The House of the Dead 2
Developer - Wow Entertainment (formerly SEGA AM1)
Director - Takashi Oda
Producers - Rikiya Nakagawa
Composer - Tetsuya Kawauchi
Genre - Rail shooter; one to two players
Release Dates - September 9, 1999 Launch Day (North America); March 25, 1999(Japan); Sometime in 1999 (Europe)
Additional Releases - SEGA NAOMI arcade cabinet (1998); Windows PC (2001); Unlockable bonus game in The House of the Dead III (Xbox); The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return (Nintendo Wii)
Current Average Price - $25
The House of the Dead 2 is a horror-themed light gun rail shooter first developed by SEGA’s AM1 for their NAOMI arcade system in 1998. It was ported to the SEGA Dreamcast and released in Japan on March 25, 1999, and as a launch title for the system, on September 9, 1999 in North America.
In The House of the Dead 2, players must shoot their way through waves of zombies and other horrible monsters and grotesque bosses, all while attempting to save civilians. If the player character let’s zombies or monsters get too close, they attack the player and take away health. Health tokens can be picked up by shooting special crates or barrels throughout the stages, and a branching path system allows for a variety of routes through each stages. These paths are determined by player actions and whether or not the player succeeds in challenges throughout the missions.
Plot
The game’s story resumes about one year after the events of the original The House of the Dead (arcade and SEGA Saturn). The House of the Dead 2 follows a group of AMS agents investigating a zombie outbreak in Italy. The player is tasked with finding a missing agent known as G, the agent who first encountered the series’ villain in the original game, determining the cause of the new zombie outbreak, and eliminating the threat.
The player(s) find G alive, but hurt. He tells the player characters to go on ahead, to find the person who created the zombies, and stop him.
Legacy and Additional Releases
A more playful version of The House of the Dead 2 was released for arcade and the Dreamcast, called The Typing of the Dead. This game was essentially identical to The House of the Dead 2, however it replaced the original game’s light-gun with computer keyboards attached to battery-powered, backpack-mounted Dreamcasts. Instead of shooting zombies, in The Typing of the Dead, we type at them. Read more about this wacky game here.
The House of the Dead 2 was also later ported to Windows PC. It appeared as an unlock-able bonus game in The House of the Dead III for the original Xbox and was also ported to Nintendo Wii in The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return.
What Makes it Special
The thing that makes The House of the Dead 2 a special game, aside from simply being an excellent light gun shooter and an excellent Dreamcast port of a solid arcade game, is its aesthetic and tone. It absolutely drips with spooky energy. The zombies, bosses, and other monsters in the game are gruesome, dripping with slime and blood and ooze. The atmosphere is tense and, at times, oppressive. The music is excellent, with heavy organs and ominous beats. The action is fast and challenging, and the multiple pathways afford plenty of room for exploration and replay-ability.
For these reasons and more, The House of the Dead 2 seems to be one of the Dreamcast games that I consistently return to to play year after year. Usually around Halloween-time.