Reader Reviews Retro Special

Sweet Home (NES)

by Kami

Sometimes retro trips are good, sometimes they're bad, but I want to take you back to Japan in 1989. There Capcom released a little-known title called Sweet Home, and this was a critical moment in gaming history. Because this, my friends, was where 'Survival Horror' was born. Forget your Resident Evil or Clock Tower rubbish, this was much more hands-on.

The premise is as simple as any horror game, if not downright cliché these days. The game follows a motley crew of investigators - Kazuo, Akiko, Taro, Asuka and Emi - trying to find and document the rare frescos of the "recently deceased Mamiya Ichirou". They walk up to the haunted mansion and enter it's entry room... only for the wall behind them to crumble, blocking their escape...

OK, so it starts off slow. But, for it's time, it was downright scary! The rest of the story slowly unfolds around the frescos (That's paintings to anyone who hasn't got a clue) and the really creepy hauntings of the mansion. Skeletons, shadows, ghosts, wispy ghosts, traps, pits... This sent shivers up my young spine and probably nulled all senses of fear for me!

Atmosphere, even today, is spot-on. It still looks like a mansion and not just some blocky house trying to look like a mansion. The combat is akin to any RPG game - random encounters? Actually, at the time, this was a great scare tactic - what was your next enemy? A weedy wisp? Or maybe something that is gonna kick your backside? Wonderful anticipation and generation of fear...

Controls were always a bit... weird. But then, this is a little Japanese horror game on the NES, so what did you expect? You had to switch items around and even, when you couldn't hold any more, drop items (quite why it took until Resident Evil Zero to re-implement this is anyone's guess). Teaming up into groups, you could carry more items (obviously), and "safety in numbers" is true, as combat isn't quite as dangerous in a team of three, all equipped with weapons... Although quite how you wield a "Fruit Knife" to ward off your foes is anyone's guess!

Spell casting? Check, in the form of prayer. (Heck, if you were seeing dead people you'd drop down on your knees and pray!) It's a typically Gaiden-style gauge which determines how strong your prayer is. The stronger the gauge, the more potent the prayer, but the more prayer points get used up.

I can't do a Sweet Home review without mentioning a couple of the really silly and often beautiful touches. Sweet Home is the birth of the "Door Opening Video" - yup. Just for effect, you understand. But we came to adopt and christen this as part of Resident Evil - it was done long before that. Also, the investigators come well-equipped. A lighter, a medi-kit, a lock-picking kit (Wahey! I am the master of unlocking!), a camera (useful) and... uhh... a vacuum cleaner? And of course, all the typically bad, cheesy and at times just downright shamefully awful dialogue. Oh, and being carried away by ghosts, rescuing your friends who've fallen down a pit... and once a character dies, that's it. They're dead. No resurrection, 1-ups or Phoenix Down rubbish here please - we're trying to scare the pants off you.

Its place in history is set. The comparisons from this game to Resident Evil are entirely obvious, but of course, this game never really took off, even in Japan. We never got it in the west (BOO! HISS!), but it's a playable, enjoyable and oddly polished NES title, that at the time didn't get the recognition it deserved.

So, how do I finalise this long review? Umm... well. Back in 1992 when I first got this title (And didn't have a clue what those guys were saying!), I'd have given it full marks for scaring the daylights out of me. These days, it's not going to have quite the same impact, nor is it easy to get hold of, in any form. It's just a mysteriously good title that was years ahead of its time... and these days, has matured and grown into a cult classic. This is one nostalgia trip you won't regret, and I can only hope one day Capcom hears the prayers of Sweet Home fans across the globe, and gives this a long-overdue and much, much deserved remake.