Happy Halloween!

Castlevania was one of gaming’s first examples of a monster mash. The game is heavily inspired by classic horror films, and this is why werewolves, mummies, and Frankenstein’s monster make recurring appearances throughout the series. Symphony of the Night is one of my favorite games of all time, and I think the “Metroidvania” format is a great fit for the franchise. If you’re planning on playing something on Halloween night, you might want something a little more straightforward. Super Castlevania IV is effectively a remake of the NES original, and it’s still one of the most playable games in the series thanks to the new whip controls and refined jumping mechanics. Although I prefer Rondo of Blood on the PC Engine and Bloodlines on the Genesis, Super Castlevania IV is being recognized on this list for a few key reasons. The color palette is filled with oranges, greens, and purples, so it looks like Halloween. Also, the soundtrack relies heavily on reverb and echo effects, which makes it sounds like Halloween. Whether you’re venturing through Mode7 hallways or vanquishing Count Dracula himself, every stage offers something new.

Splatterhouse is a side-scrolling beat ’em up that’s notorious for its shocking depictions of graphic violence. The game is inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, but it also borrows ideas from modern slasher films. One of the staples of the slasher genre is the presence of an single-minded killer with an unrelenting disposition. Rick Taylor has more than a passing resemblance to Jason Voorhees, but he’s painted in a more sympathetic light since he’s the protagonist of his story. Rick is bestowed with supernatural abilities by a Mayan artifact known as the Terror Mask. The mask gives him enough strength to venture through a creepy mansion in search of his girlfriend. He faces all manner of monsters, demons, and spirits during his adventure, and he keeps them at bay with everything from 2x4s to shotguns. Whether he’s decapitating his undead foes with cleavers or impaling them with harpoons, Rick relies on the same tactics that you’d typically associate with horror villains. Rick doesn’t necessarily need weapons in the first place, since he’s agile enough to perform dropkicks and powerful enough to punch throwing knives out of the air! Splatterhouse was considered controversial in 1988, but it always had a campy earnestness beneath its gory exterior. Like the schlocky films that inspired it, Splatterhouse never takes itself too seriously. You can run through the game in an hour or so, which should leave you with plenty of time for other Halloween festivities.

By design, arcade games offer instant gratification. You can usually jump right into the action without having to suffer through lengthy tutorials, and this makes a game like The House of the Dead 2 a perfect fit for this list. It’s a simple first-person rail shooter than moves along at a brisk pace, and the main objective is to blast away hordes of undead zombies with light guns. The game features branching paths and alternate routes, but it won’t take you more than an hour or two to reach the end. Every House of the Dead is worth playing, but the second entry had the coolest bosses and the best enemy placements. It also has some of the most hilariously bad voice acting I’ve ever heard. This was a point of contention for many critics back in the day, but I love how it makes the game feel like a low budget B-movie. If you can track down a couple of light guns, The House of the Dead 2 is a great way to spend an evening. The Dreamcast version is a near-perfect port of the arcade game, and it’s also available the PC and the original Xbox. If you don’t own a CRT, then the Wii version should suffice. The House of Dead 2 also served as the basis for The Typing of the Dead, so that’s an option for all you keyboard warriors out there.

At the onset of Monster Party, an imposing gargoyle named Bert shows up out of nowhere and kidnaps an unassuming kid named Mark. Incidentally, Bert’s home world was under attack, and he figured that Mark’s baseball bat would be the perfect defense. I’m not sure why Bert didn’t just use the bat himself, but I digress. After Mark is whisked away to a strange new land, he’s faced with all sorts of abject horrors. Half-way into the first level, all of the happy faces in the background are suddenly transformed into skulls with blood oozing out of their eye sockets. (Keep in mind that this was a NES game!) The boss battles are also noteworthy, and Mark has to contend with deep-fried onion rings, dead spiders, and a minotaur who orders you to “mooove it!” My favorite encounter involves a pair of zombies who implore you to watch them dance. You’ll meet your demise if you try to attack them, so the only way to win is sit back and watch their routine until they eventually decompose. This is something of a recurring theme, as the ending involves a graphic depiction of Mark’s skin being melted off of his face. (Again, this is a NES game we’re talking about!) Monster Party isn’t nearly as horrific as it sounds, however, and everything is played for laughs. The game was known as Parody World during its development phase, and it was always intended to be an homage to classic horror icons.

Arc En Ciel was a prosperous nation where everyone lived in harmony. When the devil grew bored of the peaceful routine, he conjured soulless monsters to lay waste to every backwater town in the kingdom. A wizard eventually emerged to break the curse, so the devil sent history’s greatest trickster to stop him. Stingy Jack had been banished to wander the world as a wayward spirit, but the devil promised to grant him passage to the afterlife if he agreed to destroy the pesky wizard. With that, Jack’s soul was crammed into the skin of a pumpkin, and he embarked on his epic journey. The premise of Pumpkin Jack clearly captures the spirit of Halloween, and the mythical pumpkin lord makes for a compelling protagonist. If you dig spooky 3D platformers like MediEval and Maximo, then Pumpkin Jack might be right up your alley. It has a fantastic art style and a thematically appropriate soundtrack, and it’s the type of game that will make any day feel like Halloween. If you want to control a scythe-wielding specter with a pumpkin-for-a-head, there’s no better occasion than All Hallows’ Eve.

