The House Of The Dead 20th Anniversary Celebration: The First Game

Thinking of a way to open this article is a little tricky, because under any other circumstances, I’d have opened it the way I opened the introductory article. So, in the absence of a better opening, I’m just going to be blunt and reiterate a point from that opening article; by a wide margin, the original House Of The Dead is my favourite game in the series. Largely this could be put down to the fact that it was the first game in the series I played- and thus the one that left the largest impact- but even objectively speaking, I feel the original House Of The Dead offers a lot as a video game. I will try my absolute best to be as impartial and objective as possible, but I won’t lie; ahead be gushing, weary traveller.

The House Of The Dead was developed by Sega AM1- before they became WOW! Entertainment- and is primarily the brainchild of staff member Takashi Oda, who has directed all four of the main titles in the series thus far. The game puts you in the role of rugged trenchcoat fanatic Thomas Rogan and the mysterious G, two crack agents working for the AMS (an organisation of... people with guns that do stuff on behalf of the government, probably). The AMS has been carefully monitoring the operations of one Dr. Roy Curien, a master geneticist who has been working on some sort of project that’s being backed by the DBR Corporation- something likely unethical and not-wholly-legal. All the disappearences reported around their base of operations- an enormous mansion in the middle of fuck off nowhere (otherwise known as Tring)- likely aren't doing much in Curien's favour. Rogan in particular has something of a personal stake in the investigation, as his fiance, Sophie Richards, is part of the staff involved in the good doctor's project. Things take a turn for the worst when Rogan receives a panicked call from Sophie, whom only gets to impart that “everybody’s being killed” before the line is cut. Alongside an official order to mobilise from head office, Rogan and G head out to the house; upon arriving at the enormous estate, the two agents bare witness to a researcher being munched on by an undead creature. The evidence that Curien has gone way off the deep end staring them right in the face, the two prepare to dispense lead based justice against an entire army of monstrous malcontents, carnivorous cadavers, and... some other alliterative spooky thing.

There’s a lot of stuff I’d like to talk about here- so much so, I’ve written and rewritten this paragraph over and over as I try to figure out exactly where to start. I suppose a good place would be what’s at the heart of it all- the gameplay. As I covered in yesterdays piece, the gameplay of The House Of The Dead is deceptively simple-

1. You start out with six bullets in your gun, and a total of three life points.

2. Upon emptying your chamber, you will need to shoot outside the screen to reload. There is no limit to how many times you can reload, but you cannot increase your gun’s bullet capacity.

3. Along the way, you will encounter researchers in need of saving. Saving them may net you an extra life point, and accidentally shooting them will cost you one life point.

4. Though enough shots at any part of the body will do them in, head shots will take out the Dead far faster (and net you more points).

5. Shooting background items may uncover point-based items like Coins or Golden Buuels, or possibly an extra life point.

6. Saving three researchers in a given level will reward you with an extra life point upon stage completion; saving five will net you two. You get nothing for saving less then three.

7. Saving every researcher you come across will unlock a special room full of point scoring items and extra life points.

Beyond that, the game plays out like your standard light gun affair: your PC moves from point A to point B, stuff pops up, you shoot it, rinse and repeat. It’s some of the simplest gameplay imaginable; however, there are a few things that set it apart from its contemporaries.

For starters, contemporaries of The House Of The Dead include Zombie Raid, Area 51, Time Crisis, and Sega’s own Virtua Cop. I’m not bringing these up to make a graphical comparison (although Blimey O'Riley, THOTD has certainly aged better then any of them in that regard), but a gameplay one. Though all four games do have sequences where momentum is conveyed, there are a lot of instances where the action stops dead as wave after wave of enemies come at you on a single screen- and in Time Crisis’ case, the entire game is built around using cover from a

