Night Creatures is a 1991 action-horror game for the Turbografx-16. It has became somewhat of a cult classic.
Night Creatures is a side-scrolling platformer where you play as a man who has been bitten by a witch named Hecate, the Queen of Darkness in the form of a bat. You must find a cure before you become one of them. Your metamorphosis can be seen in a cameo at the bottom of the screen. When the metamorphosis is complete you lose the game. Along the way, you encounter various enemies such as zombies, werewolves, bats, haunted cattails and of course, witches. You can also transform into different creatures by collecting power-ups. These creatures are a wolf, a owl, a badger and a bear. Each creature has its own abilities and weaknesses, and you have to use them wisely to overcome the obstacles and bosses. They drain your vitality even more.
The character evolves in 9 stages: the mire, the catacombs here are some grasping limbs that can hold you, the cave, the sky, the moors, the graveyard where you can find a few invincible gargoyles, the village, the darkwood, Hecate’s Den. We have a walkthrough video from YouTube to watch.
The game was developed by Now Production and published by NEC in 1991 for the Turbografx-16, also known as the PC Engine in Japan. It was one of the few games that used the HuCard format, which was a thin card-like cartridge that could store up to 8 megabits of data. The game was praised for its graphics, sound, and atmosphere, but criticized for its high difficulty, limited lives, and lack of passwords or save points. The game also had some censorship issues in North America. Some of the blood and gore was toned down or removed from these versions.
Night Creatures is a rare and obscure game that is hard to find nowadays, but it has a loyal fan base that appreciates its unique style and challenge. If you are a fan of horror games or retro gaming, you might want to check it out.
Resources for Night Creatures
Night Creatures manual for TurboGrafx-16 hosted by TG-16.com.