Night Trap, The Infamous Mega CD Classic, Is Switch Bound

Never played this but always been aware of it. It’s the game they said they’d never release on a Nintendo platform, of course. Nice for those who want it - and sure I’ll give it a go!

Wow.... just wow. I’ll see how it reviews and then go from there lol

Even after 26 years I still don't see the appeal. Bad game is still a bad game 26 years later.

Never thought we will see porn games on switch 🤔

Well, it's a perspective on the flow and change of times indeed. I bet Howard Lincoln would have a hard time imagining a game like Bayonetta on a Nintendo platform, too.

The emergence of ESRB is a good thing, technically - it's just that a lot of parents either don't give a damn about it or (especially commonplace in the post-Soviet space through the late 90s and most of 2000s) have no hand in their kids' gaming choices at all since pirateware torrents and PC parental controls are both unfamiliar concepts to them.

It gets as surreal as that Russian scandal over a Call of Duty game that one MP stirred after his underage son "showed him the game with those atrocious scenes and other violence". As the local distributor wisely responded, this raised all kinds of questions from a 12 year old playing Call of Duty at home to a politician's son getting games illegally (since Activision had already considered the scene a touchy subject by themselves, it was absent from the officially distributed Russian release to begin with). ¯(ツ)/¯

Yay??

@H_Hunter Haven't you heard of that one japanese game?

Yeah I'll pass on this, I only play "spooky games" near Halloween and Little Nightmares has taken that spot for this year.

....it also looks terrible

Wow I remember watching my cousin play this. I have actually just moved into a house five doors away from where I see it.

I remember seeing this on a friend's Sega CD system. What I remember is Dana Plato (from Diff'rent Strokes fame; RIP), the postage-sized stamped video, limited color palette and just general overall weirdness.

How times have changed. I wonder what would Howard Lincoln say.

Fool me once, shame on you...

@Alto there are 26 years worth of reviews out there. A move to the switch is in no way going to make this bad game good. I must admit though, it's a guilty pleasure of mine, but that's due to nostalgia.

Back in the day, when FMV games were all the rage, a few of them managed to transcend their cheap production values and sometimes awkward gameplay (I'm thinking of games like Wing Commander III or Gabriel Knight 2). Night Trap doesn't look like one of those of few. Maybe it manages to reach a "so bad it's good" quality level?

Well, they obviously found a way to get it to work after they said that it wasn't heading to the Switch.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/08/25_years_later_and_night_trap_still_isnt_going_to_appear_on_a_nintendo_console

Hell yes! I'm all over this.

I'll buy it...if I can click on the right button at the right time window to bypass the Limited Run Games 'Sold Out' trap and access the hidden purchase screen so I can enter my mythical payment information (which is indeed elusive and the stuff of lefends).

What? That's how it feels like trying to get certain Limited Run releases

Why are people over romanticising this crap? Only people that didn't understand video games were offended by it's content. Anyone into video games was more offended at it being referred to as a video game. I...I am genuinely lost for words this game is held in any regard. What next? People campaigning for Sewer Shark? Dragon's Lair gets entered in to the Hall of Fame for it's ground breaking playability? (Looks at Spider-man's qtes...ummm...ok...)

@masterLEON Their Switch games are actually sold in 2 week pre-order windows. Once they get the orders they are manufactured, that's when they stop making them (and regarded as limited.)

It is funny to imagine that THIS game contributed to the formation of the ESRB all those years ago, shows how far we have come. I've seen gameplay on YouTube it doesn't look that good of a game to play. Pass

I have this on Sega CD. I'll save you time and money, don't buy it! This game is terrible! Along with every other FMV game on Sega cd

I had this on the Mega CD, Will probably get as a bid to get as many retro games on my Switch as possible.

I would prefer other Digital Pictures games like Ground Zero Texas, Prize Fighter,

one step forward
two steps back.

@H_Hunter
What porn? Night Trap didn't have any nudity or even graphic violence whatsoever. Howard Lincoln used ridiculous hyperbole when he vilified it during the Senate hearings, but in reality anyone who's seen a PG movie has seen worse.

@H_Hunter
Exaggeration much? There are a few scenes with the girls in ample clothing and nightgowns. This interactive movie is just an enormous cringe fest that I wasted my money on, back in the day. I still regret it.

