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Mento

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ST-urday #019: Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus

By Mento 4 Comments

Happy Halloween, everyboogey! Though it was not my intent to do a Halloween special for this feature, having the day in question land on a Saturday this year has tied my hands in that regard. I've actually already covered what I consider to be the most genuinely terrifying Atari ST game - that would be Dungeon Master, which puts on a clinic in setting a suspenseful and nerve-wracking atmosphere where anything could be skulking around the next dark corner - but there are still plenty of, let's say, overtly Halloween-themed titles to choose from.

As for the future, blogging plans for next month still involve an earlier-than-usual Comic Commish for recent Indie darling Undertale, as well as something comprehensive on Yakuza 3 once I've torn myself from the vast number of substories and the bowling, baseball and darts mini-games to actually complete the story. I'm elsewise poring over what remains of this year's Pile of Shame to clear some space for the hundred or so must-play games released this year that'll be added to it in 2016. Should be a good month either way: GBEast now has simultaneous Super Castlevania IV, Life is Strange and Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh playthroughs going, and I'd be stoked to see any of them continue.

Because I don't really have a space for it elsewhere, I'll go into a few of my recent mini Wiki Projects too. After Super '94 and sprucing up all the FDS pages, I've been catching up with the list of games recently featured on my favorite Japanese TV show GameCenter CX as well as those Atari ST games covered by this feature, ST-urday. I mean, I link to those pages every time I write a new one of these, so those links might as well actually lead to something useful. My newest project is to ensure we have a full page with all the necessary data for every game released for the doomed Atari Jaguar; a project which, I'm starting to realize, might be taking one's Atari affection too far. Still, it's a relatively brisk project at around ~80 total releases - I'm still working out where the more recent homebrews on reproduction carts fit in; or why they exist at all for that matter - so it's something to tide me over until I head back to the PC Engine or delve into the immense pile of Eastern and Western shovelware released for the Super Nintendo in 1995. Busy, busy.

Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus

No Caption Provided

Tonight I'm going to suck! Your blood! Those thrice-accursed Millennials might be in the dark about one-time macabre movie night hostess Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, a.k.a. the charming Cassandra Peterson, but during the 80s and early 90s she was one of those cultural icons that popped up everywhere. (And I do mean everywhere.) Instantly recognizable by her 60s gothic villainess ensemble - an enormous beehive haircut, vampish black gown and elaborate pale make-up - Elvira had the sort of marketable countenance that, like Mr. T, Urkel, Hulk Hogan and various other one-note "character performers", her managers could stamp onto every piece of merchandise in the 80s for the sake of a quick buck. That fame also led to the release of three video games in the early 90s, the most interesting of which is what we're looking at here.

Elvira had a fairly generic licensed platformer that we don't need to go too deeply into, other than to say it was branded "Elvira: The Arcade Game" back when "Arcade" simply meant any computer game that involved jumping and shooting things rather than browsing menus with the mouse and keyboard. Far more inviting are the two Elvira games from HorrorSoft. HorrorSoft is a division of Adventure Soft, the UK point-and-click developers that would later create Simon the Sorcerer, and while they were built to incorporate her name and likeness, they didn't really have a whole lot in common with their eponymous (almost said titular, almost) horror hostess. At least, the first game didn't: Set in a medieval castle that Elvira supposedly inherited only to run afoul of the monstrous minions of her powerful witch ancestor, it was a poor fit for the quick-witted and contemporary personality who's more about been resting on a chaise lounge in some LA studio quipping about the horrors of the middle ages than actually living them. The sequel we're covering today is based in and around a much more natural setting for Elvira: a 90s movie studio pumping out schlock horror by the bargain-barrel-load. Elvira's once again been captured, this time by the demonic three-headed dog of Ancient Greek legend, and the player (as her present boyfriend) needs to find a way to rescue her before the sacrificial ritual at midnight.

Both Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus share a hybrid style of adventure game and RPG dungeon-crawler gameplay, mixing together the likes of inventory-based puzzles and number-heavy turn-based combat to various degrees of success. With the exception of Superhero League of Hoboken, however, it's a fairly unique combination and the games purportedly did well by fans of both genres. I guess we'll see for ourselves...

