Sweet Home: Capcom’s Great Horror RPG on the Famicom

Sweet Home was released in 1989 and didn’t leave Japan. It is a horror RPG, and was one of the games that inspired Resident Evil. It was mostly unplayable for people outside of Japan for most of the 1990s, unless you found a translated ROM online or imported the Famicom cartridge.

Thanks to the internet, more people can play this game, and it was eventually translated into English. I have a copy of the Famicom game, but I’ll be using a ROM to play this. It is nice to have the original just in case the ROM doesn’t work or it craps out halfway through.

This is the first time I’ll be playing this game, so I’ll be using a guide. Since this is a movie-based game, I went ahead and watched the film. There will be a section where I talk about the game and whether it has any similarities with the game.

There is a decent chance that I’m going to use both Famicom and NES game to describe how I feel about Sweet Home. I’m well aware of what the two are. It is simply easier for me to say NES, and I’ll do my best to stick with one.

TLDR: An excellent survival horror RPG with a great story and creepy atmosphere.

Narrative

This is a movie-based game, and the story follows the film to some extent. While the setup is the same, the overall plot has changed to make it more fun for a video game. There are more enemies in the game, you have more puzzles, and the frescoes are hidden throughout the mansion instead of being in one room.

You’re given notes on what happened at the mansion, and while things play out the same, there are more RPG elements as well as puzzle-solving parts in the game, such as building bridges to cross gaps in the floor. The problem with explaining the plot of this game is that I’m spoiling the movie. In an effort not to do that, I’m going to be a little vague.

So, you find out that Lady Mamyia is haunting the mansion, and you find out why. No one gets possessed, and you can keep the characters alive. Sadly, there is no Kenishi in this game; he was my favorite character in the movie. Things do end with a battle, but the game has you getting saved by someone at the end.   

There were a number of necessary changes to the story. I don’t mind this because the movie’s plot needed to be changed. After all, this is an RPG. The developers also had to come up with a better reason for the characters being trapped in the mansion. I really like the story! I enjoyed the movie, and the game is a different take on the movie’s story.

Gameplay

I’m not too sure how I feel about the gameplay. It might be the ROM that I’m playing, but I’m not too sure. The controls are a little complicated, and it uses a menu system like the Dragon Warrior and Phantasy Star games. I don’t like this, but it makes a little more sense here.

Sweet Home is a turn-based RPG that has a bunch of puzzles in it. Many of these puzzles rely on the tools that your characters have. The controls are a bit convoluted, and many things feel much harder to do than they should be.

You have five playable characters, each with a special tool. You’ll need to form two parties of characters, which is a cool idea. It is also possible to lose a party member over the course of the game. This can happen by a character getting abducted or killed.

At times, spirits are flying on the screen. If one of these comes in contact with one of your party members, then that person will be abducted. You can also be killed in battle, which should be obvious given that this is an RPG.

The battles are in first person. They look similar to what you would see in a dungeon crawler. These look much better than those in Dragon Quest, but not as good as Phantasy Star. I don’t actually like the combat all that much.

A lot of my frustration has to do with the Will/Pray ability. This is something from the movie, and it is as confusing in the game. I don’t know what exactly it does. Sometimes it makes a character stronger, sometimes it doesn’t. You would think it acts like magic in other games, but it doesn’t. I’m sure there is an explanation of this online, but I didn’t find it.

I used a guide for this game (Link), and I also consulted the manual to figure out the controls (Link). Much like the game, I’m not sure how good the translation is, but some of the words do line up.

The gameplay feels a little off to me. It’s like the game is trying to be a survival horror game and RPG, but not excelling at either. It has things that I enjoy from both genres, but I don’t think either is done well enough to elevate the gameplay. I want to like the game more than I do, but I’m not sure about what’s here.

Visuals

The graphics in this game are excellent for 1989. It is one of the best-looking games that I’ve played from that year. The game uses an overhead view, and there are several obstacles that you can see. At some points, you’ll have to use a candle or lighter to see in the dark, which is something I don’t mind.

It is easy to see what items you might be able to pick up, and the paintings are easy to see. The rooms look great as well. Every item stands out, which is nice and helps the player know what they can interact with.

The battle screens look nice. What I really like are the monster sprites. They look very different from what I’ve normally seen in an RPG, and they fit in with a horror game like this.

There are nice cutscenes in this game that I wasn’t expecting to see in a game from 1989. These are used when you open a door, trigger a trap, or when some plot information is given to the player. It is so cool to see stuff like this in a retro game. While it isn’t as good as what you’ll see in an SNES or Genesis game.

At some moments, Sweet Home looked like it could’ve been on the SNES. It has moments where I stop thinking that I’m playing a Famicom/NES game.

About the Movie

There were some necessary changes from the movie to the game. The movie is a ghost story where you have some characters that are there to die in gruesome ways, and the game has each of them play a role. One character is also removed from the game, and the reason why they’re trapped at the mansion is manufactured for the game.

In the movie, the documentary team can leave at any point, even after their truck crashes. The reason they don’t is that one of them gets kidnapped by the ghost, and some of them die, but that is besides the point. There are a few similarities, though.

Some of the clues to what happened are in the fresco, but there is only one in the movie. The characters use the tools from the game, such as the vacuum, but a few of the others aren’t mentioned. I do like that the game tries to incorporate the willpower thing from the movie.

There is some strange stuff in the movie about willpower. It is how they manage to get past some of the ghosts’ powers, and it is used like magic in the game. How it works and what the effects of it are don’t make too much sense. I’m glad it is in the game, and that they tried to include it in a way that worked for an RPG. The significance of it is lost on me, but it works better in the game.

I can see some of the things that might’ve made it into the Resident Evil games. Sweet Home is often cited as being the inspiration for Resident Evil, including by the series creator. When I watched the movie, I got more Silent Hill vibes, but that was just me. The manor and puzzles are here, and with a few tweaks, Sweet Home could be turned into a Resident Evil adventure.

8/10. I’m giving this an eight because I think it does a lot of things well enough to be considered above average. It simply feels a little strange because it was trying to do something new. There are things in this game that work better in a survival horror game, but aren’t too out of place in an RPG.

Pros

• Great Graphics
• Good Story
• Unique Gameplay

Cons

• Confusing Controls
• Odd puzzles

Conclusion

This is a weird RPG to play through. It isn’t like any of the other RPGs I’ve played on the NES, but it has similarities to other games I’ve played. The two-party system has popped up in other games I’ve played, but Sweet Home does a better job with it. You can swap party members around, and each has a role to play.

There are parts of the game that I enjoy, but it took me a while to get the hang of the controls. It is one of the problems with a unique RPG. You have something new, and there isn’t really a frame of reference for what you’re playing.

I like the story in this game. The controls are what I kept tripping up on. Some of this was because of the translation I was relying on, and having to bounce back and forth between this and the manual. It made things a little hard to focus on what was happening.

If you liked this post, please check out my other reviews of RPGs or horror games, such as Wild Arms or Resident Evil.