Zombies Ate My Neighbors is one of the Mega Drive titles that I have the most affection for. Its aesthetics and great sense of humor captivated a good number of players on the SEGA console along with Nintendo’s Brain of the Beast in 1993. What few know is that it enjoyed a sequel in 1994.
Ghoul Patrol , which was the name of the adventure, came out only on Super Nintendo but I was never aware that it was a sequel until the Wii Virtual Console rescued it in 2010. And as the Wii Shop Channel says goodbye tomorrow, I wanted to remember it through our feedback section .
Ghostbusters, according to LucasArts
That Konami classic published in 1993 for 16-bit consoles was characterized by the high presence of zombies in an apocalypse where other types of creatures taken from horror movies were not lacking. And we had to stand up to them even with water pistols, among other weapons of the most varied colors.
The protagonists of this story were Zeke and Julie, and apart from facing all those monsters they also had to worry about rescuing as many survivors as possible from each phase to activate the portal for the next one. So on through some very colorful settings.
Ghoul Patrol preserves a good part of that spirit, starting its journey through a curse that is unleashed when opening an old book about ghosts and demons inside a museum, but under a much darker touch and where the enemies seem taken from the Ghostbusters : specters, possessed … there are all types and they will be the most insistent. Although here there will be no lack of zombies, demons and other creatures from the imaginary of our nightmares.
Everything, in the background, remains more or less the same, with the aim of rescuing trapped humans to activate the portal and move to the next area. There are little more than a dozen thematic phases and a number of bosses that can be counted on the fingers of one hand, but it is not as inspired as the original work .
Ghoul Patrol, a sequel without so much charisma
It is surprising to look back, because no matter how good memories Zombie Ate My Neighbors have given us, memory can play a trick on us and it certainly didn’t remember that it didn’t have a jump button. Because if something slightly improves Ghoul Patrol its predecessor is in the fact of providing a button to jump and another to slide quickly across the ground (ideal against bosses).
Despite everything, his pace seems slower and weapons are no longer so fun; in addition to the fact that the design of the sets is more boring and gloomy than usual, losing much of the charm of the original. At least the survivors are still colorful and will not stop asking for help.
On the other hand, it seemed exaggerated to me how little it would take for the enemies to reappear. We can kill as many as we want, who will never stop coming out more … even within a foot of us. It is quite annoying, so in the end we will choose to save ammunition by dodging them and finding the survivors as quickly as possible to move to the next phase until they touch a boss.
Here this class of enemies are quite demanding and it will not always be enough to dodge their attacks with normal movement, but it will be necessary to resort to dash . But their attack patterns leave a lot to be desired and the fighting goes on for a long time. Luckily we can always use passwords later to speed up the process of getting to the stage where they killed us.
Finally, comment on a curious detail: if in Zombies Ate My Neighbors we could become a kind of werewolf capable of destroying some walls, here we will transform (potion through) into death itself .
Has it stood the test of time well?
Not much, really . But it is that it was not a wonder in its day, being very much in the shadow of the 1993 classic. It is not surprising, therefore, how little this Ghoul Patrol is remembered. The pity is that it has not had more continuity …
Ghoul patrol
| Platforms | Super Nintendo and Wii (Virtual Console; analyzed version) |
|---|---|
| Multiplayer | Yes, local (up to two players) |
| Developer | LucasArts |
| Company | JVC |
| Launch | 1994 |
| Price | Not available |
The best
- That respects part of the essence of Zombies Ate My Neighbors
- Playing doubles is more rewarding
Worst
- Doesn’t have the same charisma as the 1993 precursor
- The respawn of the enemies is criminal
- The design of the phases is more boring and monotonous
