Around this time of year, video game bloggers will often list their favorite scary games for Halloween. But for me, Halloween is more than just being scary. I’ve also viewed Halloween as more of a silly fun holiday. I mean, dressing up and going door to door to get candy is pretty silly (and fun) for kids if you think about it. So, for my little list of Halloween games, we won’t be looking at the scariest games to play. Instead, my list focuses on the fun aspects of Halloween: costumes, candy, and silly spooky fun!

But first, a Halloween rant. When I was a kid, we went to church often, and I still enjoy going to church now and I have strong Christian beliefs. But as a kid, there was one thing about church that I didn’t like. And that was Sunday School, mainly because I didn’t think the teachers I had were the best fit for the job. It’s why I never really got into a good church youth program as a teen.

You see, as a kid around Halloween time, my Sunday School teachers would spend the whole class time trying to convince us that Halloween was a bad, satanic holiday and we shouldn’t celebrate it and go trick or treating. OK, yes, I KNOW they were wrong and Halloween’s origins were not evil. I’d rather that not become an argument in the comments section so we’ll leave it at that. I’ve just never understood what was so bad about letting kids dress up in costumes and go door to door to get candy.

Personally, I think Halloween is a GOOD holiday for kids. It helps them face their fears in a fun way. Granted, you’re not going to take a kid to see the latest Saw movie, but why do you think stuff like Goosebumps, Harry Potter, and Scooby Doo are so popular? So yeah, I’ll always support the fun side of Halloween. But enough of that, here are my picks for good Halloween gaming fun.

Ghosts N Goblins

First we’ll start with some classics. Capcom’s Ghosts N Goblins series has always reminded me of Halloween since you’re always fighting zombies, devils, ghosts, and other creepy critters in spooky settings. And if Halloween ever needed a theme song, the classic stage one theme from the game is it! I know all you fans are probably humming it in your head right now! The games had a bit of silliness to them, too. Such as getting your armor knocked off and running around in your underwear! Unfortunately, I’m not really the biggest fan of the G&G games, though. I can appreciate a challenging game, but these are just way too hard and more frustrating than fun.

Back in the PS2 days, Capcom made a couple of 3-D updates to the series called Maximo. Granted, it didn’t have the same characters, but it was pretty obvious that is was a 3-D Ghosts N Goblins. It was still pretty challenging, but not near as frustrating as the originals. It’s too bad that Capcom shut down the US team who made the Maximo titles. I know some of the people who worked on those games.

Little Nemo: The Dream Master

This is one of my favorite NES games. It doesn’t have much to do with Halloween spooky-wise, although there is a Nightmare level near the end. But it has a lot to do with candy, another fun aspect of Halloween. In the game, you get an endless supply of candy, and you can feed it to different animals in the game and borrow their powers after befriending them. In the game, to use their powers it looks like you crawl inside their skin, so that is a little weird. The frog lets you jump high, the bee allows you to fly, etc. I guess the costume aspect of Halloween is in this game, too, since it’s like you dress up as those animals.

The Little Nemo game (also from Capcom) was based on an old 1900’s comic strip called Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McKay. He was pioneering animation techniques long before Disney was in diapers, and his work was WAY ahead of his time. I’m a huge fan of Little Nemo, and if you get the chance, I recommend reading up on it on the Internet.

Kid Dracula

When most people make a ‘scary games for Halloween’ blog, they usually mention Castlevania. The series sure has gotten a lot more recognition as of late. I’ve never been a big fan of the series, except for one game. It’s my favorite Castlevania game: Kid Dracula. It’s a silly, cutesy parody of the main Castlevania games. It’s like the Parodius of Castlevania. We got it on the Game Boy in the US, but there was also a Famicom version in Japan only. With all this Castlevania resurgence, I’d like to get Kid Dracula get resurrected, too. I also like playing as Kid Dracula in the Parodius games, too. His silly theme song is definitely Halloween-ey, too.

