In 2013 I wrote an excruciatingly long Tumblr post detailing nearly 40 ghoulish NES games perfect for the Halloween season. Now, 10 years later, I've decided to give it the Hollywood treatment and do a total reboot. I've broken the list down into categories and rewritten some entries, hopefully making for an easier reading experience.

Also new is the SPOOK-O-METER: a handy rating guide judging the total spook factor of each entry. (Caution: Spook-O-Meter does not represent quality of the game.)

Without further ado, please enjoy this ridiculously exhaustive and overwhelmingly large list of video games.

Monster Party

A boy named Mark is walking home from a baseball game when a monster named Bert falls from the sky and lands in front of him. Bert says his world is in danger and he needs Mark to help fight the monsters. Mark is reluctant but Bert grabs his hand and drags him off anyway… and then proceeds to magically fuse with him in the sky…

The goal of the game is to traverse the levels, entering doors and fighting the monsters inside until you get a key that unlocks the exit at the end of the level. Mark has a short-ranged baseball bat that can reflect projectiles. However, by popping pills, he can briefly transform into Bert the dragon-man, who can fly and shoot lasers.

But the real stars of the show are the bosses. Each one is goofy, big, and unique, each greeting you with their own peculiar catchphrase before going on the attack. You'll face terrifying foes, such as… a kitten in a box! A cow-hurling minotaur that demands you "mooove it!" And a giant bouncing onion ring!

Despite being developed in Japan, the game was curiously never released there. But that doesn't mean there weren't plans. "Parody World: Monster Party" was teased in magazines briefly before quietly disappearing. It was going to feature more blatant parodies of classic horror-adjascent movies such as The Little Shop of Horrors and Planet of the Apes. Fortunately, a prototype was found and released in 2014, finally allowing everyone to see this alternate take on the game.

Overall, while I hesitate to call the game good, per se, the charm factor alone rockets it beyond the sum of its parts to where I can comfortably call it a must-play for the Halloween season.

Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti

It’s Splatterhouse, but in a cute SD style! Adorably chop up all the monsters that get in your way with a meat cleaver! Lots of horror movie parodies in here too… even Michael Jackson’s Thriller. And there’s also a bunch of neat little secrets…

This game was released only in Japan, if you couldn’t tell by the subtitle. There’s a translation hack out there, but only the brief ending sequence has any Japanese text in it, so it’s not really necessary. The game was also officially included in the 2020 Namcot Collection.

Ghosts'n Goblins

A port of Capcom’s (in)famously difficult arcade game. You’re probably already familiar with it. It’s a fairly early release and the programming feels pretty janky. Beating it is completely hopeless. You will become angry at the video game.

Gargoyle's Quest II

The sequel to Gargoyle’s Quest on the Game Boy. This Ghosts'n Goblins spinoff is a hybrid platformer/RPG. The game features your typical RPG style overworld, where you walk around and visit towns and talk to people and such.

However, the game also has action-platformer sections, where you jump around and spit at monsters and fight bosses and stuff. Firebrand, the demon protagonist, has the fairly unique ability to cling to walls and briefly hover through the air, which are central mechanics of the platforming segments.

The RPG parts are mostly pretty fetch questy… find such-and-such item to access such-and-such place. But Firebrand’s walk speed abnormally quick, and there aren’t any random encounters, so it’s not that tedious.

Castlevania

Everyone’s familiar with these. Jump around a spooky castle and whip monsters to death in search of Dracula.

Personally, I think this first game is the most well-rounded of the original NES trilogy. There’s sort of a finesse in its simplicity and linearity, in comparison to its bigger scale sequels, y'know? It just feels like every inch of the game was deliberately thought out. Even the seemingly mundane parts.

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Like a number of NES sequels, Castlevania II completely shakes up the forumula established by the first, taking the series into a unique direction. Instead of a simple stage-based structure, the sequel offers a large, sprawling world from the outset.

It introduced a day/night system, where the baddies become tougher at night, and towns where you can buy items. It also introduced the infamous townsfolk who either offer sage advice, or outright lies. It turns out this wasn’t even a translation error. They lied to you in the Japanese version too. So take whatever you hear with a grain of salt.

