#japanese movie flyer

[thedrillerkiller]

I have never fully watched this movie but now I guess I have to with all the special commentary and sexy suede box set… Possession.

[xaoca]

Japanese poster for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

[simpingforcys]

A WIP but behold, the WIR/King Candy shrine so far. Would of waited until my stickers from Japan came in but they haven’t found my package in 3 weeks, so who knows how long that’ll take.

A year ago I never would have expected to love this movie and character as much as I did. It gives me so much comfort and joy. 🍬👑💕

[leeyunidesign]

映画 『キラー・ナマケモノ』 監督 マシュー・グッドヒュー Artwork 2024 CL｜アルバトロス・フィルム

[owsalfa]

Watership down - Japanese Movie Flyer [x]

[hms-no-fun]

any music that you've listened to lately that you wanna share?

yeah sure! i don't really listen to a lot of popular/new music, i just sorta download stuff when it seems interesting to me. i tend to get really fixated on an artist or album for a long stretch of time, like if a track hits i'll have it on repeat constantly for hours if not days or weeks.

what, me autistic?

anyway i've been getting a lot of play out of John Carpenter's four Lost Themes albums. basically, they're soundtracks for movies that don't exist-- which means they're nonstop bangers start to finish, because unlike his actual movie OSTs he doesn't have to cater to the needs of dialogue and sound design. i especially recommend these albums if you, like me, spent a lot of time in the 2010s listening to the various Homestuck music albums. genuinely there are a bunch of tracks here that could show up in an [S] and you wouldn't even blink.

this is gonna be a pretty big bucket but i've been listening to a lot of J Jazz and City Pop. the three Pacific Breeze compilations, Tokyo Glow, and the four J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz from Japan compilations have been regulars on my rotation. i have to be in a particular mood for the city pop but i can listen to jazz whenever. i'm really glad there's been a resurgence in attention for j jazz since they broadly kept the tradition alive and evolving after it fell out of fashion in the states, and that scene broadly formed the musical foundation of a lot of the greatest composers of Japanese video game & anime music in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.

sorry to be a white woman but i love Vulfpeck. they're an ensemble of exceptionally talented and affably good-natured musicians who've picked up where the 70s left off and carried on as if they never ended. their most recent album, Clarity of Cal, is so wild. it's a live album recorded at a massive sold out show... performing music that had never been released before. this gives it the quality of a greatest hits compilation from an alternate universe. idk man i love these guys. i saw Theo Katzman live in 2020, literally the last good thing that happened in my life before the pandemic hit, and yes Joe Dart really IS that good. also highly recommend Cory Wong's solo stuff and literally every Fearless Flyers album.

there's a lot of soundtracks that tend to go through my rotation so i won't overload you with too many of those, but in particular i've been listening to the Wanderstop OST and the Challengers OST. extremely different vibes! Wanderstop is a game about making tea while dealing with trauma whose music is by C418 (of Minecraft), and of course Challengers is a movie about disaster tennis bisexuals whose music is by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (of The Nine Inch Nails, as seen on Twin Peaks). the former just has such a depth of comforting textures and moods, while the latter is like "i'm having a panic attack but fuck it we thrive anyway."

the last thing i'll share is my favorite band: Murder By Death. i did a video about their most recent album like two years ago, and also wrote an entire novel based on another of their albums back in 2012. they're currently kickstarting what will probably be their last album, which i'm both incredibly excited for and sad about. they're a sort of apocalyptic country/blues/rock band (???? i'm terrible at describing music genres) who've done all sorts of concept albums with different sounds and driving ideas. they're the only band i've seen live more than once (three times, hopefully four when they come to seattle again later this year) and learning how to play & sing their songs on guitar has consistently been my strongest motivator in actually practicing on that damn instrument. i made a playlist on spotify touring through the phases of their career, but if i had to pick one song it's gonna be Last Night on Earth from The Other Shore. it's an album about people escaping from earth to find a new home for humanity (an evergreen topic for concept albums) and this track is the big finale. MBD is SOOOO good at finales dude. i love their music so much

[lastnunswithguns]

Japanese promitional flyer for Sebastiane (1976) dir. Derek Jarman. Source:

[orawyra]

please please please tell me ur robots headcanons ☹️☹️ pleeeeeaseeeee

ok so

-i think i hc most of the lead cast being biracial. yeah

-fender has a prosthetic leg as a human that he's had basically his entire life. he also has freckles like his sister and a tooth gap :3

-piper is a collector of all things music from physical media to magazines and old concert flyers. oh and also pocket knives.