It’s interesting how standards change over time. On the Sega CD this was given an M rating, but last year on PS4 it was given a T rating. The difference 25 years make.

I love these live action games, purely for the bad acting

Well now I hope the sequel, incidentally called 'Double Switch' makes it too!

Technically, Howard was right. Nintendo isn't getting Night Trap. It's getting Night Trap Anniversary Edition.

Will there be bewbs?

@eltomo
What ever blows your skirt up. Cringe guaranteed.

@H_Hunter Tell that to Senran Kagura

@Winklebottom is your profile picture from the live action Ghost in the Shell movie? I haven't seen it yet, but I do have Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence:
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

@Alto There's a reason it's famous...and not because it's good

@Koudai1979 Starcraft II.

I might need this game lol. Even though it’s Limited Run, I cant imagine I’d have a hard time scuring a copy.

@Koudai1979 Oh man, the Johansson movie has better effects than that.

The game is basically a meme

@Winklebottom I've never played that game.

@LemonSlice lol I'm looking at this site on my phone. It's kinda hard to tell.

I’ve heard it’s a bad game, but I’ll buy it. I wish someone could get us Sewer Shark.

Spending my money to put trash into my Switch don't sound like a very good idea.

I bought this the day it came out and returned it the day after. I'm not falling for it again. I would love to see Road Avenger again though.

@Gridatttack Can anyone find out if Howard has a twitter page or business email or something? I want his reaction, lol.

I would love to play a remake of this though, not so the original.

If we're getting Sega CD ports, can we get Lunar 1 & 2, Popful Mail, Vay, Sonic CD, Final Fight CD and Lords of Thunder (PC Engine version too) instead?

Don't know why but I really fancy giving this game a go. It just looks so silly but in a fun way.

Back in the day thus game was a school yard rumour and I never played it. I don't think it was big in Australia. Can't wait Extra Cheese Please!

Have it on PS4 from LRG. Now selling my copy for the Switch version. May not be a "great" game, but nostalgia hits hard with it.

Howard’s moral outrage was just spin before Congress at the time. A chance to trash their competitor. They rejected CD technology and so the game was impossible anyway. I’m sure Howard today could be persuaded into admitting his disingenuousness if anyone cared enough lol

Chris Scullion will love this. His tiredoldhack Nintendo site has been making a running joke out of Night Trap for years.

@Alto I would will review pretty low. Since, well that is whole point.

i feel they should add popful mail to the switch and charge 350 dollars for it. call it a rare download.

The footage looks like it was shot on video, which isn't great, but I'm more impressed by the fact that they have retained and preserved the original assets after all these years.

At least it looks like they'll be using the original footage, rather than the horrible converted video they had to use for the Sega CD.

Still, I can't imagine anyone buying it aside from wanting to see what the fuss was about.

Already played this game on 3DS...

Time has shown just how tame this game ultimately was.

I would rather have a phantasmagoria or Gabriel Knight 2 HD remake. (Full Motion Video Games)

Excellent news!! Been having fun with this game on my PS4 & my Snes mini!! Wow...Night Trap On a Nintendo system!! Another Nice addition to the Switch library! Put that in your pipe and smoke it Howie!!

This game will not be appearing on my personal Nintendo Switch system. Feel free to waste some space on yours though.

It is a historic game. And I would argue that it is important that we have the ESRB and other country's equivalents. But that said, it isn't a good game. This is just a cash grab on the meme.

Also, I still hold the opinion that anyone thinking video games, rather than poor parenting, are the reason for misbehaving youths, are bloody ignorant fools.

@OorWullie I vaguely remember getting ground zero Texas on the mega cd but couldn’t tell you what the hell it was about. Incidentally I nabbed a copy of Night trap from LRG on the PS4 last year. Before I opened it I decided that I needed rebooteroids from AtariAge on the Jag more. Listed the disc sealed on eBay and some nutter gave me 90 quid for it. True story.

