Evening of the Undead: Zombies Ate My Neighbors & Ghoul Patrol

[Kazin]

These two games were rereleased on Switch, PS4, PC, and Xbox One today for $14.99. Both games have savestates and local multiplayer (no online, sadly). They seem to be the SNES versions - I was kind of hoping the Genesis version would have been available, too, as that's what I had as a kid, but oh well, the SNES version has better music anyway. There's a ten minute developer interview included, which is neat, but not super substantial. Otherwise there's an art gallery for each game and leaderboards.

Anyway, emulation seems fine to me, though there aren't any visual options - it's 4:3 (as it should be), but there are no scaling options anywhere that I can find, and the border is kind of ugly imo (at the very least, I wish you could turn the border off, but as far as I can tell, you can't).

In any case - I love ZAMN. I've never beaten it (it's so, so difficult, and there's SO many levels), but I love the music and the speed of the game. It's pretty chaotic and fun. I've never given Ghoul Patrol much of a chance - it feels so slow and is... weird. You can jump for some reason. Maybe it's good and I just haven't figured out how to enjoy it, yet?

In any case, talk about Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol!

 

[nosimpleway]

...is it pronounced "Ghoul Patrool" or "Goal Patrol"?

 

[Lokii]

"G-*long howl*-l Patro-*long howl*"

I've never gotten far into ZAMN (putting in savestates for this release is p smart imo), but I have read Demo Weasel's hilarious LP which is just as good.

I'm super curious about Ghoul Patrol. Everyone says its bad, but everyone says that about every game.

 

[keurig]

I've actually never played ZAMN but I've heard nothing but praise from friends who grew up with it. Thinking about maybe picking this up and playing through it with online coop on Steam Play Together or Parsec.

 

[Voncaster]

Anyone know what is going on with the PS4 version? I have not seen it on the store as of this writing.

 

[madhair60]

Port's a bit botched. Cut-up like some old Backbone Sonic game so you never see the original title screens or character select. Music sounds fucked to my ears. Controls bafflingly swapped around with no options to redefine them outside of hardware level. The "save and quit" save option is preferable to the usual re-release alternative of being effectively consequence-free (ymmv on this, I disagree, let's move on). I hear they've screwed around with the password system a little. Permanent ugly border with no way to switch it off. The museum is bare-bones as you like, too, especially compared to Digital Eclipse (who would have nailed this). Oh, lastly, it's the SNES version - this would be fine except the Mega Drive port has the status screen available at all times instead of covering up the screen. Digital Eclipse would have offered this Sorry, I'm a fanboy.

 

[Kazin]

Yeah, the controls are weird, too - B and X swap through your weapons, while Y and A use them, it doesn't feel right (should be Y and X to swap, B and A to use, like it was on SNES, iirc). And I forgot you don't see the original title screen lol

Music sounds fine to me, though. I weirdly watched a 100% playthrough of ZAMN on youtube like two weeks before they announced this, and it doesn't sound any different to me - unless you're talking about Ghoul Patrol, but then I wouldn't know as I'd not really ever played it before.

 

[Tato]

Not being able to remap the controls is just insane, the default layout makes absolutely no sense. I'm constantly using items I don't want to. Chalk me up as another person raised on the Genesis version, so the music just sounds bizarre to me. Dotemu has done some good ports in the past, so it's always interesting to me how wildly different the quality of life features are on these things. Stripping out the original title screens is something I've never seen done before.

As for the game itself, I enjoy Zombies a lot more as an adult having played a lot of rogue-likes. It was fun as a kid, but I could never make much progress deep into the game because doing so really requires you to set yourself up for success collecting weapons and items in earlier levels. I also had no clue about the game's hidden mechanics like the tourists turning into werewolves on certain levels unless you get them within 10 seconds (or exploit the game's sprite limit). The save state system at least makes it so you can keep track of your progress through the game better and don't have to use passwords (which start you with NOTHING but the water pistol).

I don't think I appreciated how random the game is in certain regards. There's a hidden level after Level 1, but the only way you can access it is if you're lucky enough to get a Bazooka or a Monster Potion from one of the 3 cabinets in the level. If you don't get any and you want to see the Bonus Level, you have to keep resetting and rushing through Level 1 until you get lucky.

 

[WildcatJF]

Hm, sounds like playing a little wait and see might not hurt. Thanks for the impressions, all.

 

[Lokii]

I imagine that Dotemu was working under some limiting budget or time constraints that resulted in some of these decisions. It seems likely that whoever at Disney who had the idea of dusting off ZAMN for some nostalgia income was given just enough to make it happen, but not much beyond.

 

[Kazin]

Yeah, you're probably right. There was supposedly a comment by the developer (which I can't find at the moment, but I'm pretty sure I didn't dream it) that said that they wanted to add online play if sales were good enough, but hopefully they at least patch in some basic QoL features (primarily button remapping, because yeah, it's laid out pretty badly atm).

 

[Tato]

I imagine that Dotemu was working under some limiting budget or time constraints that resulted in some of these decisions. It seems likely that whoever at Disney who had the idea of dusting off ZAMN for some nostalgia income was given just enough to make it happen, but not much beyond.

Makes me wonder if that Aladdin/Lion King collection didn't do as well as they hoped. Digital Eclipse did that one and included stuff like the Game Boy ports, cheats, and some cut content. The Zombies collection seems a little bare bones by comparison.

I do appreciate the rare instances when a collection lets you choose between SNES and Genesis versions. I know Blizzard Arcade Collection and the aforementioned Aladdin/Lion King had that option (at least for Lion King).