-diesel uses sign language, lug is his interpreter but also speaks a little brazilian portuguese. both piper and fender speak spanish, cappy speaks japanese.

-bonus: all of them try teaching rodney these languages post-movie, with sign being the one he's clung to the most.

-fender was a theater kid and class clown growing up because he liked making people happy. post-movie he does stand up comedy and drag on the side.

-crank, cappy, loretta and ratchet all smoke.

-lug enjoys cooking and helps aunt fanny with making dinner sometimes.

-rodney gets sick very easily and will stay sick for weeks and weeks on end.

-aunt fanny used to be a teacher and now home schools piper.

-pipers low key a weeb and kawaii metal was literally designed for her.

-fender is 1000% a stoner. he and crank have a sour relationship but the only thing they bond over is getting high.

-diesel likes riding on top of lug's shoulders and back.

-fender has separation anxiety and is very quick to grow attached to other people, as well as adhd. he may or may not have a shit ton of trauma.

-cappy has a cat named mono (もの), literally translates into "thing". he's strange.

-after her crush on rodney wore off piper developed a huge secretive one sided crush on cappy (oh no cancel me)

-lug, diesel and rodney are all autistic.

-aunt fanny wears glasses bc i said so fuck you.

-fender is deathly afraid of bugs and blood/guts. and also the dark, especially when in a small space.

-rodney has a habit of chewing on his straws as a stim.

-diesel likes art, and his style is very abstract and avant-garde. he also enjoys old video games.

-bigweld and gasket used to date.

-cappy and loretta were friends in high school.

-piper is effectively wonderbot's aunt and babysitter.

-i thibk ratchet needs therapy.

-i think most of these characters need therapy.

-i think rodney needs a nap.

i have a shit load more but that's all i feel comfortable sharing publicly lol

[redsamuraiii]

Hiroo Onoda : the real life Last Ninja 🥷🏻

After going to the Kyoto Samurai Ninja Museum, I realized that the movie American Ninja (1985) that I love watching, features a character that is actually inspired by an actual one, Hiroo Onoda.

In the movie, John Fujioka, plays a lone Japanese soldier who survived and lived in the forest in the Philippines since World War 2, as he wasn't aware that the war was over. Until he met an orphan, played by Michael Dudikoff, that he realized what happened. He adopted the child and taught him Ninjitsu, to pass his teachings.

In history, Hiroo Onoda survived in the Philippines till 1974, thinking that his country is still at war and refused to believe flyers saying the war was over, thinking it was allied propaganda. Upon learning of this, his former commander flew from Japan to meet him to relieve him of his duty, where he surrendered on 10 March 1974.

The reason he was able to survived that long and evade capture by the allies is because he was a real Ninja. The TIMES magazine attributed to this when he passed away in 2014 at the age of 91.

[archoneddzs15]

Sony PlayStation 5 - Sonic Frontiers

Title: Sonic Frontiers / ソニックフロンティア

Developer/Publisher: Sega 2nd Development Division (Sonic Team)

Release date: 8 November 2022

Catalogue No.: ELJM-30201

Genre: Open Zone Action RPG

Talk about Sonic the Hedgehog's equivalent of a glow-up from Phantasy Star 4 to Phantasy Star Online right here. To be honest, I was getting sick of the PS5's somewhat lacking amount of quality titles that make it worth the investment, and then Sega dropped a bombshell by releasing this game right here. And yes. That's right - my first-ever PS5 game review! I was coming into this game with low expectations and while the game initially did not wow me judging from all the IGN FIRST hands-ons I watched pre-release, I have to say that I was mighty blown away at the final product. This game actually reminded me of a cross between Sonic Adventure 1, the Final Fantasy Sonic X flash games as well as the newest Final Fantasy games, and if you are old enough, the epic cinematic (though dull to me) intro to Burai Hackigyoku no Yuushi Densetsu on the Mega CD, as well as Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast.

