Night Trap Brings Congressional Hearings into Video Games — Today in Retro Gaming — October 15th, 1992

When Sega launched the Sega CD add-on they needed some games that really “wowed” the audience and could not be done on cartridge. One company they went to that already had experience in this realm was Digital Pictures. DP was one of those “really ahead of their time” type companies that was working with Full Motion Video (FMV) years before anyone thought to. One such title that they created for a defunct on the launch pad console was Night Trap and Sega was keen on bringing it out on the Sega CD. What Sega did not expect was the reaction Congress would have when Night Trap was released.

The story behind Night Trap is your usual C rated horror movie fodder. You are a member of a Special Forces group that is tasked with watching these cameras that were strategically placed in this home (along with traps at key locations you have to trigger to catch bad guys). Of course this is going to be a boring job if there are no girl’s available, right? Starring Dana Plato (R.I.P.), who was a star in Different Strokes, Night Trap is played completely with digitized video clips of girls running away from bad guys (or just enjoying a slumber party unaware if you do your job right).

Night Trap brought in a lot of criticism from parents groups and the like over the graphic “violence” against women. The worst it gets is innuendo of impending violence. There is no on screen death, murder or blood.

To be honest, looking back, the whole Senate hearings on violent video games was kind of ahead of its time too. Imagine if that hearing was postponed just a decade and think how it would have probably been different.

Night Trap has been released on many platforms, including the 3DO, Sega CD, PC, Macintosh, Sega 32X and other platforms. Check out Ebay or Amazon for a good idea of just how many ways there are to play Night Trap. There was also a remaster made available for current consoles (PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam).

This article was originally published on Retro Gaming Magazine, a gaming website I own.