Kentaro Yano's Game Jockey manga column reviewing the FM Towns port of Splatterhouse. Page 1 (fmt-gamejockey1.jpg) - Cover Top Banner: Game Jockey / SPLATTERHOUSE Small Box: FM TOWNS Series | CD-ROM | 9,800 Yen Main Text (Bottom Right): This month's Game Jockey features Splatterhouse, which has been beautifully ported from the arcades to the FM TOWNS. How will Mr. Yano handle a game with such a spooky, grotesque atmosphere? Author Credit: Kentaro Yano (矢野健太郎) Page 2 (fmt-gamejockey2.jpg) Panel 1 (Top Right) Girl: Eek!! T-This is... no way... Panel 2 (Middle Right) Conan (Big Guy): Right! That’s you when you made your debut back in the February 1986 issue! Panel 3 & 4 (Center Right) Conan: Your proportions were pretty weird back then. (Small text pointing to her legs: "Thick legs") Girl: Leave me alone! (ほっとけ！) Panel 5 (Bottom Left) Conan: Why pull something like this out now?! Ken (Author/Hippo-face guy): Well, well, if you watch a little longer, you’ll understand. Girl: The 10th anniversary issue was last month! Panel 6 (Bottom Center) Conan: I am Conan! Girl: Wait... don't tell me that joystick on your head is...?! Panel 7 (Bottom Right) Ken: Ahahaha! Compared to now, there are just a few more lines drawn! Conan: Hmm, so young!! (Small text: "Though you haven't changed at all...") Page 3 (fmt-gamejockey3.jpg) Panel 1 (Top Left) Girl: Gehh! An action game?! Panel 2 (Top Right) Girl: That's a scam! When anyone hears "a Conan game," they're going to think it's an RPG! Panel 3 (Middle Center) Girl: Come to think of it, the game for our very 1st article was Conan... Conan: I was just a guest back then, but I was so popular I became a regular. Large Right Side Speech Bubble Conan: How nostalgic... at the very beginning, we used this "shoulder ride" pattern. Left Strip (Multi-panel gameplay sequence) Frame 1: Girl: Wow! / Conan: Huh? Frame 2: Ken: We're short on pages! Hurry up and set out! Frame 3: Girl: Jeez! And I'm so bad at action games... Frame 4: (Hand grabs joystick) SFX: Gwi (Yank) Frame 5: SFX: Dededen... (Game starts) / Girl: Whoa! Frame 6: SFX: Sutatata (Running down stairs) / Girl: Hieee! Frame 7: SFX: Pita (Stop) / Girl: What's wrong? / Conan: Where's the jump button...? Frame 8: Conan: You can't move forward without jumping here. Frame 9: SFX: Kuru kuru... suto (Flipping through the air and landing) Frame 10: Girl: Why are you doing a backflip right on the spot?! Conan: I can't jump unless I get a running start. Frame 11: Girl: What a clumsy old man. Frame 12: Girl: If we clear this gap we'll be fine, right? Here we go! Frame 13: SFX: Bacha bacha (Splashing in water) / Girl: Huh? Frame 14: (Drowning) Page 4 (fmt-gamejockey4.jpg) Panel 1 (Top Left) Girl: Hieee~ What a nostalgic pattern!! It's been since the 1st article! Conan: An! (Grunt) (Caption: ▲ From the Dec 1987 issue "Ashguine") Panel 2 (Top Center/Right) Girl: Wh-What the! Can't you walk any faster?! Lyle is so slow!! Conan: Mota mota (Plodding along) (Caption: ▼ From the Apr 1988 issue "Rastan Saga") Panel 3 (Middle Left) Ken: Look, it's the protagonist Rastan!! Panel 4 (Middle Center) Girl: Waaah!! I knew it, it's this again! Conan: Mun! (Flex) Panel 5 (Middle Right) Conan: But even though we've been running this column for over 6 years, we've only done this 3 times. (Small text pointing to his head: "The joystick on my head is crying tears of joy") Panel 6 (Bottom Left) Girl: Ahh! That mask is...?! SFX: Baaan! (Dramatic reveal) Panel 7 (Bottom Center) Ken: Alright, let's have you do it one more time! Narrator/Text: The cursed mask, "Hell Mask"! SFX: Bun bun (Swinging a cleaver) (Tiny text: It just looks like a hockey mask, but that's just your imagination.) Panel 