I was sorta flip-flopping on whether it was good or bad but personally, having played it for some time and even 100%-ing it with the Content Updates (Update 1: Sights, Sound and Speed; Update 2: Sonic's Birthday Bash; Update 3: The Final Horizon) that Sonic Team delivered, the game itself is mighty excellent for PS5 Sonic game standards. I am personally playing this game using Japanese audio and English text and I think that language combination works wonderfully. The English story is written by Ian Flynn of IDW Sonic Comics and Bumblekast fame, and while the story is a major improvement over the Happy Tree Friends vibe that Ken Pontac and Warren Graff gave I still have yet to play it again on English audio though. Sonic controlled weirdly for the first time I played, but I pretty much got used to the control scheme after learning through it and configuring the settings to my own personal preference. The in-game soundtrack is all sorts of excellent. A mix of melancholic mixed with hard rock, and ONE OK ROCK did a stellar performance with the in-game version of Vandalize. Shame I did not get to see their December 15 2023 concert in Kuala Lumpur though.

The graphics are not the best compared to all the PS5 exclusives (this game is also on PS4, Switch, and PC - at least in my country the XBOX version is not sold here) but for my first ever (and probably only) PS5 experience, it's not bad. Could've been Spider-Man 2 great though, but that would be me pulling the Sony fanboy card. Instead, I'd say, it reminds me of the Shenmue games mixed with Ridge Racer 7, Sonic Generations, Phantasy Star Online, and Need for Speed Most Wanted 2012.

Here is something cool. My copy of Sonic Frontiers for PS5 also came with a flyer for Sonic Movie 2 (a great Sonic movie honestly), and a promo sheet that I forgot even existed. That promo started players off with extra Blue Defense Seeds, Red Power Seeds, and Skill Points.

Overall, if you are looking for a great Sonic game for your new PS5, why not look at Sonic Frontiers? I mean, with Sonic Superstars and Sonic X Shadow Generations doing quite well, the 2020s is probably going to be a wonderful Decade of Sonic. Next up on my bucket list is to collect the two Sonic Frontiers soundtrack CD's that were released.

[bubblegumflavor]

tagged by @soobiesworlds !! thank you for the tag <3

I tag: @darthdisco @dumbponyboykinnie @rosie-tyler @blak68-rit @andietries @sincerelyidontknow (no pressure!!! <3)

(If there's nothing for you, feel free to adopt a spider!)

[nevis-the-skeleton]

Cheyennexshadow : I want to see starscream bonding with the children when he was trusted to be alone with them while the autobots including ratchet on a mission, then june darby came to visit as she's unaware of starscream recently joining the bots.

