Sweet Home (video game)

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Sweet Home is a survival horror video game released for the Famicom, the Japanese Nintendo Entertainment System. It was produced by Capcom and released in 1989. The game was based on the Japanese horror film of the same name.

Though more of an RPG, Sweet Home is considered by many to be the first survival horror video game, and served as the inspiration for the Biohazard (also known as Resident Evil) series. Biohazard borrowed many elements from Sweet Home including the mansion setting, the puzzles, and even the "door" loading screen. This was confirmed by Shinji Mikami, producer and director for many Biohazard titles, during an interview. Rumor is that the Biohazard series' American and European title Resident Evil, was taken from a note found in Sweet Home, which refers to the mansion as a "house of residing evil.", while some sources say the message was an easter egg added in by the fan translators.

Sweet Home is a game that follows a team of five people who venture into the deserted mansion of the deceased Mamiya Ichirou to photograph her frescoes. Upon entering the house, the door locks shut behind them and the group discovers that the mansion is haunted by Mamiya's ghost, among other creatures. Now they must find a way out before it is too late.

From the game: the team approach Mamiya's mansion for the first time.

From the game: two characters roaming the mansion (English translation).

Sweet Home is written in Japanese and was only released for the Japanese market (perhaps due to scary and violent content in the game, but probably due to licensing issues). Nevertheless it was a big hit at the time, its success owing in part to some unique and creative features. Some features include: permanent character deaths (characters who die in battle can never be revived, unlike practically all other RPGs), unique skills (each character has a unique skill that is necessary to complete the game but items can be found that give other characters a similar skill should one character die. For example, should the medical-trained character die, a bottle of pills can be found to heal wounds), five different endings, large environments and scary atmosphere.

In 1999, two fan translation groups, Gaijin Productions and Suicidal Translations, translated the game into English.

The characters

Kazuo: The supposed team leader. He's the producer of the documentary, and also holds the Lighter, a very important item used to burn down ropes and attack a few enemies, as well as open the way to the final area. Has the highest HP. In the movie, he is Emi's father. His wife died, and is a supposed love interest of Akiko.

Taro: A camera man. He takes photos of the Frescoes and his camera can decode hidden messages in the frescoes. His camera can also cause some damage to some enemies. Has the 2nd highest HP, and highest defense. In the movie as well as in the Japanese version of the game, his name is Taguchi. However, due to problems with translating the game into English, he has been renamed Taro in the translated version. The movie hints that he and Asuka are husband and wife, but never really makes this clear.

Akiko: A nurse. Can heal members on the team with her first aid kit. Important for healing stats, otherwise as other RPG they have their own respected items/spells for. The weakest member of the team. In the movie, she hangs around Emi and Kazuo a lot.

Asuka: A maid. Can clean up glass and clean dirty frescoes with her vacuum. Most likely to break wood. Second strongest girl. In the movie, she's actually the reporter (even though she's not dressed like one) gets off and on possessed or driven mad by Mamiya, repeating phrases like "Give me back my baby" and "Everybody dies".

Emi: Holds the key to 75% of the doors in the mansion (her occupation unknown in the game, but in the movie, is Kazuo's daughter). First strongest girl, and the lightest of the team. In the movie, she ends up saving everyone.

Lady Mamiya: The main villain of the game, she went insane following the death of her child, killing off other children as 'playmates' for her own child in the next life. She has two forms in the game; the second form differs from that of movie.

Ichirou: Mamiya's husband, is a famous painter. He left some clues around the house, and he also owns a diary.

Yamamura: Mysterious old man. Some like to believe he is Ichirou. Helps you get to the final area, but he been known to pop up at some points in the game. In the movie he owns a gas station.

The movie

The poster for the Suiito Homu/Sweet Home movie, which was also used on the box cover of the game.

There was also a Suiito Homu/Sweet Home movie released in 1989. The game and the movie were simultaneously released so it's not really clear if the movie is based on the video game or vice versa. And further complicating the debate about which came first, Sweet Home's trailer is both an advertisement for the movie, and a sales pitch for the Famicom/NES game. It includes footage from both.

The movie and video game versions both contain duplicate copies of very specific images. Even more so, specific things, like the fresco, skull statue, and tool, look exactly the same between the two. This suggests that the movie likely came before the game (as copying a video game so closely, down to costuming and replica props, would be difficult). However, if not true, then Sweet Home would not only be the first movie based on a video game, but it would be one of the most accurately reproduced ever made.

The movie is supposed to differ from the game because of being more of a Japanese version of Poltergeist. Plus, there are two confirmed deaths (three if you count the same scene from the movie and the game), instead of the random death of characters as in the game. Also, the rooms are quite different between the two. Another interesting note is in the game, gas is laid out already in store, but in the movie, the main character gets gas, and finds out about the tool (one of the items used to defeat Mamiya). Depending on the believer, the movie is inaccurate.

External links

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