The HorrorSoft logo. Though best known for their Elvira games (that's her right there, by the way), HorrorSoft would also create Waxworks and Personal Nightmare. Though neither feature her, they're both considered part of the
The HorrorSoft logo. Though best known for their Elvira games (that's her right there, by the way), HorrorSoft would also create Waxworks and Personal Nightmare. Though neither feature her, they're both considered part of the "Elvira series".
Welcome to Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus! The awesome box art picture (it looks like a Boris Vallejo, or an imitation of his style. Can't seem to find out who made it) is only slightly marred by whatever kind of Saved By The Bell business is happening with the title and the side patterns.
Welcome to Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus! The awesome box art picture (it looks like a Boris Vallejo, or an imitation of his style. Can't seem to find out who made it) is only slightly marred by whatever kind of Saved By The Bell business is happening with the title and the side patterns.
The player is dumped in front of Elvira's
The player is dumped in front of Elvira's "Black Widow Productions" movie studio, and given a choice of career. This choice determines your starting stats: Stuntman boosts physique-based stats, the programmer boosts intelligence and resistances, knife thrower for accuracy and private eye for an all-rounder stat assignment.
Elvira pops up to inform you that she still has her magic powers from the first game. She's also exceptionally shiny for whatever reason.
Elvira pops up to inform you that she still has her magic powers from the first game. She's also exceptionally shiny for whatever reason.
She's been captured, and hands off her spellbook (somehow?) before vanishing just seconds prior to giving us some very pertinent information. (Sorry,
She's been captured, and hands off her spellbook (somehow?) before vanishing just seconds prior to giving us some very pertinent information. (Sorry, "pertinent" was a poor word choice there given the inadvertent salacious wordplay. I meant importits.)
So that's that. We have a mission from our imperiled paramour, we have way too much crap in our inventory for an adventure game and we have... a locked gate. First thing's first, then.
So that's that. We have a mission from our imperiled paramour, we have way too much crap in our inventory for an adventure game and we have... a locked gate. First thing's first, then.
You'd be forgiven for not noticing this little dark pile of pixels down here. It's a rock. As in, the only object we can use to break into the security office next to the gate. Cutting a hole in the window with a knife won't do, and neither will chucking any of our other hefty objects through it. Adventure games!
You'd be forgiven for not noticing this little dark pile of pixels down here. It's a rock. As in, the only object we can use to break into the security office next to the gate. Cutting a hole in the window with a knife won't do, and neither will chucking any of our other hefty objects through it. Adventure games!
Smashy smashy! First puzzle complete. All it took was for me to wander around for five minutes confused until the game told me flat out to go find a rock and break the window. I'll take it as a partial victory.
Smashy smashy! First puzzle complete. All it took was for me to wander around for five minutes confused until the game told me flat out to go find a rock and break the window. I'll take it as a partial victory.
Well, this looks cheery. We can grab the security uniform over there and wear it if we want. No idea if it does anything, but my recurring nightmares about playing Deja Vu and forgetting to put on my pants (the game's NPCs get a kick out of that) have programmed me to wear anything an adventure game allows me to. That's right, I'm an Adventure Game Nevernude.
Well, this looks cheery. We can grab the security uniform over there and wear it if we want. No idea if it does anything, but my recurring nightmares about playing Deja Vu and forgetting to put on my pants (the game's NPCs get a kick out of that) have programmed me to wear anything an adventure game allows me to. That's right, I'm an Adventure Game Nevernude.
You can also take everything that was on this corkboard, including the girly calendar. Will it come in handy? Probably not!
You can also take everything that was on this corkboard, including the girly calendar. Will it come in handy? Probably not!
I open the other door in here and... AGH!
I open the other door in here and... AGH!
Oh, it's a dead guy. A dead guy with a key, in fact. One abra-cadaver later, and...
Oh, it's a dead guy. A dead guy with a key, in fact. One abra-cadaver later, and...
Success! We just need to input the first of the game's copy-protection passwords. Uh... e-easy!
Success! We just need to input the first of the game's copy-protection passwords. Uh... e-easy!
