>>9502235
Splatterhouse has music compositions which are basically Castlevania tier, I don't know why it's so slept on in that department.

>>9500025
>>9500973
>>9501448
Well, I found this one, which seems to contradict that:
https://splatterhouse.kontek.net/oda-interview.html

Looking around for a while, it's the only source I can find which regards Rick's design at all, and it makes no mention of it. Did I imagine it, or does someone else remember hearing something like that at some point?
I guess it could be something fake I read, or bad memory or something, but it also could have been one of those mentioned changes which Namco asked to have done regarding the game, in which case it would probably have been documented somewhere if it was the case. I'm unsure of where to look for this kind of info.

>>9502416
I honestly loved the 2010 game, it had a ton of elements from the previous games, the crazy gore, the mask being an asshole(and had a tremendous VA), and ontop of that, you had all 3 of the OG games as well in one package.

The 2010 game is still the only way to play the OG arcade version without an emulator or other hardware/software.

>>9502604
>and had a tremendous VA
Of course he was, that was Jim Cummings.