Luigi’s Mansion

A lot of people were disappointed with this GameCube launch title, but I loved it. Luigi is cooler than Mario anyway, and the short game length was perfect for replaying to get a high score. I kind of wish Nintendo would revisit this game on the Wii. Great for kids, too. The haunted mansion and silly ghosts are spooky enough, but still not too scary for kids. And hey, ghosts are cool. Speaking of which, the Ghostbusters movie game on the 360 last year was pretty decent, too.

Dead Rising 2

Halloween is not only fun for kids, but it’s also great for grown-ups, too. So my next two games are for older gamers only. I’m not really into the Dead Rising games, but my brother Jeff sure is (make sure to read his reader review of the sequel). I do like to watch Jeff play them, though, even if they are a bit gross and gory sometimes. The Dead Rising games really aren’t scary at all, however. Mostly just silly, goofy, and over-the-top Capcom style. I had fun watching Jeff play and trying to spot all the classic Capcom references, like Mega Man slot machines, Blanka masks, Servebot heads, Proto Man standees, Arthur costume, etc. While I would never let a kid play or watch a Dead Rising game, the silliness of the titles makes me think of the fun kid parts of Halloween, and why I think it’s a good holiday for kids. You know, making light of scary situations to help kids deal with their fears. I guess Dead Rising can help adults deal with their fears, too, but only if you’re afraid of zombies.

Bayonetta

Recently I got this game real cheap, less than 20 bucks. It’s a pretty fun action game for older gamers, and as I was playing, I thought this was a fitting Halloween game, too. For one thing, you play as a witch. She’s a pretty cool witch, too. She can make her hair turn into a monster, which is really neat. She also uses her hair as her clothes, which is kind of weird. Bayonetta (that’s her name), is also really strong! In the game you can body slam and judo throw baddies who are more than 100 times her size! Bayonetta must eat her Cheerios for breakfast!

Another thing about Bayonetta that makes me think of Halloween is candy. Bayonetta really likes lollipops and she is sucking on one in nearly every cutscene. Even when she is doing acrobatics and fighting stuff. You can also make lollipops in the game to refill her health and magic. I don’t like lollipops or most candy, really. When I was little and would go trick or treating with friends, I would usually give them nearly all my candy when we were done. So if I could, I would give Bayonetta all my lollipops.

Only problem I have with Bayonetta’s character is she has that “I’m sexy and I know it” attitude and that gets real old after a while. I also don’t like that she fights angels. Granted, these are the meanest, ugliest angels I’ve ever seen, but still. I don’t wanna fight angels! Angels are good! And some of the ways she beats the angels is really gross! But oh well, it’s just a silly game anyway.

Costume Quest

I haven’t played this new downloadable game yet, but I hear it’s the ultimate kid-friendly Halloween game. It’s a trick or treating RPG where you play as kids and can change costumes to get different skills and attacks. The reason why I haven’t downloaded it yet is because I have so many other games to review right now. One of the disadvantages of being a game reviewer. But I’m not complaining. Anyone who can review games semi-professionally has no right to complain. But I really should download it sometime, since it’s made by the same folks who did Psychonauts, and that was my Game of the Year for 2005.

Halloween Plans

And those are my Halloween game picks for 2010. I’m going to do some fun Halloween activities this year, too. Tomorrow (Thursday) I’m going to a special scary movie in theaters for one day! It’s done by Rifftrax for Fathom Events. Rifftrax is done by some of the people who worked on Mystery Science Theater 3000, my all-time favorite TV show. Rifftrax isn’t as good as MST3K, as it’s just the same thing without the fun robot puppets (I miss Tom Servo). But we went to a special Christmas Rifftrax showing last year, and that was a lot of fun. So we’re doing the Halloween one this year! On Halloween day, brother Jeff is having some friends over so we’ll do a cookout, and then I’ll give out treats to any kids who come by. It’ll be fun to see what the kids are dressing up as this year. Anyway, in the comments section, let me know what your favorite Halloween games are, and what plans you have for this year’s holiday.

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