The House of the Dead III Secret Files: Concept Art added to the Official Artwork section

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Kori

It’s been a while hasn’t it….. friends? I’ve been busy with school and SEGABits for quite a while. But luckly, I’ve purchased The House of the Dead III Perfect Guide from Japan which contains tons of awesome and rare information on the game just for you. This book is hard to find but here on The Website of the Dead, you can view all the never before seen concept artwork and early drafts from the development of The House of the Dead III. All will be added to the House of the Dead Official Artwork section and more to come. Interested to view the drafts now and read a couple of tidbits from the book. Read on for more.
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Deadly City Survival: It plays like The House of the Dead

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Kori

If you like flash games and Sega’s The House of the Dead series, then Deadly City Survival is your type of game. It’s flash-based arcade survival horror shooter with a gritty setting similar to The House of the Dead 2 with the same gameplay features. Playing this game will feel like your playing an actual HOTD. The game also has a branching path system as well for you to choose your own path similar to The House of the Dead 3 & 4. I will provide a link to the game here for you guys to try the game out yourselves and share your thoughts on it.

Source: Agame.com

The House of the Dead 2 ranked on the 28th spot in Game Informer’s Top 30 Co-Op Games of All Time.

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Kori

Sorry for the late update with school going on and stuff. In this month’s latest issue of Game Informer “The Co-Op Issue”, Gameinformer ranks The House of the Dead 2 #28 of the top 30 Co-Op Games of All Time. As a fan of the House of the Dead series, I am happy to see that the game has received this spot. Why wouldn’t The House of the Dead 2 be listed as of the top co-op games of all time. My reasons are

– Fast paced arcade gameplay
– Shooting zombies and everything around you
– Humorous voice acting
– One of the Dreamcasts best selling games
– Bringing a friend to enjoy a game with you
– Goldman & his gnome theory

Here’s what Game Informer has to say about the game.

“On-rails light-gun shooters have been a staple of the arcade. Teaming up with a partner in The House of the Dead 2 was like going to the firing range, except without the need to wear those gigantic noise-dampening earmuffs. Even our Mortal Kombat childhoods, The House of the Dead 2 still delivered a startlingly violent cooperative tour through a monster-ravaged Venice. One gun simply wasn’t enough.”

Makes me want to go to Dave & Busters again and play some HOTD2.

Petition Campaign of the Dead: HOTD HD and EX for consoles

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Kori

Image drawn by The Gagaman

Sorry for the late update HOTD fans. Where do I start? I had a great time at Sonic Boom in San Diego (lots of Sonic and Sega fans) and reunited with the community staff from Sega of America and meeting NiD.com admin TRiPPY. Had a great time talking to her about Sega, the Sega Saturn, and job opportunities. Anyway After seven years of waiting for a console port of the fourth installment to the House of the Dead series, The House of the Dead 4. Sega has finally found a way to deliver us both arcade HOTD titles (III & 4) to digital platforms such as the Playstation Network. We’ve been waiting for this moment for quite sometime… However, as fans of The House of the Dead series, we crave for more!

After reading countless of gaming forums, comments on Youtube, and my visit with Sega at Sonic Boom, I wanted to start my very own campaign. To have Sega to port both the original two games and spin-off title Loving Deads: The House of the Dead EX.

Fans have been begging for a faithful port of the first House of the Dead game in it’s original form (MODEL 2 graphics) since the Saturn & PC versions has been heavily criticized due to graphic limitations. With other classic Sega titles from the arcade/Saturn era of the 90’s released and coming to digital platforms (Daytona USA & NiGHTS HD) Why not the House of the Dead? As fans of the series, we want to relive those moments from the arcade era in our living rooms and fight Dr. Curien’s diabolical creations like The Chariot and The Magician. This game also introduced us to two highly trained and well known AMS agents throughout the series, Thomas Rogan & G, as they save Rogan’s fiancee, Sophie Richards, and stop Dr. Curien’s plans from destroying human civilization. The House of the Dead 2 would be awesome in HD in it’s original Naomi format which had more blood and music tunes.

