Survival horror was born on Nintendo's NES. Developed by Capcom, this horror RPG laid the foundation for Resident Evil and others of the genre.
With the renewed version of Resident Evil 3 around the corner and its demo now available on consoles and computers, we wanted to get on our own DeLorean and travel until 1989. Our destination is Japan, perhaps Akihabara, the electronic city, to tour the stores in search of Sweet Home, a horror video game for the 8-bit desktop of Nintendo.
Despite the fact that the famous DMC-12 is a two-seater vehicle, we have left the passenger seat clear for you to accompany us to discover the seed of evil that ended up inspiring Shinji Mikami for the Resident Evil brand. We return, once again, to visit a mansion … abandoned?
8 bit horror
In 1989 Capcom inadvertently designed an unconventional horror video game for the Famicom console – NES in Europe – that would end up serving as inspiration not only for later designing Resident Evil, but for the other video game companies that entered in horror software. However, at that time the times were different and the video game, Sweet Home, was only published in Japan. And therefore, with texts only in Japanese.
Over time, not a few were the ones who dared to translate the script used in the video game into an understandable language, and everything has a reason; Sweet Home is a little gem that, like wine, improves over time. The reasons are many but in this text we are going to summarize what he did differently with respect to other titles that were released for that small Nintendo machine.
We are talking about 1989 and by then Alone in the Dark, another precursor of the "survival horror" genre, did not yet exist. That is why Sweet Home is considered the first horror video game created for an entertainment system. All the chevrons received over time are due to a somewhat different game system than what was remembered at that time, to surprise events, its setting, the plot and even the audiovisual.
Sweet Home
The story tells us how a group of five documentary filmmakers enter Mamiya Ichirou's abandoned mansion to look for an important canvas but that, due to fate, they check nothing more than enter the residence that alone, which is said alone, they are not. This plot is the same as the movie Sweet Home, also of Japanese origin, with which it shares both plot and characters. Capcom sent Tokuro Fujiwara to the film set to take notes on it and bring the story to his video game. However Fujiwara noticed that there were certain aspects of the plot that were not well represented in the film and tried to improve all this in the video game. The film was distributed in Japan in 1989 while the video game was released in December of the same year. As a curiosity, the producer of the video game is the well-known director Juzo Itami who at the same time also participated in the film.
Despite being the inspiration for games like Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark or Silent Hill, the truth is that its gameplay is very different since Sweet Home, unlike those mentioned, is RPG genre. It has a zenith camera for exploration mode and a first-person camera for randomized turn-based combat, like the role-playing games of yesteryear. However, and here is the first innovation, it is possible to split the group in half at our whim to advance the adventure.
Each character has a non-transferable item that allows him to perform unique abilities. A lighter, a vacuum cleaner, a skeleton key, a camera, or a survival kit. That said, you can imagine that if light is needed in a room or an object is burned, it will be Kazuo – the leader of the group and who owns the lighter – the only one who can break through in this situation. Another reason why it is advisable to play with two groups is to take advantage of their strengths and weaknesses since there is permanent death and, with it, the loss of one of the special abilities. But do not worry, there are objects throughout the mansion that make up for these shortcomings, although obviously everything is more complicated. This innovative group mechanic provided the video game with five different endings that were shown based on the heroes that were left standing at the end of it.
Original cartridge – Photo by Clutchcards87
For now we have seen that Sweet Home was an RPG with random battles by turns – with a system of levels and statistics – and exclusive abilities of each character, so that another of the characteristics of the title becomes evident; the puzzles. Throughout the adventure we will see not a few of these puzzles that are not only solved with the help of unique abilities, but also other objects scattered throughout the mapping. From making small bridges with wooden boards to removing dirt from the paintings with the help of Asuka's vacuum cleaner, one of the protagonists of the game. There are a lot of puzzles and we can find clues of some in the different charts or notes that we see during the adventure. Does that sound familiar to you?