Darkstalkers doesn’t get the attention it deserves, especially considering how influential it was. It introduced concepts like air blocking and super combos, after all, and its anime aesthetic helped inspire Street Fighter Alpha and the various Marvel games. In an era where most fighting games were centered around martial artists, Darkstalkers focused on classic monsters. Vampires, werewolves, and zombies were represented, along with swamp creatures, catgirls, and Frankenstein monsters. Each character felt completely unique, and the diverse movesets were intentionally over-the-top. Darkstalkers looked amazing in 1994, and it’s even more impressive today since great pixel art is so hard to come by. The silky-smooth animation gives life to the characters, and everyone on the roster has a vibrant personality. Although the cast is ostensibly scary, the art style paints everything in a comical light. To me, that’s what Halloween is all about. If you plan on settling down with a Darkstalkers game, I’d recommend Vampire Chronicle on the Dreamcast or PSP since it features all of the characters and play mechanics from previous installments.

In typical multiplayer games, players assume similar roles and are given similar tasks. In asymmetric multiplayer games, the experience can differ drastically from one player to the next. One of the best implementations of asymmetric gameplay can be seen in Dead by Daylight. It’s essentially a multiplayer survival horror game that uses a one-versus-four dynamic. One player assumes the role of a supernatural serial killer while the other players are regular people just trying to survive. The lopsided nature of the conflict is basically the template for every slasher flick, so it’s only appropriate that many of Hollywood’s most notorious monsters are featured as guests characters. Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, Pinhead, and the Alien xenomorph all make appearances, and they are joined by the likes of Nemesis and Pyramid Head (from Resident Evil and Silent Hill respectively.) The roster of survivors is also worth mentioning, as it includes iconic figures like Ash Williams, Laurie Strode, and Nicolas Cage playing himself for some reason. The horror genre is predicated around the concept of seemingly-invincible monsters, so the asymmetric play mechanics are completely on brand. Whether you’re hunting down potential victims or you’re fighting for self preservation, Dead by Daylight is the most elaborate game of hide-and-seek I’ve ever played.

In a surprising turn, Nintendo didn’t have a mainline Mario title ready for the launch of the GameCube in 2001. Instead, they took the opportunity to highlight Mario’s timid brother. Dimly-lit mansions are the perfect backdrop for horror stories, but Luigi’s Mansion has more in common with Disney’s Lonesome Ghosts than it does with Resident Evil. The story begins with Luigi winning a mansion from a mail-in contest that he didn’t even enter. When he gathers enough courage to visit his new home, he finds that it has been infested by ghosts. To make matters worse, his brother is trapped somewhere in the mansion. From here, Luigi does what any sane person would do: He grabs a flashlight, straps a vacuum to his back, and starts hunting ghosts! It’s not the longest or most involved game on this list, but it’s filled with clever puzzles and innovative gameplay mechanics. The series could be viewed as Nintendo’s take on the survival-horror genre, and I’ve always appreciated its comical trappings. Every Luigi’s Mansion game is worth playing, but the first entry is the most concise adventure. If you’re planning to start and finish a game on Halloween, then the first game is your best bet.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a loving homage to campy 1950s sci-fi horror flicks. The game revolves around two suburbanite teens who are defending their neighbors from various monsters. Although zombies are specifically referenced in the game’s title, the kids also have to contend with vampires, werewolves, mummies, aliens, giant spiders, swamp creatures, sentient dolls, and UFOs. (A 30-foot toddler even makes an appearance at one point!) The odds are stacked against them, so the kids arm themselves with water pistols, soda cans, and anything else they can get their hands on. Whether they’re throwing silverware or chasing their adversaries with weed whackers, there’s nothing they won’t try to weaponize. The locations are almost as varied as the weaponry. The adventure starts out in a typical neighborhood, but our heroes will also have to navigate through shopping malls, pyramids, and haunted castles during their harrowing journey. Zombies Ate My Neighbors never takes itself too seriously, and it’s loaded with trademark LucasArts humor. It’s one of the most replayable co-op games from the mid ’90s, so it would be a perfect game to revisit every Halloween.

Costume Quest is an obvious choice for the number one position on this list since it revolves around actual Halloween activities. The plot involves twin siblings who are out trick-or-treating in a typical suburban neighborhood. Unfortunately, one of the children is kidnapped by a hideous monster. Players naturally assume the role of the other twin and are tasked with saving their sibling and making it home before curfew. The rescue plan involves knocking on every door in the area, and this means that you can to continue your trick-or-treating adventure while looking for your abducted twin! Although many of the houses reward you with candy when you visit, some households are being looted by monsters who are looking for a fight. The battles unfold like a turn-based RPG, and the characters are transformed into real-life versions of whatever costumes they’re currently wearing. Under normal circumstances, the robot costume appears to be made out of cardboard and tinfoil. When you’re drawn into a battle, the costume is more akin to what you’d see in a mecha anime. Players can find new costumes and upgrades throughout the evening, and it’s a lot of fun to see how rudimentary designs are transformed for the battle sequences. It’s an brilliant idea, and the creative minds at Double Fine did a great job of capturing the imaginative spirit of Halloween. The sequel follows a similar formula, and you might be able to finish both games on Halloween if you wake up early enough!