 

[Lokii]

I def wouldn't be surprised if the returns on Aladdin/Lion King and even Disney Afternoon Collection being lower than expected would influence how projects were perceived going forward.

 

[ArugulaZ]

I was never a fan. They included the Genesis version of the game on the AtGames Legends Pro (a two player joystick with a puck that actually plays the games) and it loses something without the extra color and the clean voice samples of the Super NES version. Also, when you boil things down, it's basically Gauntlet with a touch of 1990s 'tude, and all my Gauntlet needs on the Genesis are met with Gauntlet IV.

So who handled the conversion? DotEmu? I thought they were a publisher, not a developer. I personally like Code Mystics for emulation; they're the remnants of the old Digital Eclipse, and they do solid work.

 

[Kiyone]

Port's a bit botched. Cut-up like some old Backbone Sonic game so you never see the original title screens or character select. Music sounds fucked to my ears. Controls bafflingly swapped around with no options to redefine them outside of hardware level. The "save and quit" save option is preferable to the usual re-release alternative of being effectively consequence-free (ymmv on this, I disagree, let's move on). I hear they've screwed around with the password system a little. Permanent ugly border with no way to switch it off. The museum is bare-bones as you like, too, especially compared to Digital Eclipse (who would have nailed this). Oh, lastly, it's the SNES version - this would be fine except the Mega Drive port has the status screen available at all times instead of covering up the screen. Digital Eclipse would have offered this Sorry, I'm a fanboy.

Except for the Mega Drive version being preferable, this is all correct. It would've been nice to have the option to play either version, but this release absolutely feels bare-bones.

 

[Ghost from Spelunker]

I've only played the SNES ZAMN all my life and love it, but the bosses are pretty trash.
The Amazing Colossal Baby moves around too fast and can take off a ton of health fast. The giant spider is hyperactive and covers the floors with web. The Snakeoids aren't too bad, but take patience. If you could strafe it would be a big help.
But as it is, you really have to save your bazooka/red potions/Pandora's Box for bosses or die throwing plates.

Which is one thing Ghoul Patrol got right, boss battles that felt like normal boss battles. I think they even gave you a weapon with infinite ammo (the crossbow I think).

 

[madhair60]

Except for the Mega Drive version being preferable, this is all correct. It would've been nice to have the option to play either version, but this release absolutely feels bare-bones.

For me it's not so much that the MD game is superior, just that it offers this one tangible benefit that DE would have found a way to offer.

 

[Sprite]

Big Sky Trooper when

 

[Kazin]

For me it's not so much that the MD game is superior, just that it offers this one tangible benefit that DE would have found a way to offer.

I prefer being able to see more of the map I'm running around on than what amounts to mostly a big black void covering a huge chunk of the right side of the screen. Still, having to turn the stupid radar on every level on the SNES version is annoying, I'll give you that.

 

[madhair60]

Widescreen could have accomodated both - if DE are prepared to create what are effectively new versions of classic games in order to afford the benefits of each port to one singular definitive edition, the same should have been done here. The bar's been raised as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Kazin]

Yeah, fair enough. Widescreen would have been nice regardless. Even if just to get rid of the ugly border art lol

 

[madhair60]

I'm whinging, I know - I'm glad overall that it's the SNES version though then they don't use the flipping shoulder buttons due to the controls changes!

 

[Dracula]

I actually just played ZAMN for the first time a couple weeks ago! My friend picked up a copy of the SNES version at a local show. The difficulty is no joke. We played two-player and got about as far as the boss baby level, which I think is only like 20% or so into the game. I was very impressed by the amount of variety even in just the small number of stages we played. Save states would make it more palatable, I think.

 

[madhair60]

The saving is definitely an improvement and needed to be there before.

Plug, sorry, here's my Nintendo Life review. I'm quite pleased with it:

Review: Zombies Ate My Neighbors & Ghoul Patrol (Switch) - A Classic That Deserves Better

Zombie. Zombie. Zombie. Compilation.

www.nintendolife.com

 

[Tato]

Given how many weapons the game has, it's kind of funny that ZAMN isn't that good at being a shooting game. It's often difficult to line up your shots or switch to the right weapon in time given how frantic the action is. Most of the time I'm concentrating on the most efficient way of running through monsters and grabbing the neighbors. Twin stick aiming would probably help in that regard, but what can you do.

Also, I can see how some people would be annoyed by it, but I like that the game occasionally has things in it that require you to understand the mechanics under the hood and exploit them. There's a tourist couple on a later map that's literally impossible to collect before they turn into werewolves, unless you know that the game can only handle so many sprites on screen at a time. There's literally a zombie and a mummy spawn point right next to the tourist couple, so the game is clearly giving you the resources you need to pull off the glitch. But at the same time it's really kind of mean and there's no way a first time player could do that. I'm okay with it through because it's funny and this is the type of game that requires a lot of practice to beat anyway.

 

[Kazin]

Review: Zombies Ate My Neighbors & Ghoul Patrol (Switch) - A Classic That Deserves Better

Zombie. Zombie. Zombie. Compilation.

www.nintendolife.com

"ghoul-em-up" you magnificent bastard lol

 

[Voncaster]

As a PS4 owner, I find the lack of communication as to what is happening with the PS4 version of ZAMN to be frustrating. If I owned another console with ZAMN on it; I would purchase it there.

I saw that DotEmu responded to someone on twitter stating that they reached out to Sony to figure out the problem. In a separate DotEmu response they stated that they are the developer and do not handle the publishing (which I interpret to mean they don't know what is going on). To my knowledge no statement from Lucasfilm Games or Sony on the matter.