Well. Found this.
"Night Trap designer Rob Fulop was irked that his relatively tame game was being compared to Mortal Kombat, which features a character ripping the heart out of a defeated opponent. Nintendo senior vice president Howard Lincoln testified in front of the committee, stating Night Trap would never appear on a Nintendo system because it did not pass their guidelines. Fulop later explained that Lincoln was referring to the technical guidelines; the game could not run on a Nintendo system due to the lack of a CD-ROM drive, but Lincoln made it sound as if the game was unworthy of Nintendo's moral standards. Critics noted this as a deliberate move from Nintendo to distance themselves from the scandal and make Sega look unfavorable.[9]"
On Wikipedia

Interested!!!

@Spoony_Tech Bad is the appeal. Bad and everybody knew it.

I was actually lamenting today during a long car drive how teens today don't seem to have much bad cultural solidarity. And even though a lot of our solidarity is built on bad stuff, I'm not sure there is much of that today. There is some, the Sharknado series of films has it, but not really much else will I feel give this generation of teens something to look back on in 20 years.

I know you're a bit younger than me, as are your kids, but we know things that defined the 80s. Rocky Horror, Laser shows, Pink Floyd the Wall, Spaceballs, Princess Bride, Dirty Dancing, Breakfast Club (John Hughs flicks in general). Fast times at Ridgemont High. Even on TV we had USA Up all Night (OK that was 90s). I know the American Pie movies were big - one time at band camp - but that was almost a generation ago already 1999-2001.

There are always good things to band around, Star Wars for every generation, Marvel movies, but that's no fun. Monty Python And the Holy Grail, now that was bad and fun. My teenage kids have memes. That's what the world has come to, memes and emoji movies. That's what are kids will recall in 20 years, LOL and Hope I'm wrong. Oh, and the music sucks too. (That's a joke, I know what an old fart I sound like, but seriously, Princess Bride, Wayne's World, Flashdance, Grease. Community is shattered.)

Is it a horror game because of content or because of quality?

I think this game has an interesting place in gaming history. If the price is right, I'll pick up a copy just to have it. They've got to price this right, though. More than $30 will doom it. $20 though, and I wouldn't hesitate.

@rjejr I was a sheltered child and didn't even see half or most of those movies growing up. No Porkys, Revenge of the Nerds, or even movies like Carrie. I was more of a Goonies and Back to the Future kid.

I guess 26 years is "never". Hehe

The place this game has in gaming history, is what would give this game any value at all. As part of the "console wars", and the creation of the ESRB, due to American Congress holding Nintendo, & Sega's feet to the fire; to police themselves, or Congress would.

As a huge Sega fan that owned the Sega cd back in the day and played this game (friends parents bought it for him, thought the outrage was silly) the game is crap, and I don't recommend it at all. Probably only good to play to see how ridiculous the game is lol

@Spoony_Tech Goonies is 1 of my sisters favorite films, she's 42, probably closer to you. I didn't mention those Porky's and Nerds movies b/c even I have my limits of bad. And really I never hear normal people talk about them like I do with Princess Bride and Spaceballs. Stand By Me could probably be in there too. There's no stopping Wil Wheaton. Though Zac Efron from HSM may be this gens Wil Wheaton, sad as that may be.

I don't think there's Goonies now though. It's probably going to be Deadpool for this gen. I mean Deadpool was a great movie and I'm looking forward to the next one, but I wont' let my teenage kids watch them, and funny as it may be, it has no redeeming qualities for kids. Not even the new Jurassis PArk films will ever look back on as fondly as our gen does w/ the original. Not the 2 awful sequels, but whatever. Even if you didn't see the original, ask anyone, find memories. Watch that with your kids in a few years, skip all the rest.

I do have a bias with disliking all of the remakes. Ghostbusters, Rollerball, 21 Jump Street, Brady Bunch, too many remakes.

B2tF is too good for me to include in a list of lame movies, it's a classic, like Casablanca, the Maltese Falcon and GWTW. Though I doubt our parents would think so.

And take it from a guy who's seen way too many really bad movies, you didn't miss anything by missing Porky's and Nerds. Nerds weren't even good really, and Porky's was, well, like "2 Broke Girls" now. TV is nothing but vibrator jokes now. Nothing but. Don't let your kids watch prime time tv, it's horrible. And that's coming from me. I wouldn't waste time rewatching Porky's or Nerds, not a minute, but Ghostbusters, Goonies, Sapceballs. My wife and women her age would watch Dirty Dancing forever.

