Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a run and gun video game developed by LucasArts and published by Konami for the Super NES and Sega Genesis consoles in 1993.

One or two players take control of the protagonists, Zeke and Julie, in order to rescue the titular neighbors from monsters often seen in horror movies.

Aiding them in this task are a variety of weapons and power-ups that can be used to battle the numerous enemies in each level.

Various elements and aspects of horror movies are referenced in the game with some of its more violent content being censored in various territories such as Europe and Australia, where it is known only as Zombies.

While not a great commercial success, the game was well-received for its graphical style, humor, and deep gameplay. It spawned a sequel, Ghoul Patrol, released in 1994.

Both games were re-released as part of Lucasfilm Classic Games: Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows by Disney Interactive in June 2021.

Gameplay – Zombies Ate My Neighbors

The mad scientist Dr. Tongue has created a wide variety of monsters within the bowels of his castle and has unleashed them on nearby suburban areas, terrorizing its inhabitants.

Two teenage friends, Zeke and Julie, having witnessed the attack of said monsters, arm themselves with a great deal of unconventional weaponry and items to combat them and save their neighbors from certain death.

Ultimately, they will come face to face with Dr. Tongue himself and defeat him to put an end to his plans.

The player can choose between Zeke and Julie, or play both in a two-player mode.

They navigate suburban neighborhoods, shopping malls, pyramids, haunted castles, and other areas, destroying a variety of horror-movie monsters, including vampires, werewolves, huge demonic babies, spiders, squidmen, evil dolls, aliens, UFOs, giant ants, blobs, giant worms, mummies, chainsaw-wielding maniacs, “pod people” (aggressive alien clones of the players), and the game’s namesake, zombies.

In each of the 48 stages, which includes seven optional bonus levels, the players must rescue numerous types of neighbors, including barbecue chefs, teachers, babies, tourists, archeologists, soldiers, dogs, and cheerleaders.

Once all neighbors on a level have been killed by zombies or saved by the players touching them, a door opens that will take the player to the next stage.^[3]

All types of neighbors will be killed if an enemy touches them, preventing them from being saved for the remainder of the game or until an “Extra Bonus Victim” is awarded.

On some levels, daytime gradually turns to night. Upon nightfall, tourists transform into werewolves and cannot be saved; the game counts it as if they had been killed.

At least one neighbor must be saved from each level to progress to the next. The game is lost if the players lose all of their lives or if all of the neighbors are killed. Scoring points earns players neighbors to save and extra lives.

Each level has at most ten neighbors, and each neighbor type is worth a different number of points.

There are various items that the players can pick up along the way.

These include keys that open up doors, health packs that restore health, and potions with various effects such as increasing speed or temporarily transforming the player into a powerful monster.

Players can also collect various types of weapons, such as an Uzi water gun, bazookas, weed-whackers, explosive soda cans, ice pops, tomatoes, silverware, dishes, ancient crucifixes, flamethrowers, fire extinguishers and Martian bubble guns, each with their own effectiveness against certain types of enemies.

Music for the game was composed by Joseph “Joe” McDermott. The game was developed on the Super NES, before it was ported to the Sega Genesis about halfway through.^[5]

The ZAMN engine would later be used for Ghoul Patrol, Metal Warriors and Big Sky Trooper.^[6] The developer wanted to include a battery save in the game but was unable to as they could not afford it.^[7]