Castlevania II is sort of the black sheep in the series, as usual for these kinds of off-beat sequels (see: Mario 2, Zelda 2). It certainly takes more patience to play than its more actiony, straight-forward brethren. It can be pretty obtuse at times and may require consulting a guide. The goofy, cryptic dialogue is certainly something to behold though.

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

Castlevania III brings the series back to its roots, focusing again on being a linear action game. However, it also expands on the original's scope, adding branching paths and new playable characters. Three potential partners can be recruited on your adventure—Alucard, who can transform into a bat; Grant, who can scale walls; and Sypha, who can use magic.

The Japanese version (Akumajou Densetsu) is considerably different, and generally considered superior to the western release. It uses the VRC6 sound chip to create a denser, more vibrant soundtrack beyond the power of the console hardware. The difficulty is also somewhat easier. There are a couple translation patches out there, but I'd recommend this one.

Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun

This goofy Castlevania parody spinoff stars Dracula's junior vampire son…? No, not Alucard, silly. It's none other than Dracula-kun!

Despite its heritage, the game plays more like Mega Man. Your kid protagonist shoots projectiles and gains new abilities after completing stages. The first level is set in a parody of Castlevania's famous clock tower. Afterwards, it features absolutely nothing especially Castlevania related, or even anything particularly spooky. But there you go.

While this game wasn't initially released in the west, its Game Boy follow-up was, under the name Kid Dracula. But a translation patch for this one is available. It’s not absolutely necessary to play, but there is a fair bit of text, particularly for the bonus games. In 2019, Konami included an English version in Castlevania Anniversary Collection.

8 Eyes

Speaking of Castlevania, here's a blatant knockoff. You get a bird companion in this one though, which would surely make any Belmont jealous. It even includes a co-op mode where someone else can control your falcon friend…! It's not especially Halloweeny, but it does have a vaguely spooky atmosphere to it.

Holy Diver

Another heavily Castlevania influenced game. Yes, it’s named after the Dio song.

You play as a guy named Randy R. Crimson (yes, really). Power-walk around, blowing up monsters with the magic you shoot out of your hands, gaining new abilities as you complete levels. You can choose what magic ability you want to use in the pause menu and switch to it during the game with the Select button.

It’s a very, very tough game. But it’s pretty well made and can be pretty enjoyable if you’re up to the challenge. At least it has unlimited continues. And as you could guess there’s plenty of references to 80s metal music.

This is yet another game that didn’t leave Japan, though there were plans for it. A translation patch is available, but the only Japanese text seems to be in the level names, so it’s not necessary. However, in 2019, Retro-Bit released an officially licensed reproduction cart in a big ol' collector's box.

Frankenstein: The Monster Returns

Frankenstein('s Monster) is an iconic staple of the Halloween monster squad. You don’t play as Frank here though. Frank burns down a village and kidnaps some girl and you gotta walk right and hit monsters until whatever. It’s not too hot… yet, it still has an indescribable something. This is a B movie aiming for greater heights.

The game is absurdly difficult. You can find fireball projectiles, but you lose them with a single hit. You can pick up alternate weapons, but they get knocked out of your hands constantly. You can use potions to refill your health with Select, but they're rare. Health also doesn't refill between stages, the game is stingy with continues, and you need to re-enter a password every time you game over.

There's a nonsensical storyline that runs throughout as you chat with bosses. Why is Frankenstein this all-powerful dimension-crossing demon wizard man that can apparently corrupt minds into doing his bidding? What did he want with that singular random girl anyways? Why does his entire existence in his own titular game feel like a last-minute addition? We just don't know.

Still, the graphics are nice, and the atmosphere is on point. 5/5 spooks.

Monster in My Pocket

Here’s a great overlooked game from Konami, based off a toy line of small figurines (similar to M.U.S.C.L.E.). It’s an action-platformer, and in this one you can play as either Dracula or Frankenstein. You can pick things up and throw them, and even double-jump. Plus it even has co-op!

It’s neat seeing everyday environments from the perspective of these little toys. Reminds me a bit of Capcom’s Rescue Rangers games come to think of it.

Zombie Nation

A giant severed head terrorizes America by flying around, destroying cities with his spit. That's you, the hero. You can also rescue civilians who go flying out of the buildings you obliterate, so he's not all bad I suppose.

