Zombies Ate My Neighbors | 1993 | SNES/Mega Drive | Lucasarts
Ah, our beloved Zombies Ate My Neighbors. It may use a concept that’s been around since Gauntlet, but the infectious sense of fun that comes from its garish ‘50s B-movie trappings makes it one of those games we can go back to more times than a fat kid can go back to a buffet table. And the manifesto of carefree weirdness that Zombies wears like a decaying severed clown face stretches right through to the credits too.
Zombies isn’t content just to give us fifty-five levels dripping with wave after wave of mummies, chainsaw maniacs, giant ants, Godzilla-sized babies and blob monsters, and then just round things off with a boss fight, a “You did it!” screen and a list of names. Oh no. Zombies is our friend and wants better for us than that. So after the final confrontation with Dr. Tongue in his giant spider and giant head forms, it gives us a whole credits level. Refusing to let their jubilant technicolor splatter-orgy to end in anything like a traditional fashion, Lucasarts instead let us take a monster hunt around their offices, obliterating creatures and rescuing hostages while charicatures of their staff pop up and give us their names and job titles. They even hand out a few hints and passwords for secret levels too. Truly, this game is the gift that keeps on giving.