stationary position to take out baddies. By no means does this make any of them bad games, because they’re not; they’re going for very different experiences, or they’re somewhat limited by the technology of the time, or maybe both at the same time. The House Of The Dead, conversely, keeps wholly stationary segments largely to the boss encounters. In general gameplay, you will only encounter a small smattering of enemies at a single “stopping point”, and not only do you move through a number of them fairly quickly in any given level, but the camera itself moves dynamically during each one (depending on the enemy movements or whether new foes burst in from somewhere off-frame). The result is a game that feels a lot more fluid and has more momentum propelling it, achieved entirely through the simple illusion of movement (or in this case, more movement). It goes a long way to reducing that “shooting gallery” feeling, and at the time it was worlds apart from what most other light gun experiences offered the player. It also has the nice effect of the more stationary boss encounters feeling more climactic, instead of just another target to aim at.There is actual depth to the gameplay outlined above, too. One of the things the game boasted during it’s release with it’s multiple path system, which claimed to lead to “a different terrifying experience every time you play!” Whilst obviously there’s an upper limit, credit where credit is due; there are actually a fair few alternate paths or routes through any given level. The real strength of the system, though, comes down to the fact that the routes aren’t wholly binary, and the decisions that take you to them aren’t immediately obvious. Several routes weave in and out of each other, and it’s entirely possible to shift onto one whilst locking yourself out of another depending on the choices you make. Those choices can be anything from “shooting one of two undead monkeys to determine a direction” to “letting a zombie throw a researcher off a bridge”, or even “accidentally shooting some debris in the background and clearing a pathway up some stairs”. Again, it’s worlds apart from what every other light gun game offered back in the day, and I honestly don’t recall a lot of light gun titles beyond the first couple of House Of The Dead’s that implemented multiple paths in the same way, or to the same extent. There were a lot of paths of shifts even I didn’t discover until relatively recently!

Perhaps my favourite little touch in the gameplay is a subtle one that I don’t even think people notice until it’s pointed out to them; barring some exceptions (which I’ll get to), even when accosted by groups of zombies, only one will attack you at a time. The camera shifts it’s focus entirely onto the attacker as it goes in for the kill (with a clearly telegraphed animation and an easily identifiable soundbyte), focusing your attention entirely on them as you try to fend the

m off. It seems like an odd thing to praise, but it almost entirely eradicates one of the single biggest problems a lot of early light gun games faced; large swaths of enemies attacking all at once, in a way that’s entirely unfair and overwhelms the player too quickly. That the game still requires a lot of skill to master is a testament to the fact that though it balances the game, it doesn’t make it easy.What absolutely makes the game, though, is how it marries clever design and replayability with top notch design. Though the plot is fairly thin on the ground, inkeeping with ye olde gaming tradition of Just Here To Give A Reason Why You Do The Thing and drawing from fairly typical Mad Science tropes, the aesthetics of the game go a very long way to prop up the latter. The architectural design of the titular house itself is Gothic as balls, the Dead are either dressed up in sharp, dark colours suits, or decked out in half rotted away rags. What makes it that touch more unique is that it marries a lot of that Gothic design with elements of Sci Fi; there’s a subtle evolution from purely Gothic architecture in Chapter 1, to a mixture of the two (with clear progression from one to the other) in Chapter 2, and ultra high tech lab-type stuff in Chapter 3. Several setpieces from throughout the game will stick out in the memory, but perhaps the most iconic is the central visage of the house itself, looming over the first third of Chapter one with it’s semicircle windows and sloped roof. Likewise, the design of the enemies themselves is extremely worthy of praise, on two fronts. Firstly, according to the following interview with Mr. Oda (conducted by The Website Of The Dead), the main characters of the game and it’s sequels, from a design perspective, are the enemies and creatures you face. Therefore, more of an emphasis is placed on their appearance and visual appeal then the ancillary cast of humans. To say they did a cracking job is, to me, and understatement, because The House Of The Dead- and the series at large- boasts some of the most memorable enemies in any video game ever, oozing with far more personality then things that exist to get blown to pieces really should. This even extends to the fact that every enemy, in every Oda-directed title, has an actual name, both internally and within the game itself (for the record, my favourite is Cyril, the zombie wielding two axes). Whilst the enemy names are somewhat unknown, the boss creatures’ names are front and centre, and in all mainline titles they’re named after cards from the Major Arcana of Tarot Cards. Why? I dunno, but it’s cool, so I’m down with it! Another little touch- and one that explains why I’ve been trying to avoid using the word “Zombie”- is that Oda and his team don’t view the enemies as “zombies”, at least not of the Romero mould. In the House Of The Dead universe, the Dead don’t spread infection through biting, and they are not the corpses of the deceased back from the grave; instead, they’re entirely manufactured creatures that are, basically, mass produced in labs. Not only is that a really cool little twist on the typical zombie formula, but in a neat bit of gameplay and story unification, creatures that look identical to the players also look identical in universe as well. I don’t think that was intentional on behalf of the developers, but I think it’s cool regardless. Whilst I’m on the subject, whilst the graphics may not hold up compared to modern standards, I have to give credit where credit is due; for 1996, a lot of the textures are remarkably crisp, and the Dead’s movements are actually pretty solid and weighty by and large (although in an odd bit of irony, they actually move more fluidly then the living human characters do). Hell, I’d go so far as to say the game still looks pretty good objectively speaking, but I have a love for the mid-to-late-90s 3D aesthetic, so that is perhaps down to bias on my part.

