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From the Steam version of Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 (see entry 1787): I extracted the ROMs from the Steam version using MArchiveBatchTool: https://github.com/farmerbb/RED-Project and played them in Mesen.
These look designed for square pixels; at NTSC screen ratio they are slightly too wide: oval Pac-Man, rectangular Dig Dug dirt, etc.
Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti
Slidey but fun; great ghoul designs; I'll have to scum through some time. |
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According to Wikipedia and Google Translate, "wanpaku" ("わんぱく") is Japanese for "naughty." I wonder if it was also chosen because it sounds a bit like Namco's famous game Pac-Man ("パックマン," pronounced "pakku man" in Japanese)?
Nifty graphics and some fun and funky scenes. Uneven health item distribution might make some bits, particularly later, kinda tough--you get just one life, and five continues. I can't be too sure about that difficulty though as I was doing my usual shameless compulsive paranoid save stating. ; D
First Splatterhouse game I've ever really played; the gruesome theme of the regular Splatterhouse games kinda put me off. But this one's more cute & wacky.
I'd remember this more fondly I think except the end boss is really dull and boring, with excessive flicker. And the end story bit also felt a little deflating.
Found a at least compelling explanation for why Namco named its console game division "Namcot," the publishing entity used for Splatterhouse: WG and many other Famicom games. First, the LESS compelling explanation is that the "t" in "Namcot" comes from "Namco Home Entertainment"--but I can't find confirmation that "Namco Home Entertainment" was an official thing, anyway. The more interesting explanation--and both of these come from an 11-year necro in a thread asking about the meaning of "Namcot" on the shmups forum: https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=1205582&sid=d7e97e74143c8f0772f960f78db0c39b#p1205582 --is from "CIT," who says
'I recently met Masanobu Endo (the Xevious and Druaga guy) and had a chance to ask him about the meaning of "Namcot".
Apparently the name was chosen by Toru Iwatani and comes from "pet" and "mascot", giving the impression of something small you can keep at home (as opposed to the "big" arcade games).'
Toru Iwatani is the creator of Pac-Man, who eventually became Namco's head administrator. |
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