Oh I have a feeling it's going to be funny and fluff X), maybe also sad but cute in the end. Thank you for your request Cheyennexshadow.

~~~

The Autobots had left on a mission, leaving Starscream alone at the base with the children. The Seeker was initially reluctant, not understanding why it wasn't Ratchet who stayed with the humans.

"We need Ratchet for this mission. Optimus explained simply.

- But… I assure you that I can be useful…! the jet exclaimed. You don't need to leave me behind at the base!

- I don't doubt your skills, Starscream. But they are not needed for this mission."

The flyer couldn't stop his wings from lowering, as his paranoid mind kept screaming at him that they didn't want him anymore. Starscream knew he should have prepared for this possibility, but it was hard to accept.

"If... if it's about the previous mission... the Seeker began.

- It's not about that." Ratchet intervened, much to the jet's surprise.

The doctor sighed, before continuing:

"Look, Starscream, we need someone at the base, it's important."

- …”

The flyer looked away and clutched his wings, unconvinced by the ambulance's speech.

“See it as a mark of trust on our part. Ratchet added.

- What? Starscream wondered a little.

- We leave you alone in the base, with the children as a bonus. This is the biggest proof of trust we could give you."

The Seeker was for a time grateful to the doctor for his speech, but his previous anguish was quickly replaced by another. What if he failed at this?! What if he couldn't take care of the base or the children?! He liked them, there was no problem there, but he never had to be alone with them, much less take care of them. What if Miko decided to go on the run again, and he couldn't stop her?! And if…

“Don’t worry Screamer, it’s going to be fine. Wheeljack huffed with a laugh.

- I'm not worried… lied the jet.

- Hm, hm…

- Anyway! Go! It's good!"

The Autobots eventually entered the portal, and the flyer stood in front, wanting to prevent any sort of escape from the Japanese girl.

“It’s okay, chill! I'm not going to do anything! laughed the young girl.

- Do you think I'm a fool? Starscream huffed.

- At least I would have tried."

Miko returned to sit on the couch next to Raf, while Jack moved closer to the Seeker. He placed his elbows on the railing, and the jet came closer, his wings raised with stress, before saying:

“Be careful, don’t fall!

- You don't need to worry like that, Starscream. reassured the brown haired boy.

- …

- This isn't the first time you've spent time with us.

- Yes… ! But I was never alone...! The Autobots are unconscious, it's terrible...!

- Why would they be? Do you intend to harm us?

- Of course not!

- Then you have no reason to worry.

- …

- The Autobots trust you, but you also have to trust yourself."

The flyer could not hold back his wings which lowered, and Raf had a little look of sorrow, then asked:

“Want to watch a movie with us?

- What?"

Starscream had a surprised expression, and Miko jumped on the couch, before exclaiming:

"Oh yeah! Let's watch an action movie! A good blockbuster!

- Or something calmer. huffed Jack.

-How about we let Starscream choose." proposed Raf.

The Seeker shook his head sharply, before focusing back on the ground bridge.

“The Autobots may need a portal at any time. I don't have the freedom to watch a "movie".

- You need to relax a little… sighed the Japanese girl.

- …

- Oh! Otherwise, let's play a board game!

- You can play whatever you want, but don't include me in it.

- Would you do it if it was a mission?

- Of course, but this is not the case actually!

- So you only do something if it's a mission, it's boring.

- It's the war!" shouted the jet, his wings raised in anger.

The children could not hide their surprise, and the flyer quickly retracted, before stammering:

"S-Sorry... I didn't mean it like that... Just, don't tell the Autobots, okay...?

- We won't say anything, I promise. reassured Jack.

- …”

Miko came closer, and stood next to the brown haired boy, then said:

“Please do something with us. I don't like seeing you stressed like this."

Starscream looked towards the children, and scratched his helmet, eventually looking away. He didn't want to see their disappointed looks... Either way, they were probably going to end up hating him, like everyone else. He couldn't reveal too much about himself, or they would end up being disgusted...

“I can’t…” was the Seeker’s response.

The Japanese girl frowned, before rushing to her bag and grabbing something.

“Miko?” asked Jack.

The girl rushed towards the Seeker, who had his back to them, and shouted:

“Hey! Screamer!"

The jet turned around with a sullen expression, forbidding her to call him that, when he caught a balloon filled with red paint directly in an optic.

The flyer let out an exclamation of surprise, and put a hand to his eye, before his wings rose in anger. Starscream did his best to clear the paint, before shouting:

“Argh! You little…

- Paint fight!" declared Miko vigorously.