occupy a very special place in my heart and it is, in my opinion, a very well crafted soundtrack. Firstly, it carries on with the Gothic-meets-Sci-Fi feel of the visual style, fusing together organ dirges and slight Classical touches with elements of Electronica, sometimes per track and sometimes within the same track. The opening song is perhaps the most iconic piece of music in the whole series, and rightfully so; it so perfectly captures the feel of the game with it’s choice of style, yet retains a catchy, memorable melody despite the more complex arrangement. I love this tune so much it still hangs in my memory to this day, and much like the game itself, is to me what the classic Super Mario Bros. overworld music is to a number of individuals. The song that best captures the meshing of the two styles is the Chapter 2 music, featuring pipe organs lain atop a techno beat, and enough buzzing synths and crazy freeform solos to make the song stand out. The sudden breakdown with the ravey-synth chords and weird sampling choices is probably my favourite bit, just for how out-of-nowhere it is and for the raw creativity of it. Tetsuya Kawauchi was the sole composer on the project, and the sound design he imparted on the series is as integral to the experience as the visuals or the gameplay are.It’d be very easy for me to end it there and just say “YUP, PERFECT GAME, 10/10”, but that wouldn’t be entirely honest of me. For as good a game as The House Of The Dead is, it is not without flaw. The most glaring ties back to something I brought up when chatting gameplay; that of how the enemies behave when attacking the player. Though most larger foes follow the “one at a time” pattern, smaller enemies often don’t. With stuff like the Murrers or Buuels, it’s not that much of a problem- they attack from a distance and are only dispatched with a single shot. No, it’s with the Rubin, Drake, Moody, Parlor, and those fucking Saruzou where it becomes a problem, as all of them attack fast, and have zero sense of honour. Rubin and Drake, for example, generally attack together, with the former gunning for you to claw your eyes out whilst the latter hangs back and throws knives at you. However, Drake at least runs out of knives; Moody, who’s ranged attack is an extending claw, doesn’t, and also attack in pairs. In fact, fairly often this enemy type attacks in pairs, making them the most likely candidates to rob even experienced players of life points. Whilst they don’t entirely throw the balance out the window, they edge very close to the old guard style of “throw everything at the player and bleed them dry of coinage”, but, shit, it’s an arcade game; they’ve gotta make the cash back somehow I suppose. I've also always found the Hangedman to be a bit of an unfair boss, entirely because the amount of hits he takes to be staggered seems one or two high, meaning he'll generally get the most hits in out of any of the bosses. Another unfair touch- although I admit it may be a oversight- is that in almost all instances, you can stop an enemies attack by destroying the limb they’re using to attack you (if it doesn’t outright kill them). Excepting an arm strike from a Bentley, which will still harm you all the same. It’s an incredible nitpick on my behalf, and I know that, but the amount of times I’ve been fucked over by The Deadly Bone Graze Of The Bentley still leaves me Walkers Ready Salted, in no small part due to the fact they tank hits like a brick wall. You could make the case that the voice acting in the game robs the atmosphere of it’s zing somewhat, too, but honestly I don’t think it’s that bad. It’s perhaps not stellar, but at least you can sort of understand the characters’ emotional range- Rogan’s specifically- and, not gonna lie, Curien’s booming voice is pretty badass. Besides, there is far worse yet to come... But we'll get to that in due time.The biggest issue I have with The House Of The Dead is not something inherent in the game itself, but actually in Sega’s business practise. Y’see, Sega has this thing they do where they, like, don’t do a very good job of holding onto the source code of a number of their titles. The original House Of The Dead is one such victim of this phenomenon (alongside the original Sonic The Hedgehog, I believe), and that creates a problem in that the only way to authentically experience the game these days is in an arcade setting. To date, there has never been an arcade perfect port of the original game, and not for lack of trying; Sega did supposedly try tracking it down when putting together what would become The House Of The Dead 2 & 3 Return for the Wii, but, well, no source code mate, can't do it. There were ports to the Sega Saturn and PC, handled by Tantalus, but... well, let’s start with the Saturn version. You remember how I said the visuals of the arcade version hold up well, even today?

