WARNING: This review contains spoilers of the 1989 movie Sweet Home. Read at your own risk.
It’s time for another game review, and I’m going to start this one off by briefly talking about one of my favorite video game series of all time: Resident Evil.
This survival horror franchise by Capcom has been around since 1996, getting its debut on the original PlayStation, or PS1. The original game revolved around shooting and killing zombies and monsters while trying to find your way through a suspicious mansion. The second game took the horror into the city, and the third game brought the big boss of it all into the foreground. Subsequent games would diversify in terms of storyline and horror elements.
Resident Evil is considered to be one of the most important game franchises of all time. While it did not invent the survival horror genre as many claim, it did popularize it in the west, and many of the elements incorporated into it would become staples of the genre for generations to come: interchangeable weapons, conserving your ammo, finding clues to escape, solving puzzles, quick-time events, and crappy voice acting, which the first game was notorious for.
But as I said earlier, while Resident Evil may have set in motion what survival horror is now, it was not the first survival horror game ever. While this is debatable, I can say that a definite contender for that title is Capcom’s very own Sweet Home.
Believe it or not, Resident Evil on the Play Station 1 was intended to be a remake of Sweet Home, but during development, they had lost the license to make such a game and the concept was changed to something “more original.” Many elements from Sweet Home can still be seen in Resident Evil, however: the mansion setting, quick-time events, puzzle-solving, diary entries, interchangeable items and weapons, and alternate endings.
Developed and published by Capcom, Sweet Home was released for the Famicom in 1989 as a tie-in to the horror film of the same name. I have watched the movie, and in my opinion, it was a fairly solid horror film. It had some unique ideas, was pretty brutal at times, and actually had a really sad story to go with it. If horror is your thing, it’s worth a watch.
I haven’t been able to find out how successful the movie was in Japan, but apparently, it was successful enough for Capcom to make a game out of it. The project would be headed by Tokuro Fujiwara, who was the man behind other Capcom games like Mega Man 2 and Bionic Commando. Believe it or not, two key people involved in the film actually involved themselves in the game’s development: Juzo Itami, the films executive producer, would produce the game, and director Kiyoshi Kurosawa would supervise the project. During development, many ideas were considered, but were rejected due to either hardware limitations or because they didn’t match the atmosphere of the film. However, some weight was brought off of Fujiwara’s shoulders when Kurosawa told him not to worry about following the plot of the film exactly. After almost a year of development, the game was released in December 1989.
The game begins with a film crew visiting an abandoned house hoping to get a story out of it. However, rocks collapse in the lobby and they are trapped inside. They are then alerted that the house is haunted by the deceased matriarch and must find a way to escape.
You are given the choice from five characters out of your group to play as, each with their own primary ability and corresponding item. Due to their unique abilities, each character will be useful in doing different things. Kazuo, the leader, carries a lighter that can burn things, typically uses to burn rope that is blocking access to a certain area. Akiko carries medical supplies and can heal her cohorts if they are hurt, poisoned, or cursed. Taguchi carries a camera used to stun enemies and take pictures of important things. Asuka carries a vacuum used to suck debris and remove it from blocking the path. Finally, Emi—a little girl in the game, though a teenager in the movie—carries a key that can unlock doors.
Each character can carry three items at a time, including their primary item. You will have to manage your inventory accordingly because some items will be more necessary to get through the mansion than others. For example, early in the game, you may find a wooden plank that is needed to get across the chasm in the mansion lobby. You need to make room to carry it, so you may have to leave another item somewhere accessible until your inventory is free again.
Throughout the game, you will have run-ins with enemies that will randomly appear, including evil dolls, zombies, wisps, worms, and other monsters. Some will attack you repeatedly, but others are a bit more complicated. Worms can poison the player and wisps can curse the player. If a character is poisoned, their health will continue to drain in the overworld until they are healed with a potion. If a player is cursed, they will be unable to move until they are healed with a potion. This can end up severely hindering the progress of the game, as every character’s primary item will always be required to complete the game.
Oh, and guess what happens if your character runs out of health? They’re dead. Unlike other JRPGs, once dead, the characters cannot be revived. That means if Akiko were to die, she would be unable to heal her coworkers of any ailments they may acquire throughout the game. However, if a character dies, their items can be used by the remaining characters, which, as I said earlier, may be vital to getting through the mansion.
There is some action involved, as there are quick-time events throughout the game. For example, sometimes a chandelier will fall from the ceiling, and if you don’t dodge it quick enough, you could die. You are given plenty of time to decide what to do, however, so avoiding them shouldn’t be too big of a deal. It’s fairer than most quick-time events (like Resident Evil 4).
Throughout the game, you can find notes written by people who have visited the mansion you are trapped in. These notes add to the story and some will give you hints on how to solve certain puzzles. Many JRPGs told their stories through expositional dialogue from other characters but telling the story through diary entries is a fresh method. It adds to the chilling atmosphere of the game, too, because the person telling the story is no longer around.
Now let’s talk about what’s always important in a licensed game: faithfulness to the source material. Movie-based games are very “hit or miss” when it comes to following the film’s plot, and Sweet Home hits it hard. The plot of the game is exactly the same as the movie where the documentary crew are trapped in a house overrun by a vengeful, deceased mother spirit, Lady Mamiya. The filmmakers are trying to find frescos of a famous Japanese artist, who happened to be Lady Mamiya’s husband, to film a documentary about. Later, they meet a man named Yamamura who is fried alive when he tries to save Emi from Lady Mamiya. His death scene is even graphically recreated from the same scene in the film. However, while Asuka and Taguchi both die in the movie, it’s up to the player and their gameplay choices to decide if they live or not. The final boss is two forms: the ghost of Lady Mamiya and her mutated, grotesque form. The game ends with Lady Mamiya at peace and the mansion collapsing. No adaptation is perfect, but I’d say Sweet Home got 95% of it right.
Not only is Sweet Home important, but it’s great. It’s scary, creative, intense, and very faithful to the movie. Unfortunately, it has never been given an official rerelease, so the Famicom cart is your only option of playing it. However, if you really want to play it in English, there are fully translated reproduction carts available. You must play this game if you’re a fan of Resident Evil, Silent Hill, or other survival horror franchises, so you can see where they got their roots
Rating: 10/10