Also he’s a samurai and fights the Statue of Liberty.

Zombie Nation is a horizontal shoot-em-up with great graphics and music. Gameplay is above average, but some may disagree. Your head is a pretty big target but it soaks up damage pretty good. Still a pretty tough game though.

The old internet rumor said that a request to make the character "the great head of the samurai" was taken a bit too literally. (Of course, that story is completely baseless, but amusing.) The Japanese version stars a giant tengu mask instead, but it still travels America blowing up cities, so it's not like that's much more sensible either.

Sweet Home

Here’s an RPG from Capcom based off a horror movie (…or was the movie based on the game?). A team of documentarians enter a deceased woman’s mansion to get her last fresco on film. However, the woman’s soul still haunts the mansion and traps them inside. The team must then try to find a way to escape, unraveling the mysteries of the manor along the way.

You can control each character separately, or team up into groups. Each character has a unique item useful for solving puzzles and stuff. But if a character dies, they’re dead for good. They cannot be revived.

This game wasn’t released in the west and it’s pretty obvious why. It's a big RPG and things get gruesome. It’s considered one of the earliest survival horror games and it was even an inspiration for Resident Evil. A very nice translation patch is available, and you’ll certainly need it.

As for the movie, well, it's been languishing in purgatory since 1989. Apparently the producer did changes to it for its initial home release, thus the director disowned it as a result, and it's never been rereleased since. And also there was also a lawsuit he lost...? I dunno. Nevertheless, a high quality subtitled version is up on YouTube thanks to the efforts of Kineko Video.

Maniac Mansion

Speaking of mansions, here’s a port of the classic point-and-click adventure game from Lucasarts. It’s a very lighthearted and humorous tale of some teenagers who sneak into a mansion in an attempt to rescue the main character’s girlfriend from a mad scientist. You can choose two kids to accompany the main character, each with their own unique attributes.

The developers went through a hell of a process trying to clean the game up for Nintendo’s ridiculously strict censorship policies, which has been documented by Douglas Crockford (who headed the NES conversion) here. It’s an interesting read.

Maniac Mansion (Japanese version)

Fun fact: Jaleco made their own version of the game for Japan two years prior. Also, instead of using a battery save like the NES version, the Famicom version made you enter a password that was 104 characters long. The programmer even hid a couple special passwords apologizing about it. Translated, the password “Apology” displays “Sorry the password is so long” and the password “Manabu Shirato” displays “Honestly!”

There’s no translation patch or anything so I have no idea what I’m doing and neither will you.

Shadowgate

Another port of a classic point-and-click computer game. You were given a quest to enter Castle Shadowgate to prevent a warlock from raising the Behemoth and destroying the world.

This one has lots of fun ways to get killed, complete with dramatic descriptions of how you died. Sort of like a choose-your-own-adventure book. And you’ll be dying a lot. Very trial and error. Lots of charm though. Be sure to keep your torches lit!

Shadowgate is part of a series of point-and-click adventures developed by ICOM Simulations for Macintosh, which were given the “MacVenture” label. Two other games in the series (which are unrelated story-wise), Deja Vu and Uninvited, were also ported to the NES. Which brings us to…

Uninvited

So you wake up after having wrecked your car and blacking out. Your sister’s gone, and you assume she went into the big spooky mansion nearby for help. And your car blew up as soon as you stepped out. So I guess the only thing to do is sneak into the big spooky mansion then.

This one came out before Shadowgate, but I only mentioned that one earlier cause it’s more popular and well known. Unlike Shadowgate, which has more of a fantasy setting, Uninvited opts for a slightly more realistic, mundane setting. Though there’s still plenty of sorcery shenanigans to go around.

Dr. Chaos

Dr. Chaos ― Part sidescroller, part point-and-click adventure? This guy’s mad scientist brother was experimenting with “warp zone technology” and it went awry and he went missing. So the brother goes into the mansion to find him and collect weapon pieces or something. The mansion is just DOORS EVERYWHERE and INVESTIGATE ROOMS and I don’t know I don’t have the patience for it.

