Posted by Devin de Gruyl on Oct 24th, 2009
CASE FILE: RA-2009-14D
Name: Chiller
Platform: NES
Publisher: American Game Cartridges, Inc. (unlicensed)
Released: 1990
Earlier in this edition of Retro-Active, I alluded to Nintendo’s censorship policies during the height of their dominance of the market. For reasons it’s probably best not to speculate over, Nintendo of America felt it necessary to remove any content from games released under its aegis that might be deemed “controversial,” such as any depiction of excessive violence, blood, religious symbols, and so on. It wasn’t very progressive, but that was the way Nintendo wanted to play it… and because they had the monopoly on manufacturing NES cartridges, that meant anyone who made an NES game had to adhere to these rules and restrictions when submitting content for approval, if they wanted to make any money with the NES.
At least, that was the case until Tengen cracked Nintendo’s so-called “lockout chip,” thus paving the way for companies to self-manufacture their own NES cartridges without any involvement from the N. This also meant that unlicensed games were not chained to Nintendo’s content policies… it was an anything-goes atmosphere in terms of “inappropriate” game material. And nowhere is this freedom more ably demonstrated than in Chiller, an unlicensed port of a 1986 arcade shooter that made its way to the NES not long after Tengen broke down that final barrier.
Chiller is a Zapper game, though it can be played (poorly) with a standard controller in a pinch. (As a matter of fact, with modern TV technology this is the only way to play it today; Zappers do not function with LCD or projection screens, they rely on CRTs.) Like most Zapper/light gun games in general, this is a glorified shooting gallery, but this one at least has a memorable premise; you’re fending off the undead in cemeteries, haunted houses, and dungeons laden with torture apparati. Your goal is to destroy a certain number of foes, as indicated by the “Monster Meter” on screen, in order to advance to the next level; you have unlimited ammunition, but keep in mind that some monsters take several hits to kill, and require you to hack them apart with your bullets one limb at a time.
Do I even need to explain why this game would never have seen the light of day on the NES if it had to be submitted to Nintendo for approval? Even for the company that okayed Monster Party, this one wasn’t gonna fly for a minute. Indeed, Chiller seems to revel in its very offensiveness, which would have made even the Mortal Kombat crew just a teense uncomfortable… there are body parts and plasma flying all over the place, as well as various scenery objects (including crosses and inhumane torture devices) that would have gotten anyone tossed out of a third-story window of Nintendo’s HQ if they even thought about suggesting putting them into a game.
However, once you get past the gory graphics… there just isn’t much to Chiller that isn’t also done, albeit with less blood but far more fun, in the likes of Duck Hunt or Hogan’s Alley. A Zapper game just doesn’t give you as much variety in gameplay as others can, and they tend to wear thin quickly; Chiller is no exception. Much like Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the Atari, its sole raison d’etre is to shock gamers. Once that shock wears off, however, it has almost nothing left to offer.
With that said, Chiller‘s visuals and premise make it an almost perfect game for your Halloween party. It’s a quick play, it’s easy enough to understand with minimal instruction, and it’s full of that splatter-flick goodness that always does well around this time of year. It’s probably worth hunting up, but only if you have an old CRT-style TV to play it on so you can actually use a Zapper. Playing Chiller or any light-gun game using a joypad-controlled crosshairs just doesn’t cut the mustard. Or the corpse, for that matter.
And don’t get your expectations too high, either. This is, after all, an 8-bit NES cartridge, so the graphics aren’t too… well… graphic. By 1990 standards, however, this must have been quite the eye-popper… in a far more literal sense than usual, even!
Well, that’s it then. Four more games you might want to dig out for some retrogaming fun this Halloween season. Maybe we’ll do this again next year, who knows?
Related posts:
- Retro-Active: Halloween Shorties
- Retro-Active: NES “First Sequel” Syndrome
- Retro-Active: Short Takes
- Retro-Active: Top 10 Retro Puzzle Games NOT Called “Tetris”
- Retro-Active: Clash at Demonhead
Related posts:
- Retro-Active: Halloween Shorties
- Retro-Active: NES “First Sequel” Syndrome
- Retro-Active: Short Takes
- Retro-Active: Top 10 Retro Puzzle Games NOT Called “Tetris”
- Retro-Active: Clash at Demonhead
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