The Seeker had a slightly surprised expression, while the young girl pointed at her bag while smiling at the jet, inviting him to take his revenge.

“You don’t have any lessons in your bag?! Jack wondered.

- Hmm… No!" smiled the Japanese girl, before throwing a paint ball at the teenager's head.

The brown haired boy spit a little, after taking some in his mouth, and the flyer couldn't hold back a laugh. He ends up deciding to look in the young girl's little bag, determined to take revenge.

The balloons were too small for Starscream to grab with both hands, but he could see that Miko had done her best to make the balloons as big as possible to be caught by a Transformer.

The Seeker soon joined the battle, mainly targeting the Japanese girl. Raf went to take refuge in a corner, but Jack refused the boy with glasses to escape, and hit him in the back with a ball. The little boy fell backwards, before laughing at the ridiculousness of his fall.

Miko fired again towards the jet, which managed to dodge the girl's attack. He responded, not firing too hard so as not to hurt the Japanese girl, who jumped to avoid the ball, not seeing the second one coming, and taking it directly in the head.

She fell on her butt, and wiped the paint from her eyes, before sticking her tongue out, with a slightly disgusted expression, indicating that she had gotten some in her mouth. Jack laughed in the distance, then exclaimed:

“Karmaaaa!”

Starscream in turn made fun of Miko's situation, who soon joined them in their laughter. The Seeker found the situation so amusing that he didn't had a moment to think about his anxieties and the future. The Japanese girl moved closer to the jet, then said:

“I prefer it when you laugh. It shouldn’t be so rare to see you like this…”

The jet smiled a little, but there was far more sorrow than joy. The flyer looked away a little, when they heard the security alarm activate, then saw a car enter the base.

Starscream initially thought it was Agent Fowler, until the driver got out of the vehicle, and looked at him with wide eyes. The Seeker raised his wings in surprise, facing this complete stranger.

June froze when she saw this Decepticon close to the children, and couldn't hide her horror when she saw them covered in red liquid from head to toe. The nurse said absolutely nothing, like the jet.

The flyer turned to the trio, waiting for them to do something, but they too seemed unsure of what to do. Starscream decided to take matters into his own hands, and moved slightly closer, before the human pulled a taser out of her car, and threatened him with it.

“Get away from the kids and me!”

The Seeker tightened his wings, and backed away, not preferring to know what this weapon did. It might be tiny, but he'd rather not repeat the mistake he'd made with the MECH.

Miko rushed between the jet and Jack's mother, then took a protective stance in front of the flyer. June looked at this in surprise, while the Japanese girl shook her head, before exclaiming:

"Wait! He's not a bad guy! He's with the Autobots!

- But… But his optics are red! And… his a plane! Planes aren't always Decepticons?! replied the nurse.

- What stupid clichés!" Starscream shouted, his wings raised in anger.

The girl gave the Seeker a reproachful look, asking him to remain calm. Jack's mother quickly approached Miko, then asked:

“Are you hurt?!

- No, it's paint. replied the Japanese girl.

- Paint ?!

- Long story.

- Well you'll have to tell me, because I need explanations!"

The children ended up explaining everything to June, the fact that Starscream was a former Decepticon, and that he switched sides. They didn't lie about the fact that the integration wasn't easy, but they also added that the Seeker was now completely part of the family.

The jet did his best to hide that he was flattered by the trio's last sentence, then lowered his wings when he faced June's stern expression. Despite the children's speech, she was not convinced, her expression becoming more serious by the second. The nurse crossed her arms, before growling:

“Call Prime, I have two words to say to him!”

~

The Autobots were quick to return after June's call, who didn't wait until they all left the ground bridge to begin her sermon.

“When did you think that was a good idea?! Leaving the children to a former Decepticon, Optimus, have you lost your mind?!

- Starscream is perfectly capable of taking care of them. replied the Prime.

- He's a Decepticon!

- Former. Ratchet corrected.

- It doesn't matter, I don't want him near the children, especially not alone!

- But he's not evil!" Miko tried to defend.

While the others argued, Starscream watched all this in the distance, in a corner of the base. The less he stood out, the better he was now... The others were going to blame him for that, it was sure! The Seeker sighed discreetly, before hearing:

“Don’t you have anything to say to defend yourself?!”

The jet looked up at Arcee, unable to hide his surprise, while the motorcycle continued:

“Do you agree with what June said?!”

- …”

The flyer frowned, before responding:

“You could try to understand her point of view, no?"

