Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol
A Steam re-release of the old SNES games. I remember a friend had Zombies Ate My Neighbors on the SNES when I was a kid, and I liked it back then. The game is a top down shooter. There are a bunch of enemies from different classic horror movies. And you have to run around each level, which are sort of maze like and rescue different 'neighbors' that are standing around. The enemies can attack you or the neighbors. You have a lifebar and can take a few hits. Neighbors die instantly when hit. You start at 10 neighbors total. If you lose a neighbor, your total drops and is carried over to each level. You can only advance levels when you rescule all the surviving neighbors. So you could technically let all but one neighbor die, and then just keep rescuing 1 neighbor to advance. But if all neighbors die, it is game over.
It's still a fun game. But the controls are pretty horrible. You have about 10 different weapon types you can collect (with limited ammo). Different ammo is more useful against different enemy types. But you have to cycle through them with one button. You can't even use the shoulder buttons to go forward and back. So changing weapons in response to seeing an enemy isn't easy, you pump the button until you find the right one, and if you go past it, you have to go through the entire cycle again. There isn't a huge field of view, so enemies are usually on you fast. You can easily miss your shots if you aren't perfectly in line with the enemies, and the controls are clunky enough that it can be easy to be out of alignment.
And this game is hard. I didn't beat it as a kid. In this version you get one save state as it is an emulated game. So with save-scumming, I got through it. You can search various cupboards and chests throughout the game to get items, but it is entirely random what you get. And if you don't get good items you can be screwed or even not be able to complete a level. The boss fights are brutal, unless you get the potion that turns you into an invincible werewolf. There's an achievement for keeping all the neighbors alive, which seems impossible without save-scumming. Enemies go right after the neighbors, often before you have a chance to see anything. And some levels have neighbors turn into enemies after a few seconds, so if you don't know that in advance (using a walkthough) then you have no chance.
Ghoul Patrol is the sequel that I didn't play on the SNES. Similar game. But the controls feel a bit more slippery. Overall, an easier and shorter game. Similar gameplay, but longer levels. They added a jump and slide option (which didn't properly map to a controller on Proton). The really annoying thing about this game, was that most enemies seem to respwan instantly. So you kill an enemy and it shows up again in the exact same spot. So you basically just have to kill it and run past it as fast as you can. It seemed like it was a bug. A worse game than Zombies Ate My Neighbors.