The Saturn’s... very much do not. I remember reading talks in one magazine, during the port’s prototyping phase, that the graphics were largely placeholder ones, and were going to be tuned up for the final release. This, obviously, did not happen. Now normally, I’m not one to bash a games graphical prowess, but come on. Everything is a pixilated, broken mess for crying out loud. Framerate issues that indicate the game is having trouble displaying said pixilated, broken mess does not do much for the game's case, and seeing the port compared to the arcade version directly flat out obliterates it. I honestly forgot exactly how much of a Night and Day difference it really is until I watched that video above.

The single worst aspect of the port, however- and the one that really bothers me- is the need for in-level load times. Whether the product of a rushed development cycle (because even 18 years ago, Sega were pulling that shit on the teams they worked with) or not, nothing kills the flow of a light gun game dead more then a sudden grind to a halt as LOADING flashes on the screen. That several in the first level alone happen literally right before a Saruzou jumps out at the player borders on flat out ineptitude. Part of the problem could've been the fact that, by 1998, the Saturn was dead in the water out west, and it wouldn’t be around for too much longer in Japan either. Popular game or no, Sega likely looked at the situation as not being profitable enough in the long run to require much more quality control- in addition to contributing to why it was rushed out the door so damn fast. That's still bullshit, mind, but that’s Business ala Late 90s Sega; their entire mission statement might as well've been the word “BULLSHIT” scrawled on a whiteboard, with half the letters backwards. Add in the fact that PAL and NTSC copies of the game run incredibly high prices- PAL ones don’t go for lower then £50, and NTSC ones sometimes go over the $100 mark fully boxed- and BOOM, there's the Greek Tragedy in three parts that is The House Of The Dead on Sega Saturn.

Not that that stopped me from buying the port, because I'm a Nutty THOTD Person who'll put up with the obvious shortcomings just for a hit of Dat Sweet House Of The Dead Action™, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

