Out of all the Super Nintendo games created, one game comes to mind that combined zany humor and unique gameplay: Zombies Ate My Neighbors (ZAMN).

Developed by Lucasarts, Zombies Ate My Neighbors was created exclusively for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. ZAMN featured top-down isometric, two-player cooperative gameplay, cartoon graphics and hilarious interactions between the player and the enemy monsters. In this case, the slew of monsters included the classic 50’s shlock movie monsters; Wolfmen, Zombies, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Childs Play Chucky-esque dolls and giant 40-foot babies. Who couldn’t love this kind of material? I surely can’t think of anyone, wait, okay, maybe one person but still.

The storyline, not one of ZAMN’s strong points, was akin to the plotlines in vintage 40’s and 50’s monster movies. In this case, your objective was to save your neighbors (among them; tourists, a teacher who graded you with an F- and the friendly neighborhood dog) from the monsters. To complete a level you basically had to save at least one of these neighbors (or all of them preferably) and a portal would magically appear allowing you to progress to the next level. In order to accomplish this feat you were equipped with an arsenal of weapons including Holy Water-filled squirt guns, exploding soda, bazookas, and other items. My weapon of choice was a potion that would transform your character into a purple monster hell-bent on destruction.

I can remember wasting hours with my brother as we teamed up to save the goofy neighbors. The levels would get progressively more difficult and we would end up in shouting matches over who wasn’t putting in enough effort. Ultimately, it would be resolved and we’d keep trying.

When ZAMN 2 came out, shortly after the first one, we were still engrossed in the sequel, although not as much as our first encounter with ZAMN. Which goes to show you that sequels are never as good as their originals, much like the atrocious Beastmaster 2 sequel.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 27th, 2004 at 11:05 am and is filed under Entertainment, Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.