I meant to publish this earlier today but I got sidetracked. Last year I did a post compiling the different arcade games to feature zombies prominently in the game somewhere. This year, I’m feeling like taking a look at some of the modern “horror” offerings you might stumble across if you head out to the arcade today. Earlier this year Taito and GlobalVR released Shh…Welcome To FrightFearLand which put the player into a haunted amusement park, fighting off clowns while rescuing hostages. More info and videos of that game here if you’re interested.
I was hoping that more information would have been available about Namco’s upcoming Dark Escape 3D as that will certainly fill in the niche of horror game. Here’s the cabinet shot of it in case you haven’t seen it already. It’s one cabinet you won’t be finding out there yet as it hasn’t been released but perhaps by next Halloween it will be.
But on that note, Deadstorm Pirates fits the bill as you blast hordes of undead enemies throughout the game. There are plenty of parts here that freak kids out too.
Who could forget Silent Hill: The Arcade by Konami from a few years ago? Well, plenty of people could I suppose as the game didn’t do too well. Still, it has one of the best themed cabinets for Halloween.
Also from Konami but it’s hard to find is Castlevania: The Arcade. I’ve yet to see one in person myself but there are a few out there.
It’s getting a little old now but there is Sega’s last installment of House of the Dead (ignoring House of the Dead EX), House of the Dead 4. Here’s the special theater edition
Terminator fits the bill I think, the cabinet certainly does.
A couple of weeks ago tipster Joe sent me this from MikeRezl.com. It’s obviously a homebrew project so you won’t be finding this at the local arcade but it’s neat.
That’s it for now, when I find the time I’ll see if there are a few others to include.
My favorite horror themed game has to be Exidy Chiller:
Game cabinet/details:
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7328
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_19-YbEuSpU&feature=player_embedded
I know this one will be pretty difficult to find as well since it came out in 1986 when the arcade and video game market was just starting to recover from a huge crash of the 80s. I’ve never seen one back in the days and had only recently played this. Even now I think the contents are pretty gruesome. I imagine that also had a lot to do with why the game is so obscure since there have been reports that it was banned in the US.