This is one of those times when I wonder if the game would be a lot more enjoyable with a simple improvement patch - in this case to simplify the movement mechanics.
Yes!!!!! You took the thought out of my head!!! We all wished this was a good game and a sequel to zombies ate my neighbors. That control…gawd they are not good
I had this game growing up, with absolutely no knowledge of Zombies Ate My Neighbours, and I had a blast with it. It's one of the few SNES or NES action game that I managed to complete without password. The controls never bothered me back in the day, but it's not like I had a lot of other games to compare it to.
I remember having the same feeling as you did that something was off when I first played the game and I always pegged it as rushed sequel syndrome, so it's not surprising to find out that it was essentially a completely different game before being revamped as a ZAMN sequel of sorts. I'm kind of surprised that there isn't a fan patch for this game yet that tightens up the controls and other QOL changes.
I'd love to see you tackle aero the acrobat 2, it was a staple of my childhood and I still think it holds up. The Martian missions is another one that was almost good maybe even great, if only enemies weren't bullet sponges.
Totally agree with all of your points, mate. It's a fine game that I'd finished as a kid, but it never quite scratched the same itch that Zombies did. The lack of super rewarding secrets compared to its predecessor was one thing that always stood out to me. Great video as always.
I loved that Game. Visuals, concept and soundtrack. Especially co-op with my brother. Difficulty and controls are manageable. Beat it regulary as a kid,
It is still technically a sequel to ZAMN though. While the original two creators didnt work on it, their coworkers and some of their team did. All the art and character design was done by the Lucas Arts team who made ZAMN, while the creators were working on Metal Warriors. (This was all cited in the Hardcore gaming 101 article you referenced) The series is also thought to be a trilogy of games, semi unrelated since the creators came back to make Hercs Adventure which also plays in a similar top down vein.
Good review! I always thought this was a sequel to ZAMN, but it is interesting to find out that wasn't the case. Hopefully at some point someone can hack this game and tweak the controls to be more like ZAMN. A lot of classic games with issues have been given a lease on life through the hacking community.
Very skeptical that they weren't unaware that they were making zombie ate my neighbor sequel. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle but I really doubt their statement is 100% true. Until there is an early prototype that the game was completely different than the finish product other than that Lucas art been promoting this game as a sequel in their current re-release. If it was true they would have simply called a spin off.
I've heard of Ghoul Patrol for a long time but never gone out of my way to watch anything about, so thank you for checking out. It is so much more like ZAMN than I could have thought. I wonder if it is something about the engine that just makes scary games have to be made lol. Thank you for all your awesome content!
Im glad I found this channel. Finally, a dude who likes SNES/Sega games as much as I do lol I don't have original hardware anymore, but I do have a USB SNES controller for emulators when I hook up my laptop to my TV lol close enough, right?
Till this day I don't know what the coffee/yellow mug power up does. You first find it in the the third level for the third world. I love the game though, where I live people used to exchange cartridge shells instead of the full thing, so when I played it was actually Kawasaki Superbike Challenge(?) on the label. Jumping is mostly used in the third world onwards, jumping in and out of the water, and then in the fourth world to access different parts of the castle and dungeon, the slipperiness is terrible all the same, so I often save the blue potion to become invincible and just run over chasms.
Ghoul Patrol and Zombies Ate my Neighbors are worth playing anytime, its one of a kind game that was never remade in some other style, I played this on my Sega Genesis forever and I still play it on my Retro setup still
Played a lot of ZaMN when I was a kid, needed game genie to beat the later levels, even with a friend. I want to pick up the double pack of ZaMN and Ghoul patrol on Xbox. It goes on sale sometimes for $8.
Sounds to me it's a sequel in that the publishing company that owned the rights to the characters had this other game with similar gameplay in development and had it repurposed into a ZAMN game, to cash-in on the success of the original as soon as possible. There are probably thousands of sequels in the videogame industry that would fit that description.
I recall an interview with a former Sonic Team member who described the game development process as "we come up with really cool game design and then management makes us shoehorn Sonic into it"
You know dude. I have watched your videos for years. You have played A LOT of games. I think a shiny new top 100 would be super interesting at this point.
Perfect timing! This game and ZAMN are on sale right now on PSN in a bundle for $7.49 (50 percent off). I never knew about Ghoul Patrol until recently, but I adored ZAMN on the SNES, so I’ll definitely be picking it up. Great video and Big Ups!
Sounds like this game is to Zombies Ate My Neighbors as Secret of Evermore is to Secret of Mana. Most people love the originals, but are torn on the other game that uses the same (or similar) engine that doesn't quite get it right. At least with this, an improvement patch to fix the controls may be all that's needed.
Also a gem because on ebay the authentic copies are like 100 bucks more even the complete in box for 1000 or more. Luckily Limited Run Games have both Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol released on Switch, PS4 (compatible for PS5), and Xbox One (Series X also compatible). Sadly the controls are different and the music is high pitched and what's weird, when you start the game and seeing these companys that made by the game somehow Lucas Games included Disney in it.
