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Marketing for the game heavily emphasized its violent nature for example, the TurboGrafx-16 port of Splatterhouse had a faux parental advisory warning printed on the front of the box that read, "The horrifying theme of this game may be inappropriate for young children. This game would later spawn the parody Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti, the sequels Splatterhouse 2, Splatterhouse 3, and the 2010 remake Splatterhouse, with the classic games being added to Namco Museum since 2017. It was the first in a series of games released in home console and personal computer formats. Dialogue also contains sexual innuendo (e.g., "Tell me how many guys can you beat off at the same time?") and language such as "a*shole," "sh*t," and "f**k.Splatterhouse is a beat 'em up arcade game developed and published by Namco. I'm yours and no-one else's" and "R Rating? When we get home, let's you and I put on our own private NC-17 show."). Completed photos, viewable from the menu screen, are accompanied by suggestive voice-over clips (e.g., "Just for you, Rick-o. Along the way, players can pick up photo fragments that depict topless images of a female character. Finishing moves represent the most intense instances of violence: Rick tears monsters' limbs and heads from their bodies-accompanied by a gushing sound effect Rick sometimes reaches into creatures' torsos to remove various organs. Players can also use severed arms and limbs as weapons to attack enemy creatures injured enemies emit large sprays of blood that stain the ground, surrounding walls, and Rick's body. As players explore a haunted mansion, they engage in constant melee-style combat players use cleavers, chainsaws, machetes, and Rick's bare hands to kill and dismember enemies (e.g., zombies, monsters, demons). This is an action game in which players help a college student named Rick Taylor rescue his kidnapped girlfriend from a deranged doctor.
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