REAL GAMES - CLOCK TOWER

I know, I know.  This isn't next on the alphabetical list, nor is it on the list at all.  But it's Halloween!  And what is Halloween without a scary as shit game?

A lot of you have probably heard of the Clock Tower series of games.  Most of you probably played the first one for the original Playstation.  But in all reality, that wasn't the first one at all.  Clock Tower was originally released for the Super Famicon (Japanese Super Nintendo), and it wasn't ported to the states at the time because they believed Americans would shit themselves in fear.  In fact, the original Clock Tower didn't come to the states until much later on the Playstation port Clock Tower - The First Fear.  But how scary can a Super Nintendo game be?  Pretty god damn scary.  So lets get ready to crap our pants and get this started, shall we?

Who's scared now, silly Asians?

Let me start by saying that everything in this game is creepy as hell, even the title screen.  Anyway, we start with some amazing cut scenes and dialog that explain what is currently happening.  A group of orphans have been adopted, and they are making their way to the mansion that they will live in.  You play as one of the orphans named Jennifer, and your goal is to figure out just what the fuck is going on.  I can't say much more than that without spoiling the game, so lets move on.

Clock Tower has some interesting controls to go along with its interesting style.  You have two directional run button, an action button, a stop button, an inventory button, and an OH SHIT button.  There really is no other way to describe what this button does.  If you say "OH SHIT!" out loud, then you should probably be slamming this button as fast as possible.

The OH SHIT button now comes in 4 different varieties, including Kosher.

The first thing you will notice from the title screen until the very end of the game is the music.  Every single second of this game's music will raise the hair on the back of your neck.  The sound effects in this game are just as perfect.  I literally jumped in my chair every time something scary happened.  So this begs the question...Why is a Super Nintendo game capable of setting the proper mood when today's games cannot?

With interesting controls and brilliant music, we also get stunning visuals.  This game is full of beautifully rendered cut scenes and amazing stage designs.  The main characters sprites in this game give us a wide range of emotions, while the other sprites are grotesque and frightening.  Top notch work for a top notch game.

Clock Tower may be the only real horror game for the Super Nintendo (that I know of at least), but the gameplay succeeds to thrill with psychological plot points and well placed jump scares.  The entire game gives you a feeling of dread and curiosity.  You're scared to open that door, but you need to know what's inside.

Clock Tower is fucking amazing, and it is also scary as hell.  It definitely gets 5 giant scissor wielding demonic children out of 5.  I would suggest this game over 90% of the horror genre released for today's systems.  If you want to play it, you have a few options.  The easiest would be to download a translated rom which can be found with a simple Google search.  But that's illegal, and morally wrong...or something like that.  You might be able to find the Playstation port, but a lot was changed for that, so I can't guarantee that it will be as scary as the original.  Last, you could buy the original game and a Super Famicon to play it on, but you'll have to be fluent in moonspeak to play it.  Whatever option you choose, have fun, and a Happy Halloween!

Like the Silent Hill games, your ending depends on what you do within the game.  This is the final scene from the S ending, but I'm not going to explain it any more than that.  You'll just have to play it yourself to find out.