Splatterhouse/Walkthrough

Namco's Japan-only 1988 beat 'em up arcade game Splatterhouse is divided into seven stages, each one gorier than the last. Each stage is divided up into several sections, which usually have a ladder or door at the end - and if Rick loses a life, he will restart at the beginning of the section he died on. The amount of hits Rick can take before losing a life depends on what the arcade owner has set the "Rank" option in the dip switch menu to: A - 4 hits, B - 6 hits, C - 2 hits. Therefore, if you are using MAME to play this game (which you almost certainly will be unless you are a native inhabitant of the "Land of the Rising Sun"), you may want to set the "Rank" option to B in order to increase your chances of survival. You will also notice that Rick flashes when he takes a hit; this means that he is temporarily invulnerable, so you should use the effect to your advantage and get in as many extra hits as you can. It may not last for very long, but it can make a big difference in close boss fights.

Rick's most powerful attack, the slide kick, is also the most difficult move to perform in the game. To pull it off, you must jump up while walking either left or right, then push the joystick down into the "south-west" or "south-east" position while Rick is coming down from the jump and press the Attack Button just before his feet touch the ground. You can use this move to take out several enemies at once and to quickly reach the end of a section, but make sure that you do not slide right into a trap.

Rick can only use weapons while he is standing or jumping. This means that he is free to crouch down and kick (or even slide-kick) the enemies in order to save weapons for the tougher enemies in a particular section. Also, every time he picks up another weapon, Rick will drop his previous weapon slightly ahead of him allowing him to pick it up again. This is particularly useful against Biggy Man on the third stage, as Rick will easily be able to blast him away with two shotguns.

Finally, if Rick remains in one place for too long, a purple cloud will slowly make its way towards him from the left side of the screen. It will injure Rick if it touches him, and the only way to shake it off is to scroll the screen forward. You will also notice that if you take too long over defeating a boss, a blue orb will slowly make its way towards Rick from the right side of the screen; it will also injure Rick if it touches him and the only way to avoid it is to crouch down and finish the boss off by kicking it.