Night Slashers is similar to Capcom's Final Fight and SEGA's Streets Of Rage's series, which is an archetypal side scrolling beat'em-up game. One, two or three players/characters move from left to right through each level, fighting with the enemy characters who appear, until they reach a confrontation with a stronger boss character at the end of the level. Once that boss is beaten, the players automatically move on to the next stage. Enemies appear from both sides of the screen and from out of doorways or entrances set into the background, and the player must defeat all of them to progress. If the players try to simply travel through the levels without fighting, the screen will stop scrolling until all current enemies have been defeated, before allowing the players to continue progress. Enemies may move outside the confines of the screen, but players may not. There is a time limit to each stage. Unlike Final Fight, Night Slashers features three characters with larger move sets and a horror theme. During the course of the game, players fight through hordes of attacking zombies and mutants, as well as other monsters such as werewolves and elementals. Bosses also include stereotypical monsters such as a mummy, a golem, a mad scientist, and lookalikes of Count Dracula, Death the Grim Reaper and Frankenstein's monster. Players fight these enemies and bosses to stop the evil plans of King Zarutz from turning our planet into a worldwide kingdom for the dead. What separates this game from other beat'em ups is that the enemies' names are never listed on their health bars when fighting them. In the Japanese version, the blood and gore is uncensored. At the end of a melee attack, Christopher holds out a cross instead of a blue crystal ball. The "Go" arrow flips over to read "To Hell!" in blood. There are extra pictures and dialogue in the cutscenes.
Characters
The player play the role of one of three heroes. Each have different strengths and weaknesses, as well as different elemental powers. The game also has three different endings, one for each character.
Jake White - an American male monster hunter with combatant cybernetic arms. Nicknamed the "Psychic Cyborg", he is the most powerful character. His element is lightning. Jake sometimes dons a red jacket when traveling. He appears in two of the game's endings.
Christopher Smith - a European male vampire hunter and martial artist. He is the most balanced character with an average in speed and power. His elements are water and ice. Christopher sometimes dons a brown coat and hat when traveling. Like Jake, he appears in two endings in the game.
Zhao Hong Hua - an Asian female martial artist, proficient with mystic arts. Although small compared to the other characters, she is the most agile. Her element is fire. Hong Hua sometimes dons a yellow oriental robe when traveling. She makes an appearance in all three endings, as her own ending features only her and her younger sister, while the others feature all three playable characters.
Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Night Slashers on their October 15, 1993 issue as being the ninth most-successful table arcade unit of the year. It was ranked as the 20th top beat 'em upvideo game of all time by Heavy.com in 2013.