So I'm ok w/ a really bad game like this getting re-released, it's a cultural moment of badness. I much rather a re-release than a remake. The world never needs a Rocky Horror remake, just keep showing the original every Friday at midnight. You don't need to see that either, it's horrible, but it was what it was. I honestly don't know what these kids have now that they can look back on. Gun massacres? Tweets? Youtubers? There's certainly no Wonder Years. Though I suppose How I met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory are close. Only Neil Patrick Harris can save them.

The game is a walking museum piece. It should be at a museum. Don't know who will want this game besides gaming historians.

@H_Hunter It isn't a porn game.

Get the bunker instead.

@MrAmanojaku LOL that's right, it's not Seymore Butts Interactive.

those FMV games most of them where horrible.

only 2 great games i can remember are Phantasmagoria and wing commander.

7 guest was also great

This reminds me of that old AVGN episode.

I think I'll just watch a playthrough for this one, like I did with Plumbers Don't Wear Ties. This game looks like it offers just as good of a gaming experience. I'd like to at least have commentary over it.

How does this compare to the other FMV games, The Bunker and Late Shift?

Would be fantastic if you could rent games on the eshop.

This game was bad in 1994 and imagine it's still bad now. There is no way this is being downloaded to my Switch

You can probably just watch a few clips on YouTube and get your fill for free.

That trailer, featuring Mr Lincoln saying that Night Trap would never be released on a Nintendo console followed by the Switch click already justifies the release.
I doubt too many people will actually buy it though, mostly it will be video game history buffs or some meme nerds. Being a reason to form ESRB is all the worth this game had (and ESRB is definitely a good thing; having Mature as an available rating is very freeing).

@samuelvictor Sega CD version of road avenger has the theme song in English. I just run the disc in my disc drive and emulate with kega fusion.

Guys, where’s your LABO review??

@SKTTR It's much older and much cheesier for sure.
The idea is that you watch the action through several security feeds and attempt to influence the action thus. Kinda like FNAF, but with girls in lingerie and vampires with a blood-sucking gizmo.

@Ensemen "Haven't you heard of that one japanese game?" You mean those TWO Japanese games, as of last week.

For those interested in the "story" of the game, I'm sure you can look up the whole playthrough online.
I've heard it doesn't use much input in the game (simple left or right arrow keys at different points).
I'll be avoiding getting this, but I don't care if anyone else wants it. Go for it, I say.

@rjejr This is the first time I've ever heard this particular take on What's Wrong With This Generation. Well, this generation has had the Twilight books and movies, Snakes on a Plane, the Hobbit movies, the Transformers movies, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Galavant, Gotham, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, five Pirates of the Carribean movies and not one but TWO terrible Alice in Wonderland movies. I think they've got "bad entertainment" covered.

@JasmineDragon ugh, thanks for that, I try to keep Twilight out of my brain, but you are right with that one. It's the film franchise that started the whole "Team" thing which my wife can't stand. And YA "trilogies" alongside Divergent and Maze Runner.

And of course there's Harry Potter, but I see that as more of a good series of movies, like Raiders or Star Wars, than bad.

I suppose your'e right, there is stuff out there, will just have to wait 20 years to see what sticks. I suppose if nothing else they'll have Gangam Style and Whip Neh Neh to fondly look back on.

What I'm really lamenting is a collective culture or language that came with growing up w/ a few big hit movies that everybody knew every word to so you have something to bond over. Everybody knows "ET phone home" and "You're gonna need a bigger boat." even if somehow you never saw those movies, it was ingrained in a common culture. Having PewDePie as a rallying point just isn't the same thing. I asked my HS kid the other day what sayings kids had these days that everybody uses, like "Not" or "As if" or "Like totally". He couldn't' think of any. I know it's good kids don't talk like Bill & Ted and Beavis and Butthead and they are out fighting gun violence instead, just feels like in 20 years they'll have nothing to fondly look back on. Maybe it's just my kids though and the rest are ok.

As a 12 year old I never got the SCAT (Sega Control Attack Team) reference. It's only now I'm catching on.

For those who have never played it: it's a very dated FMV heavy game (with heavily compressed video that is close to unwatchable) but the plot is lame and cheesy, so you'll get some fun out of it.

