It’s that time of year again when witches fly about on broomsticks and ghosts come into your house to raid your fridge and stack your plates all wonky, so what better way to forget about all the spooky trick or treaters than to get out our old 8-bit computers or our emulators and play some classic old horror games. Shut the curtains, ignore the knocks at your door and let’s look at five classic spooky games from the 80s…
Dracula’s Castle – Silicon Joy – Spectrum
When we talk about horror we have to start with the classic horror villain, Mr bloodsucker himself, Count Dracula. Towards the end of 1984 the company Silicon Joy, a division of Kevin Toms Addictive Games, released a cassette called Trio. On this tape were three games with one being Dracula’s Castle.
Dracula’s Castle was a simple, yet attractive, little game that took place over one screen with players waking up in bed just after Dracula has gone around to turn off all the lights, shut all the doors (even the Count himself liked to save energy) and retired to his coffin. What players would have to do is run around the screen to turn on as many lights and open as many doors as possible to score points, while the grandfather clock at the bottom counted down the time before Dracula woke up. If he caught you, it was game over. To make the task harder, bats would spawn and fly through the corridors with the sole intention of stunning the player but this could be overcome by eating the green garlic scattered around (quite why Dracula has garlic in his house isn’t explained). Eating the garlic would turn the player green and allow them to get rid of the bats they touched thus awarding them more points.
Took me a few moments to figure out that Dracula didn’t have an obsession with toilets.
This is one of those games where you feel it could have been so much more, given a little more time and direction it probably could have been but the games included in Trio were literally just games that home programmers had sent in. The game is quite amusing to play for a few minutes but the same task over the same screen becomes a bit dull.
The Rocky Horror Show – CRL/Alternative Software – ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC
The Rocky Horror Show was a huge hit on the stage and an even bigger hit at the cinema so it was no surprise that it became a game (no not the one recently released by FreakZone Games), even to this day it attracts a huge audience when it appears at any local theatre and it’s pretty easy to tell when it is showing just by the bizarrely dressed folk milling around.
In the game, Brad and Janet’s car breaks down so they go to the nearby mansion occupied by Dr Frank ‘N’ Furter, who turns one of them into stone using his Medusa machine. With one half of the couple now rock hard it is up to the other to roam around the big mansion and collect the pieces of the De Medusa Machine, use it on their significant other and make a quick getaway.
Janet searches for the machine parts while Eddie starts defrosting on the C64.
Players can choose which of the two teens they play as and then it’s time to set out to explore the mansion and find the 15 pieces of the machine. Sounds easy enough, right? No, there’s plenty of folk who will try to stop you, like Riff Raff (the miserable old sod) who will literally zap you if you get too close, or Columbia who strips your character. While all this exploring for keys to open doors is going on, Eddie is in the freezer slowly defrosting and the thermometer on the screen gives an indication as to how long is left.
There’s obviously been a lot of work put into the game, it’s attractive to look at (even more so on the C64), the animation is smooth, familiar tunes can be heard during play and the gameplay compels you to keep going. I certainly won’t be wanting to wear a corset and stockings though, that would be more than even Halloween could stand.
Brad waits for the play to start in a room so pink it’s blinding. Amstrad CPC.
If you’re into your old games then look this one up and give it a try, you won’t be disappointed but you may find the pelvic thrusts drive you insane.
The Evil Dead – Palace Software – ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, BBC Micro
The Evil Dead is another title that has had a new game made for it in recent years but that isn’t a surprise considering how the low-budget horror movie is such a cult classic. However, unlike the new asymmetrical survival horror by Saber Interactive, Palace Software’s attempt was a top down game that followed the story of the film with a group of cleancut American teens arriving at the cabin.
In the game, players take control of Ash in the creepy cabin where strange demon creatures constantly spawn. Players will need to move from room to room killing the monster/demon creatures that appear using a variety of items that also spawn on the floor. Ash can prevent more demons from entering the house by shutting windows and doors and, I’ll be honest, it seems pretty pointless as they only keep them out for a few seconds. During all the demon killing Ash has an energy counter that is constantly depleting and if it gets to zero it’s game over, fortunately a sword randomly appears that allows an energy top-up when it is used to kill an enemy.
Ash heads to the fire as a green demon comes out the bedroom. That will start tongues wagging. ZX Spectrum version.
The only way for players to complete the game is for Ash to keep killing demons until his point score is high enough for the Necronomicon to appear somewhere within the cabin. Once this appears it’s a case of picking it up quick and drop it in the fireplace.
Despite the film it was based on, it’s no more scary than many other games around at the time and I doubt it gave anyone a sleepless night.
Frank N Stein – PSS – ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC
Despite the loading screen above, Frank N Stein is a really enjoyable little platformer that takes players to the laboratory of Frank, a cute bespectacled scientist with the ambition of building his own creation. It’s up to players to help Frank build his monster and then deactivate it.
Players will need to guide Frank through a variety of different Manic Miner-esque screens to collect all the parts for his monster. Avoiding the various nasties can prove tricky and on later levels will require a bit of thought but the really difficult bit is that all body parts have to be collected in order, there’s no point in collecting a foot even if it right next to the head. Besides the nasties, there are also obstacles on the floor that will hinder a players progress, such as blocks on the floor that will give electric shocks and ice (gives a nice little slip animation when he moves over it).
It’s a nice little animation for slipping on ice on the Spectrum.
Once all the parts have been collected it is time to head to the top of the screen to press the plunger that brings life to the monster, but that’s not the end of the game. The next screen features a sort of Donkey Kong set up, where the monster is at the top of the screen and throwing objects down at Frank. It’s up to players to climb to the top of this screen and press the plunger again to deactivate the monster. When this has been completed it is on to the next screen to once again gather all the parts and activate him all over again.
Frank may be a good surgeon but his electrical skills are rubbish as he’s about to step on a loose wire.
The loading screen gave me doubts as to how good this game would be, what with the squashed headed Frank and gormless looking head on a table, but it is actually quite an enjoyable game that will keep you occupied for a while. It’s colourful, the animation is smooth, the sound is typical Speccy sound, and overall it’s a jolly nice game.
Olli & Lissa: The Ghost of Shilmoore Castle – Firebird – ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC
Millionaire Americans in the 80s always wanted to buy our castles and ship them over to the States and that is exactly what Eugene Port-Cullis the Third wants to do with the titular Shilmoore Castle. However, resident spook Sir Humphrey doesn’t like the idea of his ancestral home being taken apart brick by craggy brick so reaches out to his friends Olli & Lissa for help in creating a potion that will make him more scary as an invisible ghost.
Olli’s fall from the stairs makes him see stars on the Amstrad CPC.
While Lissa stays at the cauldron (women’s lib’ didn’t extend to non-defined creatures), Olli must run and jump past the nasty ghosts to collect all the herbs that are needed to create the magic potion. Sir Humphrey will tell Olli which herbs he needs to collect and once collected must take them back to Lissa. The fun part (for Olli at least) is once the potion ingredient is in the pot he gets a bit of a cuddle and a snog off Lissa.
What would Halloween be without a few bats appearing in a spooky game? Spectrum.
Olli & Lissa: The Ghost of Shilmoore Castle is another great little game that will keep you hooked for a while. The characters are very cutely drawn, the colours don’t clash, the animation is very smooth and the in-game music isn’t bad either.
SEE ALSO: Spooky Retro Games to Liven Your Halloween
There we have it, five wonderful little spooky games to while away a dreary Halloween. If you have to go out with the kids then best of luck, they can be worse than the ghosties and ghoulies. Until next time, cheerio!
Andrew Newton
