Splatterhouse 3 (Genesis) Playthrough

A playthrough of Namco's 1993 horror-themed beat 'em up for the Sega Genesis, Splatterhouse 3.

This video shows four different playthroughs of the game, one for each ending:

Jennifer and David both die (Game Master) 2:00

Jennifer is changed, David lives (Difficult) 1:07:27

Jennifer lives, David dies (Normal) 2:00:05

Jennifer and David both live (Easy) 2:39:05

Like its precursor (   • Splatterhouse 2 (Genesis) Playthrough  ), Splatterhouse 3 is a Genesis-exclusive entry in the original Splatterhouse trilogy, and development was again handled by Now Production.

Several years after the events of Splatterhouse 2, Rick has settled into a comfortable life. He is married to Jennifer, and the couple has a young son, David. Rick works on Wall Street, and the happy family lives in fancy Connecticut mansion. The good times, however, are not to last.

In need of a host, the terror mask has taken to haunting Rick's dreams, dangling the promise of power in front of him like a carrot. A storm blows in late one night, and when Rick runs outside to answer... it..., the mansion is suddenly overrun by the denizens of Hell, and Jennifer and David are trapped inside. Resolved to save his family at any cost, Rick has little choice but to once again become a slave to his bloodlust. He dons the terror mask and steps inside the house.

Splatterhouse 3 isn't another hyper-violent platformer in the vein of the first two games. Instead, it's a hyper-violent 2.5D belt-scrolling beat 'em up. Stranger yet, it features nonlinear stage designs, and the story molds itself around how well you play.

The house is divvied up into six stages, and you are free to carve your own route through each area to the boss. Certain rooms - usually those off the direct path - contain special items, hidden weapons, and unique sight gags, but the clock is always ticking. Cutscenes interrupt the action at regular intervals to let you know what's going on elsewhere, and those are your cues to hurry. If the timer runs out, bad things are sure to happen.

The enemies are nasty, and the action is brutal. In his regular form, Rick can punch, roundhouse, jump kick, body slam, and throw his enemies. By collecting Eldritch Orbs, he can draw on the mask's power to mutate himself into a muscled behemoth who launches rigid rods of flesh at the bad guys. If all else fails, there's a quality assortment of murder instruments on hand, bladed and blunt, to fall back on. But not literally. Hopefully.

The level design is a fun way to change up the gameplay while also making the haunted house setting feel fresh again, and the (sometimes fairly disturbing) cutscenes do a fantastic job of continually upping the stakes and keeping you engaged with the story. The fighting is fun (even though the inputs for the special moves can be super touchy), the graphics are graphic, the music is the perfect blend of catchy and dramatic (man, someone really knew their way around the Genesis's FM chip!), and the replay value is through the roof.

Splatterhouse 3 closed out the series with a bang. If you haven't played it before, best hurry! Jennifer is beginning to smell of rot... of the grave.

(By the by, do you think Namco and Sofel were in cahoots with this story? I mean,    • Wall Street Kid (NES) - NintendoComplete   could have taken place between the stories of Splatterhouse 2 and 3, right? The timing and circumstances all seem to work out. All you'd have to do is change Priscilla's name to Jennifer, and kaboom! I Can't Believe it's not SplatterCanon!™

It would also explain what happened to Kid's uncle, and why Kid smiles so inappropriately when he hears the news of his death.)
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!