Friday the 13th

Well, some people like it. I’d even go as far as calling it a cult classic. Hell, in 2013, toy company NECA released a Comic-Con exclusive Jason figure that was based on his appearance in this game. And it was so successful, it kicked off a whole line of game-themed variants of action figures for other properties.

Friday the 13th was developed by Atlus and published by the dreaded LJN. There’s a common misconception that LJN developed the games they published, but really they didn’t! LJN was just a publisher and contracted development to various outside companies—usually Atlus or Rare. Those two were typically competent developers… but LJN didn’t really care about quality and just wanted stuff on shelves, so their products suffered due to tight budgets and deadlines. Or something like that.

Anyway, back to this game. Travel around camp and rescue the kids! Go into cabins and light fireplaces and fight off Jason! Pause the game frequently to look at the map so you know where you need to go and if you’re even moving in the right direction! (Remember: Right is always clockwise, Left is always counterclockwise.)

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Another LJN published title, this one developed by Rare. You gotta run around punching snakes and bats, go into buildings and collect all of Freddy’s bones to burn them. There’s even a day/night system, similar to Castlevania II. Actually it’s more of a night/nightmare system, but that’s harder to explain. In the nightmare mode you can switch between different dream warriors which have more capabilities and stuff?

The game was originally going to have you playing as Freddy, trying to kill the teenagers. But Nintendo probably wasn’t keen on that idea and made them change it.

Perhaps the most shocking thing about this game is that it includes 4-player co-op, which was absolutely unthinkable for an NES platformer. It took Mario until the Wii to reach those heights. Nintendo thought it wasn't possible, but Rare said "Hold my tea."

Honestly, I don’t think the game is as terrible as some people make it out to be. Maybe average at worst.

Beetlejuice

This, on the other hand…

Here we have yet another Rare/LJN outing. It’s a platformer where you gotta occasionally step on colorful cockroaches to earn points buy “scares” which turn you into different forms or something. It’s pretty wonky and lousy.

The Addams Family

Well, they are creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky. A pretty basic platformer. Not too terrible I guess. This was largely a European computer release, so you know what to expect, but it also came to Nintendo platforms.

The Addams Family: Pugsley’s Scavenger Hunt

Pugsley’s gotta find a bunch of stupid shit. There’s not even any music.

Fester's Quest

Sunsoft is considered one of the top developers on the NES, but their road to that position was rocky to say the least. Known in America for classics like Blaster Master and Journey to Silius, Sunsoft is equally known in Japan for "kusoge" such as Atlantis no Nazo and Ikki. Stuck somewhere in between the poles is Fester's Quest.

See, while this game was developed in Japan by the talented Blaster Master team, it was actually designed by a couple rookies in America.

Fester's Quest is known for its extreme difficulty, mostly due to a few questionable decisions and oversights. For example, the game has no lives or continue system—not out of malice for America's children, but because the designers simply neglected to mention any. The problem was realized too late, but the marketing team tried turning lemons into lemonade by selling it as an advertised feature.

The European version did make some concessions with the difficulty though. Namely it lets you shoot through walls, so your wave beam doesn't get stopped a few inches in front of your face inside all the narrow corridors.

For more stories on the game's creation, check out Kid Fenris’s interview with two of the game’s lead creators.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Now here’s a quality Sunsoft title. Probably one of their more overlooked ones too.

Like Fester’s Quest, it’s an overhead game. But you can move diagonally and jump, adding a platforming element. Gizmo attacks by throwing tomatoes a short range. Defeating enemies drops crystals, which can be picked up and used as currency at shops. And the difficulty is fairly light in comparison to Sunsoft’s other games, so all-in-all it’s a nice little accessible game.

Ghostbusters

A port of David Crane's computer game. It's awful in every way imaginable.

Instead, check out The Real Ghostbusters Remastered, an impressive hack that completely overhauls the game so it's not awful in every way imaginable!

Ghostbusters II

Well, it’s a lot better than the first one at least. Still not amazing, but at least you’re not driving around doing chores the whole game.

New Ghostbusters II

Forget that OLD Ghostbusters II. The NEW Ghostbusters II is where it's at. This one was developed by Kirby kings HAL Laboratory. Unfortunately, it only saw the light of day in Japan and Europe. There were plans for a US release, and a prototype of it has been leaked online, but ultimately it never came to be. The Game Boy version did get a US release though, minus the "New" in the title.

