Published by Konami and developed by Lucasarts, Zombies Ate My Neighbors is an early 90s tongue-in-cheek send up of B horror movies. You have your choice of the totally rad 90s dude or the totally rad 90s babe, or both, as the game supports co-op, and then it’s off to rescue your neighbors in 50 levels of action-packed, puzzle-filled mayhem.
The army of monsters is vast, but your arsenal of dinner plates, tomatoes and soda cans are bound to keep the ghastly horrors at bay. The hit detection is picky because of the 2D planes, only letting you nail your foes dead center, but accommodating this aspect is easy enough and you’ll be sending those creeps packing in no time.
The graphics are playful and colorful, and the music is a real treat. The game does get a little repetitive. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear the levels were randomly generated. But it’s always fun to pop the game in for a little while, especially with a friend. In addition to the SNES and Genesis version, the game is also available on the Wii’s Virtual Console.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors was reviewed using the Super Nintendo version.
Grabbed this game in the bargain bin more than a decade ago because I read some magazine talking it up. I wasn’t disappointed! As you say, it’s just a lot of fun to sit down and play through as many levels as you can/want.
The best part is all the bonuses at the end of each level. The designers thought of everything! Mow down enough evil weeds, get a bonus. Throw footballs at footballers in that martian level, get a bonus. Save all 10 cheerleaders in that same level, get a bonus. Destroy enough walls/edges (the monster potion is essential), get a bonus.
The game is kind of broken, though, what with the huge arsenal you have to cycle through one at a time, the password that doesn’t save weapons, and the iffy collision detection.
Still, it’s just a blast to play.