Already, our first disk change. The fact that this game had seven floppies to switch between is the most horrifying part (and one of the many statements you could say about the game that could double as crude sexual innuendo).
Already, our first disk change. The fact that this game had seven floppies to switch between is the most horrifying part (and one of the many statements you could say about the game that could double as crude sexual innuendo).
Because of course it does. I'll take the pliers and wrench from the boot, though once again I have zero idea if they'll come in useful. Can't hurt to have more weapons in a pinch though, since combat will become a concern at some point.
Because of course it does. I'll take the pliers and wrench from the boot, though once again I have zero idea if they'll come in useful. Can't hurt to have more weapons in a pinch though, since combat will become a concern at some point.
I appreciate that they actually put a lot of stuff in here to look at, though once again very little of it will be of any practical use. These early studio parts are really just dressing for what's to come.
I appreciate that they actually put a lot of stuff in here to look at, though once again very little of it will be of any practical use. These early studio parts are really just dressing for what's to come.
I'll take your word for it. I like that this is the sequel to the Killer Gherkin's
I'll take your word for it. I like that this is the sequel to the Killer Gherkin's "return". How many times has it shown up?
More Elvira shoehorning. I suspect she won't be answering the chatline, given that she's being kept prisoner in Hades somewhere and we already know this. Also, I'm her canonical boyfriend. How much of a creepy fanboy do I need to be?
More Elvira shoehorning. I suspect she won't be answering the chatline, given that she's being kept prisoner in Hades somewhere and we already know this. Also, I'm her canonical boyfriend. How much of a creepy fanboy do I need to be?
Well, I guess that answers that.
Well, I guess that answers that.
There's not a whole lot to do in the bathrooms, though they have coin-operated condom and tampax machines. I almost don't want to find a coin, in case there's a puzzle solution later on that involves one of the above.
There's not a whole lot to do in the bathrooms, though they have coin-operated condom and tampax machines. I almost don't want to find a coin, in case there's a puzzle solution later on that involves one of the above.
The meat of the game is behind any of these three studio doors (and a basement level, which I cannot access right now for technical reasons. Literally, the image file I'm using doesn't recognize the disk the elevator needs. Emulation's only slightly less work than trying to hook my Atari ST up to my PC monitor.)
The meat of the game is behind any of these three studio doors (and a basement level, which I cannot access right now for technical reasons. Literally, the image file I'm using doesn't recognize the disk the elevator needs. Emulation's only slightly less work than trying to hook my Atari ST up to my PC monitor.)
I didn't get a shot of it last time, but whenever you use a keypad you need to find the right code on the password wheel that comes with the game. That's what that scramble of nonsense at the bottom of the screen is all about.
I didn't get a shot of it last time, but whenever you use a keypad you need to find the right code on the password wheel that comes with the game. That's what that scramble of nonsense at the bottom of the screen is all about.
Elvira shows up to make a joke about boners, but also to inform us that Studio 1 leads to one of the game's
Elvira shows up to make a joke about boners, but also to inform us that Studio 1 leads to one of the game's "dungeon crawler" areas. Elvira II discretely separates the game into areas that are more adventure game puzzle-focused and those which are far more concerned with combat and exploration.
This gaping green hole, presumably the set of a horror movie about giant bugs or the terrors of proctology, leads to one such dungeon area. However, another erroneous disk change means it's time to end our adventure prematurely.
This gaping green hole, presumably the set of a horror movie about giant bugs or the terrors of proctology, leads to one such dungeon area. However, another erroneous disk change means it's time to end our adventure prematurely.

I didn't show off too much of the horror parts of Elvira, alas, but you got a glimpse of it with that security guard's corpse which - though the static screenshot diminished the effect somewhat - was hovering indistinctly in the darkness before suddenly lurching forward in true jumpscare fashion. If you'd like to see more of the game, I'd recommend checking out TheCRPGAddict's thorough appraisal of it - it's part CRPG, so it's within his purview. Until then, see you all next week for something that probably won't be Guy Fawkes-related.

Unpleasant dreams, everyone. Mwahahahaha-*cough* ugh, swallowed my mwahaha.

(Back to the ST-urday ST-orehouse.)

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