What would a Halloween-themed Nintendo game be like?

HelloooOOOooOoOo everyone!

Welcome to the Halloween Special of palette’s blogs. To ɹǝuǝʇǝǝʍs!

Let’s now get into the post! A Halloween-themed game from Nintendo would be awesome, but they have really tried that type of game before. Nintendo has made a huge variety of games, from 2D platformers, to third-person open world games and first-person action-adventure shooters. However, they have only ever attempted the “horror” genre once in the 2002 GameCube classic, “Eternal Darkness.” Besides, horror isn’t even necessary for a Halloween-type game. In this post, I will explore what a possible, Nintendo Halloween game would be like in this post.

The game features a story set in the month of October. You awake when the first house on a particular street becomes decorated with cobwebs, Jack-o-Lanterns and ghost-like figures. You sense that there is deep magic which is brewing in that house. You tiptoe up to the house but it is locked. Then, you hear a chuckle and turn around to see three witches levitating. Then, you fall into a deep slumber.

You awake about three hours later to a loud ring coming from your phone. You answer the call and are introduced to the two-person team of witch hunters. They tell you that three witches, named “The Witch Sisters Three,” are planning to bring all of the spooky creatures from the Halloween realm to Earth. They ask if you can assist them and you answer “yes” in a heartbeat. They tell you that you have to go to a certain house which you can see down the road. When you start walking there, you see The Witch Sisters Three. They are waving their wands and Halloween decorations are appearing around the house. Just then, the witch hunters leap out of the house and use an electronic device to zap the witches and the decorations. The witches resist, but eventually give up and vanish.

The witch hunters signal to you and you run into the house. They tell you that The Witch Sisters Three are planning to bring the Halloween realm to Earth. You have to stop them before October 31st which is when they plan to unleash everything they have prepared. You must find them, infiltrate their hideout, learn magic and defeat them.

In every house along the street, there are quests which you must complete. When you beat a quest, you are able to enter the rooms and gather clues as to where the hideout might be. When a certain percentage of the clues are found, you will be shown the way to the witch hideout. By then, the date will be October 31st (The witches gain more power as the date gets closer to Halloween) and the witches are able to try to stop you from entering by summoning a “Guardian” boss. After defeating it, you enter to see a giant bubbling cauldron. The witches say one last chant and it explodes and an enormous monster appears. In one swipe of the hand, it kills all of The Witch Sisters Three. You realise the Beast could destroy the world. You feel like you have failed and lie down and sob. However, you regain all of your motivation when the witch hunters find you and assist you in your final fight.

The style of gameplay is both high-paced and strategic. Excluding bosses and major enemies, every enemy fits into one of three types and therefore has a specific weakness. Undead enemies are harmed when you try to heal them, witches and wizards are harmed by electricity and monsters are harmed by water. However, even if you use a weapon that does not have the effect that specifically harms the enemy, it will still do some damage. For example, if you used water against a skeleton, it wouldn’t do much damage, but it would still do some. Every single weapon fits into just one of these categories.

You always have three different weapons with you; a long-range weapon, a melee weapon and a curse weapon. The long-range weapon fires low-damage attacks to distance enemies so it is great if you are against an enemy that constantly tries to rush you. You are able to take aim at it from a distance so it doesn’t hit you. Melee weapons are great for slow enemies because you can easily get up close to do plenty of damage. Curse weapons do not do much damage on impact. However, damage is slowly done over time.

You can switch around weapons before a fight, so it is always good to choose a good combination of weapons with different special effects that suits your play style. If there are slow undead enemies, you would try to get a melee healing weapon. All of the fights happen in real time so you need to be fast thinking when going through fights.

A halloween game does not have to be scary, just spooky. The theme that this game will have is quite dark, as it will either be set in moonlight or haunted houses. The characters have to be goofy though, because that’s what sets apart Nintendo games. The main character of the story has to complete quite dreary quests and has a very flawed personality. He/she will be going through a large amount of mental stress which will have arisen from the crisis at hand. While Nintendo heroes are usually strong, the dark themes in this game will make the main character feel weak and pointless. However, this attitude is defeated when the game is complete.

There will be a lot of magic in the game which comes from The Witch Sisters Three. As the date of Halloween grows closer, their powers will grow and their magic will be stronger. Initially they will only be able to summon weak enemies around you, but later on, they can through you into dreams featuring your worst nightmares. On the night of the 31st, they use their magic to create the Beast which you have to eventually fight.

Thank you for reading palette’s Halloween special. We’ll see you in another palette post!