The others had a surprised expression, and Jack's mother was no exception.

“Imagine you have a child, or know children and care about them. How would you react if they were alone with someone who was your enemy not long ago? Someone who others have portrayed as a monster.

- …

- I'll tell you, you will be suspicious, on the defensive. You will think about the safety of your Sparkling above all else. You will do everything to protect them... before it is too late... Because, for a parent, giving they trust to easily does not threaten only they life but also that of their child... You cannot blame her to distrust me…”

Everyone remained silent, before June approached Starscream, who raised his wings in surprise. The nurse held out her hand towards the Seeker, her gaze filled with understanding. The jet stretched out his hand in turn, and Jack's mother grabbed one of his claws, before saying:

“I don’t trust you completely.

- …

- But, I am now sure that you will never harm the children."

June tightened her grip on Starscream's finger, then whispered, away from prying ears:

“A parent doesn't hurt children."

The Seeker nodded gently, with a sad smile, before taking the nurse in his hand. The jet raised his wings, and declared:

"We had a bad start, and I haven't known you long, but you're already my favorite.

- Oh no ! I have been dethroned!" Miko exclaimed, before making a dramatic stance.

Everyone laughed at the Japanese girl's overreaction, and June gave Starscream a soft smile, before saying:

“Welcome in the team!”

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

FILE UNDER: '70s HEAVY ROCK, EPIC SPACE OPERA, METAL PUNK, SCIENCE FANTASY, VINYL TOYS, SF HARDCORE, & MORE!

PIC(S) INFO: Part 2 of 2 -- Spotlight on the second set of brand new Tumblr cover photos that I've used in the past month or so, and which I'm sharing with you all now. This month, featuring such finds as:

Inner gatefold sleeve to 1972's "Black Sabbath Vol. 4," the fourth studio album by English heavy metal band BLACK SABBATH.

Partial sleeve art to the Japanese movie poster to "STAR WARS" (1978), released in Nippon cinemas in 1978. Artwork by Seito.

English rock and roll band MOTÖRHEAD, during the band's classic period, photographed with a Union Jack flag in Berlin, Germany, c. 1981-'82.

Spotlight on partial artwork to Frank Frazetta's "A Princess of Mars" original painting (1970).

Boxed set of Ultraviolence QEE by Frank Kozik. Limited to 200 pieces. Designed by the late, great Frank Kozik.

Partial promotional art to "Venom: Lethal Protector" Vol. 1 #1. February, 1993. Marvel Comics. Artwork by Mark Bagley & Sam De La Rosa.

English rock band THE BEATLES (as a five-piece), performing live in Hamburg, Germany, c. 1962.

A DEAD KENNEDYS concert tour poster for the band's first tour of the UK, promoting their then-newlyreleased "Plastic Surgery Disasters" LP, c. fall/winter 1982.

Sources: Picuki, Heritage Auctions, Film on Paper, CBR, Bristol Punk Flyers, ART WHORE, Captain Fuzz (blogspot), Flickr, various, etc...

[incensemaniac]

i love collecting japanese promotional movie flyers cause they're pretty small (B5 size .. comparable to a4) pretty cheap and they tend to have interesting alternate artwork on them. great for low-budget room decor. these are two that i have on the way to me which are kind of cool finds .. if you wanted to see

also people on mercari japan will sell huge lots of these for under 1000 yen so you can have fifty longlegs posters in your house for like eight euros if that's something you were wanting

[castlesprincess]

If anyone cared for better pictures of the chirashi poster.

For background: chirashi literally means 'flyer' in Japanese. These are handed out in Japanese cinemas during showings and are small (usually B5 sized) and typically are double-sided with movie clips as a collage on the back. They usually have a variation from the western poster design. Being semi-limited makes them vary in price but on average if it's not a super rare release they seem to be about 20-30 USD

[oaktaro]

The Birth of the Horror Game Genre

What was the first horror game?

Killer Shark – 1972? – Cabinet When the question of the first horror game comes up, the poorly kept, early history of video games as a whole becomes an obstacle. You can find conversations about what the first horror game is, bring up seemingly lost cabinets of uncertain construction, or a scene in the 1975 movie Jaws in which it cuts to gameplay of an arcade game called Killer Shark where the player is a deep sea diver, armed with a speargun, shooting said killer shark, who appears from the darkness of the deep ocean… The arcade cabinet has a Sega logo, with various websites sighting it as having a 1972 release in the U.S. with no month or day specified. There's also a flyer, circulating, that shows the machine with 2 play prices, whose currency implies a Japanese release that may have been simultaneous or prior, considering the space for its second coin slot still exists in all the pictures of the U.S. release. Both sensible information and interest in this game are sparse due to its stroboscopic disk approach to film being considered so primitive that it becomes divisive as to if people even consider it video, thus making its historical value as a horror game as divisive, causing the credit of the earliest known horror game to often be split between it and another 1972 game, Haunted House. 

