Retro Gaming 90’s- Splatterhouse 2: (1992)

When it comes down to underrated classics from the 16-bit era of gaming one of the most iconic titles to have emerged from the early 90’s was Splatterhouse 2. Splatterhouse 2 was developed by Now Production and published by Namco and was the sequel to the original Mega Drive title that came out back in 1988. There many things people loved about Splatterhouse 2 including its dark atmosphere along with the fact that it was one of the few survival-horror titles for the Sega Genesis that was also a beat em up game. The plot for Splatterhouse 2 followed the events of its prequel which was pretty dark considering the fact that the main character Rick Taylor was forced to “kill” his friend Jennifer Willis after she transforms into a monster. Rick Taylor also had the ability to transform into a monster himself because of the “Terror Mask” that gives him superhuman powers which introduced in the first Splatterhouse game. Not only did the Terror Mask return in Splatterhouse 2 but players also had to go back to the burning mansion from the original game to try and save Jennifer; after discovering that she could still be saved following her presumed demise.

Splatterhouse 2 had eight different stages that seemingly increased in difficultly as players got closer to the end. For a survival-horror tile Splatterhouse 2 was arguably more ghoulish & terrifying than Zombie Ate My Neighbors from 1993. Splatterhouse 2 could have possibly stood out more if Namco released it any other year than ’92; mainly because games like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Streets Of Rage 2 were arguably more popular on the Genesis console that year. Splatterhouse 2 was very unique mainly because it was one of the few “M” rated titles on the Genesis console that was great in terms of quality while being the polar opposite of Sega’s most popular franchise in the Sonic series during early 90’s . It should also be known that Splatterhouse 2 most likely was overshadowed due to the fact that SNES console mostly had better games than Sega Genesis in terms of quantity; especially as it pertained to the RPG genre due to Nintendo’s past relationship with Square Enix. Along with Streets of Rage 2 the Splatterhouse 2 game was arguably one of the best Genesis exclusive beat em up titles from the early 90’s.