However, there were rumors going around for couple of years about Sega losing the source code of the original game along with other Sega titles stated by former SoA president, Simon Jeffrey. If the rumors are true, then Sega Wow may be able to remake the entire game from scratch and release it to the arcades with newer levels inside Curien’s Mansion and features within the game. As of now, we don’t know what they could be up to.

Not only the original game and it’s sequel, but also the Japanese/European only HotD game Loving Deads: The House of the Dead EX also deserves a port to digital platforms. The game’s storyline tells the audience about a zombie couple, Zobio & Zobiko, escaping the mansion to live a life in peace together from the clutches of Dr. Curien and his evil creatures. I’ve watched a couple of gameplay videos and I must say that this game looks REALLY enjoyable. Check and see for yourself. The game features tons of unique minigames where players much reach each other hand before time runs out such as dodging cakes during bullet time, rhythm tapping, finding the right zombie (may look familiar to those who played HOD2), and shooting bad teeth. A perfect gift for Valentine’s Day for lovely couples all over the world.

And this is where you guys come in, our mission is to get Sega to release these games on digital platforms as soon as possible (don’t want to wait for another seven years (-_-;) It’s easy…
Just sign these two petitions and your set
The House of the Dead HD
Loving Deads: The House of the Dead EX
Our goal is to reach 100 signatures each for both games and I may plan on making a video to spread the word even further and you guys can post your reasons explaining why you want these games to consoles as video responses. Not so bad right? Show your support AMS agents, about time “we” made a move!

Video Game Connoisser, Seàn Whitear explains why we need more Typing of the Dead

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Kori

The Typing of the Dead series is one of those unique names that Sega Wow has ever created based on the popular HotD sequel, The House of the Dead 2. Video game connoiser, Seàn Whitear, gave his thoughts and explains why we need more Typing of the Dead. Why? Because it has over the top humour, it’s educational, and most of all you can kill zombies with words on your very own keyboard. Here’s a snip from his amazing article

The Typing of the Dead is a great idea. It’s as laugh-out-loud funny and ridiculous as it is educational and helpful to a player’s everyday computing life. To make things even sweeter for developer Wow Entertainment (now Sega Wow) and publisher Sega, it probably didn’t require a great deal of funds to produce, either. Typing was only released in Japanese arcades but found its way to Dreamcast and PC in other countries; there was also a sequel, Typing of the Dead II, which was based on House of the Dead III, but it never made it outside of Japan. Typing is, perhaps, an even more niche game than the series it’s spun off from but a new release distributed on the cheap via a digital distribution platform like Steam could really prove to be a cult hit amongst PC gamers.

Check out his list of reasons why we should have more Typing of the Dead for today’s digital distribution here. Since Sega is going to release more games on digital, Typing should be one of them and a port of Loving Deads: The House of the Dead EX and The House of the Dead. Get on it Sega!

Source: Video Game Connoisser, Sean Whitear

The House of the Dead Character Drafts, who is Mr. Happy and Playboy

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Kori

Friends… the wait is now over. It is now time for me to show off early character concepts of the original The House of the Dead. These pictures contain early drafts of Thomas Rogan, G, Dr. Curien, Sophie, and two mysterious characters.

As you can see in Sophie and Curien’s concept drafts, their names are different. Sophie’s original name was possibly going to be Carole and Curien as Dr. A in the early part of the game. It seems that AM1 changed their names in the end.

Thomas Rogan and G looks identical to their game counterparts giving Rogan an American look while G looks a bit Asian.

But who are these two mysterious characters who haven’t made it to the final game. Mr. Happy and Playboy. Mr. Happy is a human being wrapped in bandages all over with a long black coat, a tie, and a top hat. He looks very familiar to someone in a recent game that Sega has released last year. If you played Rise of Nightmares and finished the game, you may know who I may be referring to. Could AM1 have used this character design for Rise of Nightmares?

As for Playboy, a human or zombie with blue skin (Nightcrawler?) with a suit and a comb. Seems like AM1 tried to make a ladies man based on his name lol. To me he looks a bit like Clement Darling, but with a handsome look and doesn’t have a incestuous love for his mother if you catch my drift lol.

I hope you guys enjoyed taking a look at these awesome concept art by AM1. Hopefully one day, we can get real answers from Takashi Oda on who Mr. Happy and Playboy are.

