Ghost House

Overview

Ghost House is an 1982 Arcade game developed by Sega that was later adapted to be one of their earliest Sega Master System games in 1986. It was one of the last games to be released on the Sega Card format, which was phased out later the same year.

Ghost House's protagonist Mick superficially resembles Sega's famous mascot Alex Kidd, as a protagonist who uses an enormous fist to punch enemies into submission, and the game takes place on multiple screens of an immense house filled with spooky creatures and secrets.

Story

The story of Ghost House is very simple: The player is Mick, a nondescript boy who has inherited a fortune. The problem is that all the treasures are scattered in a haunted house. To make matters worse they are even guarded by Dracula himself. So Mick sets out to battle Dracula and his clones to get back what is his.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Ghost House is as simple as the story. In every level Mick has to collect keys which are dropped by enemies he defeats. With these keys he can open a coffin in which Dracula or one of his four clones is located. After Mick has defeated all of the Dracula clones and Dracula himself, he advances to the next round. There are six rounds in total. The background of the house is always the same, though, only the color changes.

Mick has two different ways of disposing of his enemies: He can punch them like Alex Kidd, or jump on their head like Mario. Depending on which foe he faces, one of the two attacks will prove to be more viable. It can be pretty risky to punch the Fire Blower for example.

Enemies

There are five different enemies in the game:

• Derobat: Derobats are little bats which can be found in large quantities in every level. They can be killed with one blow, but they can easily fly into Mick's face, too.
• Death: Contrary to the Death we know, this Death is slow and easy to defeat. He only creeps around the house slowly, without being able to attack.
• Fire Blower: The Fire Blower is a dangerous creature. Not only can he take a lot of hits, he also blows fire.
• The Mummy: A horrible fellow who follows Mick around the house.
• Dracula (and his clones): He can turn into a bat and attack Mick from above. Very dangerous.

Apart from these enemies Mick can also be attacked by flying knives and arrows which suddenly fly through the screen. Very hard to avoid.

Trivia

• Ghost House is one of only eight Sega Master System games that were initially released on Sega Card outside of Japan. The other seven were: Super Tennis, Teddy Boy, Hang-On, My Hero, TransBot, Spy vs. Spy and F-16 Fighting Falcon.
• Ghost House has been voted into the 15 worst video game covers by 1UP.