This game is definitely one that I want to check out but it’s so expensive nowadays. Thankfully it was rereleased on Switch and PS4 alongside Zombies ate my Neighbors so I do want to get ahold of it or that version before it gets expensive. Either way Great Review as always SNES Drunk.
Nice Video 👍 You can buy both games now cheaper on steam. I think that zombies ate my neighbourhood it's better, too. But Ghoul Patrol it's much easier to finish. I played it in my childhood with my little sister and we had much of fun together 😅👍
One thing that bugged me about the story is how one of the characters didn’t believe what was happening was real at first despite the previous game. Every “neighbor” that dies is technically his fault, and it just makes me feel crappy when I fail.
Regardless of the quality of the game, that's a serious achievement for Malaysian gamedev. I haven't heard of an earlier game made in SouthEast Asia, so this might be the first.
SNES Drunk, I don't know how to tell you this but in your story... that part where you say "And then one day, out of nowhere, the characters from ZOMBIES ATE MY NEIGHBORS were in it" is the moment where technically it DID become a sequel. THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES didn't start as a Holmes novel but then one day Doyle put Holmes in it, and then it became a sequel. That's how sequels work.
It’s kind of got some similarities to Secret Of Evermore in some of its themes and content, but also that it’s an ostensible sequel that is fundamentally worse under the hood.
Since Halloween is near, this game is a must (along with Zombies Ate My Neighboors). In fact, have you considered making a vídeo on games that combine with the Halloween-ish thematic and such?
So in other words, simply removing those start-up and cooldown animations would immediately make this a much better game. ROM hack time? ROM hack time.
This is by far the fairest reviews of this game I have seen. I'm actually one of the rare people that prefer this game over ZAMN. The difficulty level in that game is just so extreme that I only have fun in the first couple of levels, also as much as I love the themes in it a lot of the levels feel like filler, this game has more focused levels and I appreciate it for that reason. I will say that once you learn the locations of the victims in this game the replayablity sadly goes out the window. So this game is a better first playthrough but you can play Zombies more, simply because you're not going to know where everything is.
I owned this upon release when I was in high school. Underwhelming compared to ZAMN, but a decent pick-up-and-play title in it's own right. Whereas ZAMN took inspiration in it's enemies from 1950s horror, Ghoul Patrol seemed to take influence on some creature design from 1980's Ghostbusters & Poltergeist.
You could jump in "ZAMN" lol, or am I tripping? I could've sworn there were trampolines and that those trampolines could be used for map/maze traversal. Maybe I'm mixing up old games or just misremembering...
I swear this had a rom hack that changes it closer to Zombies ate my Neighbors. I kinda remember hating this game and my brother found the had and we played it together.
It's one of those games I put on my retro handheld because the re-release on the Switch was ridiculously priced. Now it's Halloween, and I'm playing these games for the creepiness factor. Werewolf The Last Warrior will always be my go-to since I grew up with NES, but I'd rather play OH NO! MORE Zombies Ate My Neighbors instead because I LOVE ROM hacks!
it's okay. Didn't know about it as a kid, discovered it via emulation...as sequel to one of the best co-op or single player games ever, it had a high bar to achieve...and it kinda gets there. IIRC, it wasn't even supposed to be a ZAMN sequel but it turned into one...now you can play both on the switch and modern platforms via Limited Run!
I quite liked this game as a kid and played it several times. Later on I tried ZAMN and my main thought was... wow, the original is way too hard. The difficulty on Ghoul Patrol actually felt quite balanced, very playable compared to ZAMN. Anyone else thought this?
I loved this game as a kid. I used to rent it all the time... Until I discovered Zombies Ate My Neighbours. After that, I've found myself playing the latter way more, even though Ghoul Patrol have a charm of its own thanks to the visuals and music. I still love it, but as you said, Zombies is just the better game of the two.
I, like many others it seems, thought this was a sequel to ZAMN. After playing GP at the Best Buy or Toy R Us, wherever it was, I just couldn't get into it as the floaty controls and weird level design seemed so much different from ZAMN. It just didn't make any sense why the developers would change the game so drastically. Now I know that this was because they were completely different game engines but at the time it just made me indifferent to GP and I never bought it. There was just no reason to bother when you could play ZAMN.
Thanks for clarifying the "sequel" rumor. That's what I had believed. It's strange to hear now that it's a separate game but they used the same characters like that.
I bought the Zombies/Ghoul Patrol collection on Steam a couple of days ago & had to get it refunded because it had some of the worst screen tearing I've ever seen, changed the menu screen and some of the music. So, PSA probably don't buy that version.
Well damn, I have the PSN version I know no one talks about that version like at all so I wouldn't be surprised it's got some issues to say the least. Considering it's been sitting on my PS4 for the better part of two years now I guess a refund is out of the question.
You can get gold Patrol and Zombies Ate My Neighbor in one pack on the Xbox one and PlayStation 4 I got it when the deal was up I got it for $6 on my Xbox it's probably like $20 now I'm not too for sure