The concept drafts of each character will be uploaded to the official artwork section.

Source: The House of the Dead Perfect Guide

Life Bonus! ~ The guide to obtain bonus items in HOTD 4

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Kori

I’m out of school for 2 weeks and I’ve decided to make a guide to find as many bonus items and secret rooms to build up your score in The House of the Dead 4. Let’s begin shall we 😉

Chapter 1: Escape

After you’ve destroyed the first wave of creatures, James/Kate will look at their left. Shoot the danger panel and earn a coin. It may not appear sometimes in that one spot and may switch to the other panel in some playthroughs.

After you’ve obtain the first coin, a creature will attempt to grab you. Shake your gun and shoot to your bottom right. There should be another coin in the box container.

Before the Rubin type creatures show up in this part, shoot the danger panel on the left corner to earn a coin just in case if it doesn’t show up on the first panel.

When there are 3 waves of creatures surrounding you and the game tells you to use a grenade, don’t use it and shoot the red switch in order to take an alternate path.

Once the waves of creatures are killed off, leave at least 2 of them to save time to get a item in that box container.

Once you’ve taken the alternate path, you will encounter Zobio like creatures. Shoot the door on the left before killing them. There is a secret bonus room with 3 coins and a golden frog which will also nab you the “BONUS EXPLORER” trophy.

After getting the goodies in the bonus room, there is another danger panel with a life bonus. Be careful as a Zobio type creature will grab you. Shake him off and obtain the life bonus.

Now you have to choose a path. If you take the left path, destroy the 4 Rubin type creatures and 2 Zobio creatures should come out the slide door. Immediately shoot the danger panel the lower right and earn the top hat.

Before the cutscene where they show a HUGE amount of creatures below the building. Shoot the yellow box which contains a gold coin.

Clear off the creatures for room and shoot the yellow box to obtain a grenade bonus.

Towards the end of the chapter as you enter, shoot the danger panel on the right for a life bonus.

Afterwards, creatures should be able to come out from the slide doors. Throw a grenade on your right to enter another bonus room which contains three coins, a top hat, and a bell. Keep shooting the bell to build up the score.

Chapter 2: Lost

After killing off a group of Ebitans, you will encounter 3 frog type creatures. Behind them is a box containing a coin.

In this part, there is a secret cave.

As the group of Ebitans and Frog creatures prepare for an attack, throw the grenade to your right in order to enter the secret cave.

The cave of hope shall open.

You have an option to make a path. Choose the left one and you should be able to obtain a life bonus in either one of the boxes or barrels.

I’m not sure about this part, but there maybe a item in one of the green containers behind the Bob creatures.

Shoot this box before you encounter varies types of creatures which contains a grenade bonus.

Once you’ve encounter and destoryed them, there is a box before you climb the latter.

The box should contain a golden frog.

Before you enter the room of creatures in cages, shoot the bottom left floor to obtain items in another secret bonus room.

You can take an alternate path by shooting the lock where you encounter a swarm of Murrers.

A good scientist once said “Quick! Open the LOCK!” Once you’ve taken that path, shoot the green barrel for a life bonus.

You will encounter 3 Bob type creatures. Shoot the green barrels on your right to get a grenade bonus.

The red circle up top is the location of a coin in the box. Clear some space by shooting the yellow barrel that will destroy some creatures along the way.

Do not shoot Bob. This will be your chance to get some good head shots on these creatures to raise your score.

Your close towards the end of this chapter. You will encounter a good amount of Burners and Ebitans. This will be your chance to earn yourself the “CUT THE WIRE” trophy as long as they are on the platform.
Chapter 3: Emptiness

In the beginning of chapter 3 after destroying groups of Kageos, there are boxes as you climb the latter. Shoot quickly though as this maybe your only chance to get some bonus items.

If your unable to get it the first time, there is still hope. Shoot the boxes quickly to earn a coin before you encounter Ebitans coming from garbage disposals.

“No time to even catch my breath.” ~ Kate Green

Leave one zombie alive to give you time to earn a grenade bonus to your left in a gallon of paint.

Not done yet, there’s a golden Magician in one of those gallons to your right. Watch out for the short zombie creatures and there fierce knife attack.

