Chiller (arcade)

[Zack Burner]

With Halloween around the corner in a few months, I now return to review probably the most controversial arcade game ever made, topping even Mortal Kombat itself. Chiller, a lightgun game released in 1986, a lot of arcades refused to buy it at the time, and for good reason, the amount of gore the game presented and targeting innocent people instead of enemies who defend themselves. Even today, and even with the heavily outdated graphics it's still controversial, but that doesn't stop some people from having an interest in it. Back in 1992, there was one player who played this game for 89 hours straight! What about the actual gameplay? Well for one thing it's responsive, though the actual gameplay, beyond the shock factor can tire you out even with a measly 4 levels. After playing for a bit, you'll get bored easily as the only real "challenge" is shooting the amount of required targets within a time limit which is pretty easy. The gimmickry of the gore involves activating the guillotine and crushing the head of the victim in the torture chamber, to dropping a victim to a hungry alligator in the rack room. The few monsters you actually do shoot including a mummy, an imp, and a large ghostly severed head chasing a girl who you can "save", aren't threatening. Overall, stay away.

[VideoGameCritic]

I never even knew this was an arcade game! Would request some pics but might not be appropriate so I'll look it up.

[Zack Burner]

Yes, seeing any photo or video of gameplay would be enough to turn your stomach despite dated graphics. I can't believe there was an unlicensed Nintendo port of this!

[ActRaiser]

I can remember seeing this in the arcade and thinking, "Eh, I'm just going to continue on, right past it." It was a bit too out there.

[matmico399]

Yeah that game was crap. Pretty much the only place that would carry it were adult toy stores. No arcade would. That the NES had a port shocks me to this day

[lynchie137]

Yes, seeing any photo or video of gameplay would be enough to turn your stomach despite dated graphics. I can't believe there was an unlicensed Nintendo port of this!

If my memory is correct, this game was released quite early in the NES's life cycle. So maybe the uproar and controversy that it stirred up must have spurred Nintendo to become a little more stringent with the quality control when it comes to the games that were to be made and ultimately released for their home console...

[lynchie137]

Never played the arcade version of this game. But if it's as terrible as the NES version, I will most definitely avoid it like the plague. I will say this: At least the NES port had some pretty cool box cover art. That's about the only thing it has going for it, though....

[LuckyWDFN]

I played Chiller back in the day at a bowling alley. My friend and I just laughed at how preposterous the game was and tried it once for the novelty of it. It got boring pretty quick but the light controls were very precise and responsive. They seemed much more precise than popular shooters at the time like Operation Wolf.