Haunted House – 1972, Aug-Oct? – Odyssey When attempting to create a variety of first-party games for their new home console, horror would join the likes of sports, education, and science fiction games, the Odyssey would see. While the creative mind behind the console would be against packing in games that required more than TV and controller to play, the console was under Magnavox, who would ultimately lean into the more board game design, relying on physical pieces in attempting to capture the family market. Released around September of ‘72, Haunted House would take advantage of the video game format by having a multiplayer game where one player is a ghost that can hide within things with the illumination of their body standing out while also blending in with the natural illumination of a CRT screen that lit the entire environment. The other player would be the detective, attempting to survive the mansion, with physical cards guiding the game without having to approach condensing text into hardware, which was meant to be cheap and thus simple. The game’s approach to horror relied on the tension of anticipating a failure state that allowed the player controlling the ghost to initiate a jump scare that would flash the screen white while they screamed “BOO!” Real scary, I know.

So what’s the earliest known survival horror game?

Hunt The Wumpus – 1973 – printed BASIC code After arcade and console players got their horror fix, the following year would see the release of a desktop computer horror game that would rely less on visuals and more on painting a picture through text like a horror novel. Gregory Yob found the output of the trend of hide and seek games published by People’s Computer Company to be… underwhelming considering what could be accomplished. He would avoid the easy grid pattern level design and have the player explore a cave system where a man-eating beast called the Wumpus was sleeping somewhere around. Also within the cave… were bottomless pits and bats—so great, they can carry a person right off! The player, armed with 5 crooked arrows, named for their… unrealistically generous movement through the air in the game’s dodecahedron-shaped world, would need to explore the cave system to hunt the Wumpus in complete darkness via their other senses like smell and feel, as light would alert the beast, and if you move too close to it, you’ll turn into it’s prey. Because of this, it’s retroactively referred to as the earliest known example of a survival horror game: exploring it’s cave system, managing your limited arrows, to hunt the monster while trying not to squander your limited inventory and become its prey. It was sold via mail order in 1973 and People’s Computer Company who advertised it as a possible tool to teach first grader’s math is credited as its publisher.

It became a franchise.

By 1975, multiple horror games were being released per year. Hunt the Wumpus’s source code was released in Creative Computing Magazine and became a series with ports, sequels, and custom alterations. Wumpus 2 would focus on re-playability. It’s new cave systems bringing changing difficulty and strategy, being described as “the same old Wumpus in a different setting, including those of your own design,"  referring to the ability to create your own cave system in this new entry. Wumpus 3 would advertise new hazards to the mix like earthquakes and bat migrations. Jack Emmerichs is credited with the creation of Super Wumpus, a more complex version of Wumpus where the beast would be aggressively active, while an Altair 8800 parody of the original, titled Wampus, would give players the option to primarily try to escape the cave and avoid confrontation all together.

What was the first video game adaptation of a horror movie? Could it have been inspired by:

Maneater – 1975 Mar? – Cabinet In 1975, Project Support Engineering released Maneater, advertising up to 2 players can indulge in it’s “video terror!” Controlling divers in shark-infested waters, players are to retrieve packages from the bottom and bring them to the surface, and this would be far from the last shark game…

Shark Jaws – 1975 Sep 25th – Cabinet Video game adaptations of other media predate Pong, and Pong’s company, Atari, would join on this, forming Horror Games, a front to take the bullet in case they were sued for their unlicensed adaptation, Shark Jaws, though keen eyes would recognize it using an Atari Tank II cabinet, and those who got inside might note its circuit board, marked "Atari,"  whose marketing VP is quoted as saying the company behind Jaws would find out Atari is behind Horror Games in only 3 days. Advertised as “exciting underwater video terror!” Shark Jaws had you swimming for fish in a third person while trying to avoid being shark food. It’s been praised for it’s sound design, using heavy reverb to emulate its setting, and despite claims of it selling thousands, tracking serial numbers have led to collectors finding it, more likely, only had 500 ever even made. Coincidentally, much like Killer Shark, it too would be used in a movie and 3 years after its release, to boot!