During this moment of the game, a legless Kageo will pop out and drag you to a room. Do not shake your gun and let it drag you in the room. Once your in the room, kill the legless Kageo and shoot the box on your left. The box contains a golden bell.

In that same room, you will encounter a group of Kageos. Shoot the box on your right to obtain a coin.

After you’ve dealt with the barrel throwing zombies. Shoot the gallon of paint here to obtain a life bonus.

Shoot the control box to your right as you destroy the bats in your way.

The room should light up. Before you can get the goodies in the room, you must elimate the swarm of Kageos.

When selecting a branch, choose the left route. Down stairs on the far left is a trash bin containing a silver coin.

On the second part of the train, there are three containers containing a top hat.

To destroy the doors of the cul-de-sac next to the vehicle. Directly aimed at the door and earn the grenade bonus.

When your surrounded by Johnny and Sam type zombies, shoot the box behind them for a life bonus.
Chapter 4: Despair

At the start of chapter 4, shoot the Johnny creatures and the container with a golden frog inside on your right. It’s best to get it once you pass the door when upcoming creatures come from behind it.

As you can see from here.

After the cutscene where the sandman looking creatures throw a plastic model out the window, there is a red box under one of them which contains a coin.

Shoot the sandman like creatures to prevent it from closing the shutter for there are a few red boxes. Kill off the remaining wave of creatures and shoot the boxes for a grenade bonus.

Once you’ve entered the room, shoot the left side where the blue is circled around asap. Doing that will activate a secret room containing three coins and a grenade bonus.

A life bonus should show up in this part when the creatures crash through the windows.

Once your outside in the ruins of Venice, shoot the box uptop that contains a golden Magician. Keep your aim steady, that little thing is a bit fast lol.

After earning that golden Magician and destroying the lab coat zombies. There is a next wave of them coming for you. Immediately shoot the green oil drum that contains a bus. Keep shooting it down and earn yourself a huge score along with the “SHOOT THE BUS” trophy.

As the Temperance chases you through the ditch. You will see a green oil drum that my contain either a top hat or coin.

Cancel Temperance second attack for the next portion of the chase and then you should be able to find another oil drum containing a coin.

Once your inside the second story of the tower before Temperance crashes in, shoot one of the containers for a golden bell. Location varies in some playthroughs.

Once your in the third story before you finish off Temperance for good, shoot

Chapter 5: Reunion

There is a barrel near a couple of AMS and regular zombies as you drive. Shoot at your right to obtain a golden frog.

As a group of AMS and horde of creatures come after you in your car. Shoot this red barrel to earn yourself a grenade bonus.

After the grenade bonus, you will encounter sandman type creatures. Shoot the red barrel on your left for a life bonus.

This maybe tricky to get. As you drive off before entering the drive through quickly shoot the red barrel circled as above to earn a golden Magician.

After you shook off the car from making you crash, you can see 2 coins, a top hat and life bonus. Aim percisley.
Chapter 6: Hope

As you enter and eliminated the Franklin 2.0 creatures in Goldman’s new decorated room. One of these boxes contains a life bonus. Don’t forget to shoot the dragon’s mouth on the floor to enter a secret room.

Wala!

You just hit the mother load.

As for the very last room. You must not lose a single credit in order to enter this room before entering Goldman’s office.

I hope this guide helps out a lot of HOTD 4 players.

Source: Girl Doll HOTD 4 page & Minzeliang

Tunes of the Dead: I Have A Dreamcast: Venice is Dying by Grey Milk

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Kori

Back in 2009, a group of fans called “I Have a Dreamcast” created a soundtrack dedicated to many Sega games that were released on the Dreamcast and performed live on stream. This song tells a story of two friends playing a game of The House of the Dead 2 describing what’s going on as they play through it such as zombies wrecking havoc in Venice, The Tower boss, and even shooting a kid. If you played The House of the Dead 2 back in 1999 on your Dreamcast, nostalgia will hit you harder than the Magician. Tell me what you think of the song?