You pick two characters; one to control and one to follow you. Press one button to stop a ghost in the beam, press the other to get the other guy to suck it up with the vacuum. Catch all the ghosts in a level to clear it. It also has co-op!

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Are you sick of Dracula yet? You better not be.

A fairly straightforward action-platformer. The camera can be pretty erratic since it rises when you jump and lowers when you duck. There aren’t many enemies to fight, so it’s more focused on platforming and trap avoiding. The music is a cacophonious mess. Remember to press Down while jumping to smash through the ground! Otherwise you’ll get stuck within the first minute.

Ghoul School

Cool School High has been overrun with with ghosts and demons! So you’re this punk ass teen, patrolling the halls, whappin’ monsters with a bat. You can enter classrooms and find other items to use, like the SPINAL ZAP, and the DIGESTARAY, and… and a sandwich.

A bunch of neat-looking monsters in here too. Bogleech did an interview with the game’s creator, Scott Marshall, who talks about a bunch of cool concepts that unfortunately didn’t make it into the game due to time and hardware constraints. Despite its cool ideas though, the game is bit undercooked.

Drac’s Night Out

A stair climbing simulator starring Dracula. I don’t know. This game was actually unreleased, but a prototype was dumped and released online a long time ago. You can also set traps or something. Be sure to pick up the Reebok® Pumps to put some speed in your step!

The Adventures of Dr. Franken

Your girlfriend got chopped up to pieces and it’s your job to find her body parts and reassemble her. Got it? You got that? Good.

This game came out for the Game Boy and SNES, but the NES version was cancelled. Thankfully, a prototype for this one was also found and released. It’s pretty clumsy and confusing.

Devil World

This one’s maybe more cute than spooky. Devil World is an early Pac-Man-esque game from Nintendo… really early… like 1984 early.

Each round has two “level types”. Like Pac-Man, in the first part you gotta collect all the dots in the maze. But to pick them up, you need to first grab a cross, which disappears after a short time. This cross also allows you to shoot fireballs, which briefly turns enemies into fried eggs you can chomp. The second part of the round has you collecting bibles in the corner of the screen and bringing them to the red skull box in the center.

All the while, the Devil up there at the top of the screen is controlling the play field. The maze is larger than the screen and loops around on itself. The Devil makes the screen scroll in whichever direction he pleases. This keeps you boxed in and also adds the risk of getting squished between the walls.

This game came out in Japan and Europe (much later), but never made it to America, most likely due to its heavy religious themes. But it’s a nice little game (designed by Shigeru Miyamoto!) and also includes co-op.

Seikima II: Akuma no Gayakushuu

A game based on a famous Japanese metal band. It’s not a sequel, the band is actually named Seikima II. It’s a pretty basic action game where you gotta collect all the items in a stage I guess. Pretty charming though. But the music is really high pitched and hard on the ears, which isn’t particularly good for a game about a music act.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I don't get this game. Nobody gets this game. What the hell is this game?

From what I can gather, it first involves playing as Dr. Jekyll, a defenseless man who must walk from one end of the town to the other while being mobbed by townsfolk(?). Upon your innevitable death, you transform into Mr. Hyde, who walks from the opposite end of the town shooting monsters with his PSYCHO-WAVE(??). And if Hyde crosses the spot that Jekyll died, it's game over(???).

The Japanese version includes two additional levels, which were inexplicably removed from the US release. But can you really have too much of a good thing?

Chiller

How do get a port of one of the most infamously gruesome and violent video games approved for a console with infamously strict censorship policies? The answer: You don’t. This is an unlicensed port of the arcade light gun game and it ain’t pretty. Sure is campy though. (And censored.)

Robodemons

An unlicensed game from Color Dreams, who brought us timeless classics such as Menace Beach and Raid 2020. This guy with a boomerang has to defeat an army of robot demons made by this fat demon guy named Kull. He’s the the king of Hades. And probably not very nice.

Levels are split into two different game types: a horizontal space shooter type part and a platformer part. The game has you traversing such spooky locations as THE LEVEL OF BONE and THE LEVEL OF FLESH, which is just an unreadable mess of body organs.