8 (Bottom Right) Girl: Huh? Which means... Ken: Conan is currently confused! You must control him to beat the game!! Page 5 (fmt-gamejockey5.jpg) Panel 1 (Top Screenshot) Girl: I knew it!! Screen Text: SPLATTERHOUSE / © 1988 NAMCO LTD. / © 1992 VING CO., LTD. Panel 2 (Middle Box) Girl: But really, isn't the story of this game about a boy (Rick) who gets possessed by the Hell Mask to rescue his girlfriend (Jennifer) after they wander into the West Mansion and she gets kidnapped by monsters?! (Caption underneath: ▲ Explained in just a single panel.) Ken: So, do you want to play the heroine? Girl: Ah... Ken: Fine! Go on just like that! (Caption underneath: ▲ Anyone who played it in the arcades will understand.) Panel 3 (Bottom Screenshot) Girl: Gero gero~ (Gross / Feeling sick~) Page 6 (fmt-gamejockey6.jpg) Panel 1 (Top Left) Girl: Enemy!! B Button! Panel 2 (Top Center Screenshot) SFX: Dokaっ (Wham!) Panel 3 (Top Right Screenshot) Girl: Ah! There's a cleaver on the ground. Panel 4 (Second Row, Left Screenshot) SFX: Buhyon (Cleaver swinging sound) Panel 5 (Second Row, Center) Girl: The sound effects and the way the enemies die actually change. Ueeeh~ (Gagging) (Small text: Vomit) Panel 6 (Second Row, Right Screenshot) Girl: To make matters worse, even the corpses (?) in the background are twitching. It couldn't be creepier. Panel 7 (Third Row, Left Screenshot) SFX: Geroっ (Squish/Goo) Girl: Ugh... Panel 8 (Third Row, Center) Girl: Damn it! I thought it was just background decoration, but it's a booby trap!! Ohgeっ (Choking) Panel 9 (Third Row, Right Screenshot) SFX: Shakin! (Flash/Gleam) Girl: Oops. Panel 10 (Bottom) Girl: Ah! Voices around her: Brutal / Grotesque / Filthy / Nasty SFX: Gucha gucha (Gory squishing sounds) Page 7 (fmt-gamejockey7.jpg) Panel 1 (Top Left) Girl: Ah~ this is mentally exhausting. Let's take a little break! Panel 2 (Top Center Screenshot) Conan: Ugyah! (Zapped by lightning) Panel 3 (Top Right) Girl: Dammit!! It won't even let us rest?! It should at least have a pause function... (Tiny text under the top panels: Oh, I see! I wondered why the energy felt off, it's because Conan is going berserk and doesn't talk, so they can't do their usual banter.) Panel 4 (Middle Left Screenshot) Girl: Oh! Is that the exit? Panel 5 (Middle Large Screenshot) Girl: Ugh!! It's a mountain of entrails~!! Panel 6 (Bottom Left, Top Screenshot) SFX: Zururi (Slithering out) Panel 7 (Bottom Center Screenshot) Girl: Waaah! Wait a second!! Panel 8 (Bottom Right Screenshot) Conan (Ghost): I died. Page 8 (fmt-gamejockey8.jpg) Panel 1 (Top Left) Ken: You suck! Girl: Look who's talking! Panel 2 (Top Right) Girl: Even though you can't even defeat the Stage 3 boss! Ken: No matter what I do, I can't pull off the special sliding kick. The timing is so hard~ (Small text: Even though I'm playing on EASY mode.) (Tiny text under the panel: Though apparently the difficulty is toned down compared to the arcade version...) Panel 3 (Middle Section) Girl: Anyway, the game itself is pure and simple—you literally just beat down enemies. Ken: But the horror presentation is off the charts! Girl: Both the graphics and audio are raw and realistic. Ken: The mansion is packed with shocking gimmicks. Girl: Both you and the enemies have diverse attack patterns, so you never get bored. Ken: There's a real sense of story progression across the stages too. Panel 4 (Bottom Left) Girl: In short, once you see the game in motion, you're guaranteed to get hooked! Ken: (Crying) I ran out of things to say... Panel 5 (Bottom Right) SFX: Bunnっ (Massive swing) / Zubasutooっ (Slicing right through them) Girl: Ah. Ken: Oh crap! I forgot this game gives you infinite continues.