"Winners don't use drugs" (contains spoilers)
This game is your basic Nintendo platformer, but was sadly only released in Japan (you can download it as a ROM somewhere). You run around pressing the "A" button to swing your axe, or if you play the game long enough, shoot your shotgun at different types of creatures, and pressing "B" to jump. Interestingly though, in Splatterhouse you will fight very familiar bosses - such as Dracula who dances to Mike Jackson's "Thriller" (no lie), some fork wielding maniac with a bag over his head (he looks a lot like Jason Vorhees from Friday the 13th Part 2), a girl who is reminds me of the chick from the Excorcist, Cleopatra, and many others. Also the locations are a rip off from real life movies, such as "Diamond Lake" (*coughCampCrystalLake*), a cabin in the woods with chainsaws and crawling hands (*coughEvilDeadcough*), "House on Haunted Hell Hill".. you get the idea.
Feels weird to say, but this title actually ran pretty smoothly without any real glitches or faults. There was no "getting hit by a fireball through a wall" or anything like that which was a plus. When you swung at an enemy, they died. Maybe it was because it was just strictly a Japanese game that it ran so good?
Graphically speaking, Splatterhouse looks a lot like those "Chibi Manga" things in Anime, all while being surrounded in a violent and dark atmosphere. The music really helps to add to this... and actually, for an 8-bit game, it sounds pretty good.
On a side note I would like to point out that this game is probably the most controversial NES game ever. It has upside down crosses, blood, a lot of violence, etc.. At the end, this guy says a curse as well. Haha.
It felt good to go and play a game this old again, but even with all the nostalgia and whatever, Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti has it's flaws. For starters, it is very easy even for a Nintendo NES game. Secondly, it is very short. Finally, the ending was a total letdown and a shock - it turns out that the whole game was just the set of a horror movie and your character was the main hero in it. Oh, and for some reason it says at the end of the credits, "Winners don't use drugs"... okay? wtf?
If you own an Emulator or can somehow manage your hands on a copy of this game, I suggest you play it through - it will provide you with atleast an hour of fun gameplay, and will give you some laughs as well.