Source: Barry the Nomad

Custom made clay statues of Stick and Busujima from Zombie Revenge

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Kori

Doing some random google searches on Zombie Revenge and I happen to find these two wonderful statues of AMS agents Stick Breitling and Rikiya Busujima from the House of the Dead spin-off called “Zombie Revenge” by a Japanese sculpture. Sadly, there’s no love for Linda Rotta. The statues looks realistic in my opinion. If only there were some statues of Thomas Rogan and G. I would definitely love to see that one day. Click below to see more pictures of the two statues. *UPDATE* These statues were really officially made to promote the game in Japan in 1999.

Source: Sculpture of Figure http://nbagi.blog94.fc2.com/blog-category-10.html

The House of the Dead 4 Trophy Guide

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Kori

Enjoying The House of the Dead 4, but having trouble getting certain trophies? Look no further! I have made a guide on how to earn these hard earning trophies. Some maybe easy, but others can be tricky to obtain.

Pandora’s Box
See all 4 endings of The House of the Dead 4.
The hardest trophy of them all. This may be a little of use,but this is how I was able to get all 4 endings from my personal playthrough.
Goldman: Started at chapter Two and beat the game, it didn’t count the first chapter grade.
GoldmanZombie: I had Five As and One B and got this ending.
G Ending: Get all A’s in every chapter. You can lose a credit a couple of times.
Mystery man: This one I’ve earned playing two player mode with my brother only losing credits twice and having five A’s and one S in the sixth chapter scoring about Two Hundred K. Two player differs from single player scores.
If that doesn’t help, check out this guide by Shadi Potter from GameFaqs http://www.gamefaqs.com/arcade/929112-the-house-of-the-dead-4/faqs/42249

Top Agent
Get RANK 2 or above in Final Result.
A easier way to get this trophy is to play HOTD4SP and earn A or above in both chapters. Remember to get in some good accuracy and “PERFECT” Headshots.

Another Pandora’s Box
See the true ending of HOD4 SP
f you guys are having trouble getting the mystery man ending in HOD4SP. You have to set the game on very easy and score about 70000 without losing a credit. I tested it out twice after the first time I got it and it works. First time was S/A as Top agent and then S/S as Special agent.

Bonus Explorer
Find a secret room
In Chapter 1, shoot the red box while your surround by waves of creatures to go to the alternate path. After killing the ninja and labcoat creatures, you should encounter three Zobio (strong) type creatures opening the slide, shoot the door on the left and there should be a secret room with 3 coins and a golden frog.

Cut The Wire
During CHAPTER 2, cut the wire and let the enemies fall.
Towards the end of chapter 2, you should spot 3 burners and 3 Ebitans on a platform. Immeditatly shoot the wire.

Despair
Clear CHAPTER 4 on any difficulty .
Finish of Temperance. The weakspot is it’s head. Don’t get flatten.

EAT THIS!!!
During CHAPTER 1 Boss encounter, throw a grenade and damage JUSTICE.
When you encounter Justice in the sewers, throw a grenade in it’s mouth.

Emptiness
Clear CHAPTER 3 on any difficulty.
Finish off the Empress. It’s weakspot is it’s head. Watch out for it’s chainsaw attacks

Escape
Clear CHAPTER 1 on any difficulty.
Defeat Justice. It’s weakspot is the mouth.

Fight Begins
See the good ending of HOD4 SP .
As the Magician trys to open Pandora’s Box, you have 10 secs to stop him. Aim and throw your grenade at the box.

Get the Bus
Shoot and destroy the BUS.
Once you reached the outside the ruins of Venice, destroy the first waves of creatures. The next wave you’ll encounter a couple of strong creatures (Sandman lookalikes) and a couple of Johhnys. There should be a box containing the bus on the bottom left. Shoot it as fast as you can.

Hope
Clear CHAPTER 6 on any difficulty.
Defeat The World by shooting it’s chest. Watch out for it’s ice powers.

Lost
Clear CHAPTER 2 on any difficulty.
Defeat the Lovers by aiming it’s small head on top of the other.

Reunion
Clear CHAPTER 5 on any difficulty.
Defeat the Star by aiming at his scar on his chest. He’s pretty fast and watch out for his purple energy blast along with his spin attack.

Who’s Next?
See the bad ending of HOD4 SP.
When the Magician tries to open Paradora’s Box, let him and see the bad ending.