The PC version, by contrast, plays far better; the framerate is largely consistent, there are no mid-level load times, and though it’s still not as much of a looker as the Arcade version, it at least doesn’t look like a witness on an episode of fucking Crime Watch. I assume the PC version's graphical quality is what the final version of the Saturn port would've looked like, if it wasn't tossed out before it pulled it's trousers up. It’s also still fairly easy to source a copy of the game, thanks in part due the practise of companies picking up and re-releasing PC games ostensibly so they work on newer platforms. The downside? Most of the readily accessible copies won’t work on anything passed Windows 98, at least in my experience. It's worth mentioning that both ports also feature a few additional modes, which takes a little of the sting out of their combined shortcomings. The first is a Saturn/PC mode that allows you to select two alternate, fashion-challenged variants of Rogan and G (as well as Sophie and a female DBR Researcher if cheats are utilised). The changes aren’t strictly cosmetic, either; the total life count, bullet count, and I believe bullet strength changes for each one, adding some slight variation to how the game plays. They also both include a Boss Rush mode, which allows you to fight Chariot, Hangedman, Hermit and The Magician back-to-back. Similarly to the arcade version, you can also change the blood colour, although in the Saturn port, this option is hidden in a cheat menu. There are means to download ROMs and disc images of the Arcade and PC versions out there in the Wild Wild Web™, of course, but that’s very much “pursue at your own risk” territory.One thing I will say in both ports’ favour is that they feature fully arranged soundtracks that, so far as I’ve been able to discern, were arranged by Tetsuya Kawauchi himself. In many cases, the songs are actually expanded or fleshed out further; for example, compare the Arcade version of Chapter 1’s music to the Arranged Version. I definitely think the arranged version has more oomph, largely thanks to the addition of the chords behind the leading melody, and prefer it overall. Chapter 4‘s music in the Arcade version is fairly short, but the Arranged version adds on to the song extensively with entirely new sections. I admit I’m not a huge fan of the slight tonal shift, but I appreciate the time and effort. The Arranged Chapter 2 music is also pretty nifty, building on that breakdown with even more crazy sampling, which I am a big fan of. In some cases, I do prefer the original version; again, though I appreciate the Arranged Boss music’s lengthened runtime and crazy guitar solo, I have to admit I miss the dramatic organ chords of the Arcade version somewhat. I’ve kind of glossed over the soundtrack very quickly today, but I do intend to return to it and cover it at length sometime in the future.

Finally, here's a few bits of trivia about the title over the years that I’d like to share before we close out. Firstly, according to the above cited interview with Website Of The Dead, the game was initially supposed to feature Ghosts and spectral-based enemies in it’s earliest design phase, although this idea was discarded fairly quickly. Two unused songs exists in the arcade version’s data that are quite wildly different from anything in the final game; both are extremely jazzy, with one even adopting an unusual time signature. Two of the biggest influences on the game, according to Takashi Oda himself, are the film Seven, and Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack (particularly, the moral ambiguity of the character struck a chord with him, and he attempted a similar approach with characters throughout the series). The Japanese version of the game, in addition to featuring subtitles for all the dialogue, includes a little letter during the intro from the AMS director that designates Rogan and G’s mission. I remember tracking down a translation for it once upon a time, but I’m unable to source it currently, unfortunately. Cyril has the honour of cameoing in a Disney film a couple of years back, a thing I still can't believe actually happened (but am so glad it did). Finally, the Credit Inserted noise is a stock sound effect previously used in a fairly famous movie a few of you might’ve heard of.Well; as of this line, I’m almost eight pages into the word document I typed this in, and have been at it for a couple of hours now. And yet, even though I’ve said everything I could honestly think to say, I still don’t feel I’ve said enough. I suppose that’s just something you come to expect when talking about something you like so much; you’re always going to want to ramble on and on even when you’re struggling for the words to say. Perhaps the best way to close this off is to expand on the feelings I touched on in the introductory post;The House Of The Dead is a very special game to me. Through a combination of tight, well thought out gameplay, and some of the most impeccable visual and audio design in the business, the game utterly gripped me from the very first time I laid eyes on it as a child. I don’t think I can ever fully epitomise just how much of an influence it’s had on me- as a fan of arcade gaming, as a fan of music (particularly video game music), as a creator- but I can sum it up with “a lot”. I wholeheartedly love The House Of The Dead, and I can only hope I’ve done a good job explaining exactly why I do. If you’d like to see the game in action, I have embeded playthroughs of the Arcade, Saturn, and PC versions below.

~ Decon (18/10/16)

images sourced from arcade-museum.com, arcadeguns.com, hubpages.com, youtube.com/watch?v=Fi2u7tnxKZo, arstechnica.com, fullypcgames.com, and musee-des-jeux-video.com