Strange video games: Chiller on NES

There are now so many video games that if you can imagine it, it probably exists as a game out there somewhere. However, there was a time when there were so few video games that virtually anything that was attempted ended up being an original concept. It was the 80's and we really looked forward to ever new release because you never really knew what you were going to get. Some of the games were great, some of them were purchases or rentals that you almost immediately regretted, and others.... Well others were just plain strange.

Chiller on NES was one of those games

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This was one of the only games (it could be THE only game, I'm not sure) where you could use 2 light guns at the same time on the same screen. This would cause a lot of problems because of how light gun technology actually works but still, it seemed like a good idea at the time. The other problem was the fact that there is no good reason why anyone would own 2 light guns.

The next problem was the fact that this game was extremely racy for the time period that it was released and given the rather puritan nature of the USA and the video game industry at the time, I'm actually a bit surprised this one made it past the censors.

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Between the gore which was mostly non moving, the nudity or near nudity, and the depiction of torture and violence in the game, I am really kind of in awe that this game ever saw a sales shelf. I only rented it one time and the next time I went back there to show this gruesome game to a friend, it was no longer available for rent. We didn't inquire but I would imagine that some parents probably complained and it was taken off the shelf because well, it's kind of easy to understand why parents would not like this back in the 80s.

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Back in the 80's, videogames were extremely tame and most of the titles involved cartoonish themes. Even when you would kill something in a game it was a bloodless affair and they would just be KO'd or something like that. The games wouldn't really even reference the notion of a permanent death and certainly not torture and gore. I'm thinking that this game was able to slide past the censors because it wasn't a big seller and very few people actually bought it. You may recall all the trouble that Mortal Kombat brought to the video game world but this is actually a bit more graphic than that was if you ask me.

The other thing about Chiller is that it was not a good game. As light games tended to be it was a frustrating experience that saw you moving closer and closer to the tv in an attempt to get a better shot only to discover that it isn't actually your aim but the game itself that is flawed.

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Basically, the only reason that anyone had to play this game as to get a peek at the gore and see what sort of crazy scene was going to be in the background next. Unfortunately, it was just repetitive as hell and since the game barely functioned and playing with 2 people didn't improve the situation very much since the light gun technology only allowed for one player to shoot at any given point in time. There was no teamwork and this simply didn't work.

It was more of a shocking find that might be worth some money in the collector's world if it was in great shape. I don't know and I'm not going to look because I am not a collector.

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There are some strange games out there but for me, this was the first one that I had ever played that really stuck in my mind and despite being a rather terrible game, it was still a momentous one.

Did you play Chiller? What did you think of it?