What was the first journalist attack on horror games?

DeathRace – 1976 April - Cabinet Games in the horror genre would, of course, eventually attract backlash. In December of 1975, Destruction Derby would release where the player, controlling a car, would attempt to ram into others. It was licensed to Chicago Coin by Exidy, who would clone the game to also profit from it without competing with their licensee. New hire, Howell Ivy, said the easy approach would be to replace the visuals, which was done by replacing the other cars with fleeing people! Allegedly titled Pedestrian before becoming Death Race 98 and then shortened to Death Race. The cabinet featured 2 Grim Reapers, driving cars, with the pedestrians being named Gremlins, who would scream before being run over. A reporter would see kids lined up to play Death Race and run a story in Seattle, beginning a snowball of media covering the controversial game about running over fleeing pedestrians. Becoming taboo, of course, caused the game’s sales to shoot from hundreds to thousands, with video game magazines reporting it in the top 10 highest grossing arcade games for 2 years! 

How much of an arcade game is in the cabinet’s construction, itself?

Triple Hunt – 1977 April – Cabinet On the market in 1977 was a new 3 in 1 arcade cabinet by Atari, Triple Hunt: a collection of shooting games, featuring Raccoon Hunt, where you shoot raccoons before they get to the top of a tree; Hit the Bear, where you take aim at bears with attached targets that, because the sprites display horizontally stretched, look more like eyes; and a game called Witch Hunt, where you’re firing at a haunted mansion where a witch circles the sky. The game tracks the gun’s position on the screen via 2 potentiometers in the gun, while a display mask and a one-way mirror in front of the monitor let light through and reflect the game’s sprites, creating a sense of depth and allowing them to pass behind and in front of objects. This allows the game to advertise multiple 3D environments. The game’s creator, Owen Rubin, would explain that the more complex method of gun tracking was chosen over using a light-gun, sensing the sprites when they’re not behind objects out of fear that outside lights like fluorescents would get in the way. This cabinet’s construction is an example of how I think so much of the experience is often lost when trying to translate an arcade game to a 2D screen. So much of the experience is in the cabinet’s construction itself, which is often not even attempted to be replicated. The game’s spooky sound design came from a combination of the game’s microprocessor producing sound effects and an 8-track tape producing the ambient environmental noise. Witch Hunt would have the most tape and not be the only witch game of this error.

There’s a horror game of a city’s tourist attraction.

The House of Seven Gables - 1978 - Apple II, TRS-80, Sorcerer Perhaps the most well-known thing about Salem, Massachusetts, is the witch trials of the 1600s. During the time, stood the Turner house that would eventually sell to the family of Susanna Ingersoll, who would entertain her cousin there, telling him stories of its old history. The attic had bits of framing and plaster from former gables built in 1668. This cousin would make the house famous by being inspired to write the 1851 novel, The House of the Seven Gables. The house is now an icon of Salem, becoming a museum and one with a horror game. Greg Hassett’s 1978 text adventure, The House of Seven Gables, advertises you raid for valuables but must defeat the witch to escape…  and said witch is not the only danger. Lurking the house are life-threatening ghouls who—you can throw chemicals in their face. A GHOST who also doesn’t want you to leave with valuables and can be life-threatening himself if you refuse to relinquish your plunder. There’s even a vampire who you can drive off with garlic found in the kitchen, but it won’t work forever… so you might want to prepare to combat it a different way.

Conclusion The number of horror games released was increasing every year, but what even constitutes a video game is divisive, from Killer Shark’s stroboscopic disk approach to Haunted House’s absence of memory or a processor to the House of Seven Gables' absence of motion picture. The line of what is video and what are video games may be forever debated, and especially when a game lacks a stereotypically horror setting or characters, it can become as divisive to decipher which game’s creator’s intentions were horror or if that’s even what YOU define as a horror game. What is certain is the word "horror" can catch the interest of many people who previously enjoyed media described as such.