It’s terrible. Really terrible. Like maybe the worst game on this list. (Okay, maybe not worse than Ghostbusters.)

A year after releasing this demonic abomination, Color Dreams formed Wisdom Tree and exclusively made Christianity-themed games. Wisdom Tree somehow still exist to this day, lurking somewhere in the shadows.

Taboo: The Sixth Sense

Okay, this isn’t particularly Halloweenish, or even a game at all. It’s a tarrot card reader from Rare. The readings you get are kind of cryptic and incomprehensible. That can be pretty spooky though, right? The manual warns that it is not intended for children under the age of 14, so you know this is some serious shit. Also it may curse your life.

These games are sort of related, but didn’t quite make the cut for whatever arbitrary reason I decided. Usually they have a few typical horror/Halloweenish elements, but not quite enough to warrant listing. Or maybe they’re lacking in a certain variety of horror. I don’t know. Check 'em out for yourself.

• Abadox
• Alien 3
• Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei
• Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei II
• Getsu Fuuma Den
• Jaws
• Metroid
• Ninja Jajamaru-kun
• Ninja Kid (aka GeGeGe no Kitaro)
• Phantom Fighter
• Swamp Thing
• Werewolf: The Last Warrior
• Youkai Douchuuki
• Zombie Hunter

Hellraiser

I’d also like to use this space to mention the unreleased Hellraiser game by Color Dreams (which surely would have made the list). Being it was from Color Dreams, it probably wouldn’t have been too good. But what’s interesting about it is the technology that was planned to be in the cartridge. Dubbed the “Super Cartridge”, it contained an extra processor inside that would supposedly “double the processing power” of the NES using a bunch of trickery. The game was apparently going to play similarly to Wolfenstein 3D, somehow.

Development didn’t get very far off the ground. According to an interview with Dan Lawton, one of the founders of Color Dreams: “The hardware was done, and the artwork was 20% done, there was no programming. It was a 45 degree down angle view, with a maze of stone and walls and pits.” So, don’t expect much in the way of a prototype.

Ultimately, the game would be too expensive to produce, and the market for it was too small, so the project was eventually canned.

Bio Hazard

Here's a Chinese bootleg version of Resident Evil released in 2003. It actually seems like a pretty decent conversion for a bootleg. Aside from the atrocious music and tendency to crash a lot. The battle system is based on Resident Evil Gaiden for the Game Boy Color and apparently has Zapper support? Also all the text is in Chinese. But a translation patch was released in 2014.

Kirby's Halloween Adventure

Alright, I wouldn't typically include a ROM hack on this list, but this one's too good not to. Created by Kirb-Star in 2020, this hack gives a darker twist to the cutesy Kirby's Adventure. New enemies, new levels, and even new level themes spice up a familiar classic. The updated graphics are great, and straddle the line between cute and spooky very well. Download the patch and give it a spin!

Finally, I wanna toss this one out there, just cuz. It’s a public domain ROM made in 1999 by Memblers, a real OG of the NES homebrew scene. Basically it just displays this screen while a chiptune rendition of the Halloween movie theme plays. But if you press a button it changes to a different song and blood oozes down the screen. The ROM can be found under the name “Halloween Demo”, or just “Halloween”. Neato.

NES development sure has come a long way in the ~25 years since this demo was released. But it's always nice to step back and remember your roots.

Finally, at long last, that's it. That's a list of over forty Halloween delights for the Nintendo Entertainment System to enjoy. Not all of them are winners, but not all the candies in your trick-or-treat bucket were winners either. Sometimes you got chocolate, sometimes you got a nasty butterscotch thing. But that's part of the fun of it all … right?

Thanks for reading this big long thing. (Or just skipping to the end and reading this part.) I hope somebody out there found it inspirational or educational or entertaining. I put a lot of effort into creating it for Tumblr in 2013, and I also put a lot of time into "remastering" it for Neocities in 2023. Thanks to anybody who's bothered following me during those 10 years, and anyone who's bothered following me since. Even if it was just a moment. It's appreciated.

But what will 2033 hold? How about I finally compile a list of individual Halloweenish levels in NES games? Ha ha … ha … maybe not.

~Happy Halloween~
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