The preview shows far cleaner video, I hope it remains that way. The Sega CD original was dire.

I hope they rework the UI, it made the game overall clunky in feel. Still, it's an EXTREMELY tame horror comedy that is worth at least one playthrough.

5/10

The game is pretty much a historical event at this point for how silly the controversy around it was.

It's good to see Nintendo not be afraid of it anymore though.

Wow... I will get to play THE Night Trap now. Onward... FOR SCIENCE!

@samuelvictor "shared experiences"

Reading that makes me sad for when I used to be able to write coherently, thanks for expressing my ideas in proper English. 16 years as homemaker has taken it's toll.

Closest thing to Muppet Movie is probably Frozen. Though Muppets was all about fun, Frozen about woman power, though they both do have the same underlining theme of achieving your goals, coming of age stories. Frozen was actually much better than I thought it would be. And it was big like Lion King. Which everybody knows, but that was also 24 years ago, so a generation ago, not this generation. Frozen is a bit too "girl power" to be universally liked though. Finding Nemo was also fantastic, perhaps the last great universal movie I've seen - still haven't' seen the sequel - but again 15 years ago. Just keep swimming.

In a world where literally everybody gets their 15 seconds of fame via social media - 15 minutes was last generation - nothing has the staying power of universal appeal to take root in the collective conscience. Everybody has their niche, appeals to their base, we can't just all get along. It's like everybody is more connected superficially, but there's no there there. Like the avicii guy. He was never going to be to my tastes anyway, but most popular things aren't, but I'm aware of them. I'm not sure anything these kids can take is going to make it's way from short term to long term memory. All they're going to have is a lot of LOL C U LTR. Well as a collective. I do think kids will have memories, good memories, they do a lot, lacrosse, soccer, music, art, they don't do free time, so they'll all have great memories of exciting events, they'll just have no one to share them with. Which is ironic.

Every time we drive over train tracks my wife and I say "Mason Dixon London Bridge" which is a pun on my kids names. It's really stupid and serves no purpose, but we don't drive over train tracks every day, just visiting and vacationing. So my hope is when my kids are old and I'm gone they'll have that, even if they hate it now. Maybe they'll teach it to their kids. Probably not, but if they laugh about it, that's good enough for me.

Sesame Street, the poster child of public television, is on $15 per month HBO. That pretty much should tell anyone all they need to know about then and now. And it's nothing good.

@samuelvictor My kids and I skipped Coco b/c it wasn't that long ago that we saw The Book of Life and we felt it was redundant. Also saw Kubo and the Two strings recently and while not quite the same I think we'd had enough magical journey films. Every summer we see a few $1 or free movies for kids that the theaters show and I suspect Coco will be on that list this year. We saw Sherlock Gnomes a few weeks ago for my nephews birthday, and that was not up to snuff. It had a couple of good jokes, but more like a made for tv show than a film.

"Is it now only available on HBO and not PBS in the states?"

Good question. I don't know about only, my kids are too old, but all of the first run stuff is on HBO from a deal they signed a few years back. Everybody was joking about Sesame Street turning into an incestuous and violent Game of Thrones.

Here's a rally dry read if you're into number crunching.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/b-is-broke-why-sesame-816105

Seems like it's going well though.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-television/the-evolution-of-sesame-street-on-hbo

You know, SS was my thing as a kid, Kermit was my guy, I was peeved when he wasn't represented at the sesame Place amusement park b/c Henson withheld the rights or something. Or he just went to the Muppets full time. But I did watch enough with my kids for a few years that I liked the newer stuff too. IT was different, but it was enjoyable as a parent.

"Scarily I've been a dad for 18 years now so it sounds like we have similar experiences"

Speaking of scary experiences, just put my 10th grader on a team bus to Detroit, about a 12 hour drive away. They'll be back Sunday. It's weird having him gone for that long. I'm going to feel guilty while I play God of War non-stop for the next 5 days.

@samuelvictor Yeah we'll probably see Coco eventually. And odn't go to Sesame Place, you'll also be disappointing about no Kermit like I was. Though my kids get to be in the parade that was cool. And I had my picture taken with The Count, also cool, even though I know it's just a guy in a costume, b/c I'm a big dork sometimes.

I’m calling fake news on this. Nintendo doesn’t have any release info on the title.