In addition to all this there are also small QTE scenes where speed is paramount, events that require the help of the rest of the group and the odd surprise that we keep in our pockets. Come on, that the game in variety and innovation is plenty, especially for the times that were running and on the machine on which it was run.
Sweet Home was quite long and, although it had a save slot, it could take us a good number of hours to overcome it, especially since the lack of tutorials and its complicated interface made it unfit for any type of player. Interacting with the environment or with the characters required several clicks through its unintuitive menu, similar to that seen in Earthbound — MOTHER, July 1989 — also for NES. For example, to pick up an object from the ground, you had to open the main menu, select an object and click on the option to move it. To this we must add that if it is a weapon that we want to take, it can only go in one square while if it is an aid object in a different one. There is no visual or written help that tells us the steps to take, and with the other actions the same. In our game we had to pull Google to know how to cure the poisoning of one of our protagonists, Asuka, because we did not find the solution and we almost died.
A NES game?
Another of the great positive points of Sweet Home is the fantastic setting that Capcom's people knew how to impress, straddling the work of Lovecraft and the Japanese horror movies. It is really overwhelming to walk through its rooms and hallways and see that anything can happen at the next corner. There is a lot of blood, pictures full of mysteries, clues about the ancient inhabitants of the mansion, cryptic texts and a lot of surprises that surely no one expected in a 1989 video game. As we have said, NES was not an impediment to Capcom It will create a title full of surprises that would mark a before and after in horror games.
This atmosphere was also achieved thanks to the great audiovisual achievement that the Japanese company made with the Nintendo machine. The cartridge is full of very different sets from each other and full of details, the monsters have a spectacular design and not suitable for minors and both the music and the audio effects are beastly for the time. On the other hand, some of the musical themes are quite pounding and restart after each event (open a door, exit a fight, etc.).
But going back to the visual, it is surprising and much to see how Capcom included animated scenes in the software such as the famous door openings – which are the hallmarks of the first Resident Evil -, the appearance of entities or small animated videos that accompany the story. Even the color palette is surprising for being a NES game!
In conclusion, Sweet Home is a small wonder hidden among Nintendo's extensive catalog of the 8-bit desktop machine. It had a lot of unthinkable novelties for the time such as asking for help in combat from the other members of the team or permanent death, and the audiovisual quality of the cartridge along with its plot full of mystery got you fully into the game.
Over the years and with PlayStation on the market, Fujiwara in his position as producer of Capcom, remembered his work with Sweet Home and wanted to remake the video game using the technology of those years. The idea ended up in Shinji Mikami and the rest is already history. That is why many of the Sweet Home elements such as the opening of doors, the limited inventory, the mansion or its puzzles can be seen in the first Resident Evil and successors.
And now, some curiosities of Sweet Home:
- Did you know that the soundtrack of the film is in charge of Masaya Matsuura? It is the creator of games like PaRappa the Rapper or Vib Ribbon.
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Did you know that the director of the video game Sweet Home was Tokuro Fujiwara? In addition to being a producer of the Mega Man saga, he was the creator of the fantastic Ghost’N Goblins.
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Did you know that the creator of the soundtrack of the video game is the same one that he composed for the arcade versions of Final Fight, Strider or Street Fighter 2010?
CONCLUSION
Sweet Home was a revolutionary video game for NES that laid the foundation for what we now know as Survival Horror. The reviews at the time were quite positive but unfortunately in those years hardly any jewelry like these came out of Japan. It has innovative mechanics for the time it came out and the setting is very successful; it generates true tension. Technically and artistically it is very good although the menus and the handling in general can be somewhat cumbersome. If you overcome this stumbling block it is a great game.
THE BEST
- Technically impeccable.
- The setting is fantastic.
- Sound section of category although …
WORST
- … there is some somewhat pounding tune.
- Cumbersome interface
Well
It meets the expectations of what is a good game, it has quality and does not have serious flaws, although it lacks elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
