Zombies Ate My Neighbors: Encyclopedia - Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Zombies Ate My Neighbours is a shooter-style video game for the Super NES and Genesis gaming systems. The game was produced by LucasArts as a comical tribute to both classic and schlocky horror films of the 1950s and 1960s.

There was a sequel, Ghoul Patrol, which used more realistic graphics and more impressive monsters, but it was considered by many to lack the heart of the original, and to have thus killed the series off.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors - Censorship

Due to the theme of the game, it was subject to some censorship. In some countries the name was considered unsuitable, and so it was renamed simply Zombies. The chainsaw-wielding lunatics were replaced with lumberjacks with axes, and levels such as "Chainsaw Hedgemaze Mayhem" were renamed to suit.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors - Gameplay

The player chooses between two teenage characters, Zeke and Julie, both of whom can be controlled in multiplayer mode. They navigate suburban neighborhoods, shopping malls, pyramids, and other areas, destroying a variety of horror-movie monsters, including vampires, werewolves, huge demonic babies, and the game's flagship, zombies. In each of the 55 stages the goal is to rescue all surviving neighbors, at which point a magical door opens that will take the player to the next stage. The game is lost when all of the neighbors die or the player(s) lose all of their lives. Scoring points earns players more neighbors to save, and extra lives.

The most powerful weapon is a bazooka, which can break through hedges and some walls but has a firing recoil which throws the user several paces backwards. Other weapons include water pistols, footballs, cutlery, plates, Martian bubble guns, popsicles (originally bananas in the Monsters beta version), tomatoes, and soda cans.

The player also has a variety of secondary items available; these include inflatable clowns which act as decoys, Pandora's Boxes (smart bombs), and health kits. Most interesting are the monster potions, which give a variety of transformations depending on the potion's colour. The player can become intangible (able to walk on water and straight through enemies to save the neighbors), or turn into a big purple Hulk-like monster (indestructible and immensely strong, but unable to swim or use trampolines). The potion with a question mark has one of a number of effects, at random. It can give the effects of the other potions, or heal or hurt the user, or even make them turn temporarily into a zombie, no longer controlled by the player but instead wandering aimlessly. If they come near a neighbor in this state they will attack and kill them.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors - In-game references

The game makes several references to horror movies, including An American Werewolf in London, Child's Play, Dracula, Night of the Living Dead, THEM!), Creature from the Black Lagoon and Tremors.

One of the levels is called "Where the Red Fern Growls", and is a parody of Wilson Rawls' novel Where the Red Fern Grows. There is also a level called "Dances with Werewolves", which is a parody of the movie Dances with Wolves.

A hidden bonus level, Day of the Tentacle, is a reference to the LucasArts adventure game of the same name. This is an example of an Easter egg.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Zombies Ate My Neighbors", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki