Killer Instinct – Tooth and Claw

When Killer Instinct was released for the Super Nintendo in 1995, there was a compact disc packaged with the game. Aptly named Killer Cuts, this was the first video game soundtrack I ever owned.  Up until that time, my brother and I were ripping game music using a complex combination of stereo equipment and cassette tapes.  It blew my young mind that I could simply buy a game and have the soundtrack included with my purchase.

Killer Cuts featured arranged versions of each fighter’s theme song.  As a kid already obsessed with all things spooky, I gravitated towards the characters Sabrewulf and Spinal, a cybernetic werewolf and reanimated skeleton respectively.  Even though I played more as the perpetually grinning skeletal warrior, it was Sabrewulf’s theme that I really enjoyed.

Composers Robin Beanland and Graeme Norgate wrote a fantastic track to match the mournful werewolf and his gothic abode.  An epic baroque tune with organ samples is the perfect theme for the gothic halls of Castle Sabrewulf.

GIMMGP Werewolves 2: Wolf Harder

Back in 2012, Chip took on the dark task of compiling a list of video games that feature werewolves as playable characters.  He did this for his wife, who was practically howling at the moon for the chance to play as a lead lycanthrope.  The games from this list sated her appetite… for a time.

Now that October is upon us once again (and Laura has grown tired of her werewolf husband in Skyrim), Chip has unearthed even more games with howling heroes.  Here’s hoping that this list will keep the beast of boredom at bay…

Like so many spooky sequels, this list starts similarly to its predecessor- with a video game about mythological creatures punching each other in the face.  Mutant Fighter is an arcade title from Data East that features various heroes and monsters in an arena-based fighting game.  Players have the option of demi-human characters, like the Amazoness or Hercules, or beastly brawlers, like the Minotaur or Golem.  One of these fearsome fighters is a golden werewolf who uses a spinning pile-driver for a special move.

While we may have missed out on a proper Teen Wolf sports game featuring Michael J. Fox, at least Sega released Basketball Nightmare for the Master System.  The game’s protagonist, captain of a local basketball team, starts having strange dreams about playing against supernatural opponents.  The monstrous adversaries include teams of vampires, ghostly samurai, and an adorable group of pink werewolves.

When Contra made its debut on Sega consoles with Hard Corps, developer Konami made a few changes to the classic action series.  A slide technique was included to the character movements, branching paths were introduced to the storyline, and a cybernetic-freaking-werewolf was added to the list of playable characters.  Known as Brad Fang, this wolfen soldier defeats enemies with a psychic cannon and powerful robotic punch.  He also wears sunglasses all the time, which is totally badass.

As noted by good friend and faithful reader Christian in the last GIMMGP Werewolves article, the Druid class in Diablo 2 has a skill tree completed dedicated to lycanthropy.  Since the release of this PC gaming classic, many players have shared walkthroughs to craft character builds that make for ultimate werewolf playthroughs.  Chip’s favorite of these builds- FURY WEREWOLF.

Laura’s latest television obsession has been the British series Wolfblood.  The show centers around teenager Maddy Smith and her family, all of whom can transform into wolves.  Known as wolfbloods, the Smith family hides among humans in the small British town of Stoneybridge.  The main plot of the series is a mix of high school life and supernatural drama, often focusing on Maddy and her family trying to keep their wolfblood nature a secret, despite numerous forces working against them.  The show is well-made and in spite of some clichéd young adult story elements, Wolfblood is a series worth watching.  A mobile game tie-in called Shadow Runners has been released on iPad and Android devices.  Players take control of wolfblood characters from the television series in runner-style gameplay.

High-caliber military gunplay and the ability to morph into ravenous, bloodthirsty werewolves- together at last!  Wolf Team is an online first-person shooter that allows players to swap between human and werewolf forms at any time during battles.  The game features several FPS gameplay mode mainstays, such as Conquest, Destruction, and Deathmatch, but the added spice of playing as a werewolf soldier mixes up the usual shooter formula.

Fables is a fantastic series that takes the fairy tales and nursery rhymes from our childhood and brings them into a modern age.  It has such an interesting concept: imagine that all of these magical characters and creatures are real, and they have been living in exile from their homelands for centuries, hidden by magic around our world.  The majority of these characters reside in New York, living in a small community run by the mayor Old King Cole and deputy mayor Snow White.  Nearly every children’s story has representation in this Fabletown, and they are policed by a single sheriff: the not-so-subtly named Bigby Wolf.  It is this gruff lycanthrope who is the main character in Telltale Games modern adventure title, The Wolf Among Us.

Of all the games that Chip has found with werewolf protagonists, the clear winner for Laura’s new lycanthropic leisure will likely be Blood of the Werewolf.  This game features action platforming gameplay, a colorfully spooky art style, and a badass werewolf woman as the protagonist.  Pretty much the perfect formula for an evening in while waiting for the moon to rise.

Werewolves

Earlier this month (and several times throughout the year), Laura lamented to me about the lack of video games where she can play as a werewolf.  I had hoped that the release of the Dawnguard expansion for Skyrim would provide her with countless hours of bounding through moonlit nights and howling at the moon.  Instead, my better half decided to become a Vampire Lord and terrorize the citizens of Tamriel with her insatiable bloodlust.  And so, with the spooky atmosphere of Halloween guiding my gnarled talons, I have decided to compile a list of video games where my beloved can indulge her lycanthropic fantasies.

Let’s begin our wolfen journey with an old favorite of mine: Altered Beast.  In this classic Sega title, our hero, a fallen Roman soldier, is risen from his grave by Zeus and ordered to rescue the deity’s daughter from certain peril.  To equip the undead hero for battle, Zeus grants him the ability to collect spirit orbs and transform into man-beast hybrids.  The first and last of these transformations turns the centurion into a majestic werewolf, who can throw fireballs and perform a flaming jump kick right through his enemies.  Totally awesome.

Back in the days of the NES, most games did not require elaborate stories, or a plot that actually makes sense.  Werewolf: The Last Warrior is a prime example of this sort of title.  On the second intergalactic colony of Earth (aptly named “Red Earth”), the player takes control of a man named Ken, who utilizes his ability to become a werewolf (named Warwolf) to defeat the nefarious Dr. Faryan and his band of supermutants.  Even more strange than the plot of this game is the fact that in some screenshots, the hero has normal arms, while in others, he has massive blades for appendages.

Most titles that feature a lycanthropy mechanic provide power-ups to induce transformation or just start the player in wolfen form.  Wolf Child introduced an interesting twist to the traditional methods: the main character would only transform into a wolfman when the player had boosted his health to a certain point.  For more on this interesting title, be sure to check out the game designer’s blog for details.

Growing up, my family did not own a Sega Genesis, so I missed out on great games like Shining Force.  According to my friends (who all adore this series), one of the best warriors in the game is a werewolf named Zylo.  I guess Laura and I will have to play Shining Force, one of these days…

When Laura and I started this blog, one of the games I wanted to share with her was Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.  I figured that Alucard’s ability to turn into a wolf would be one of the main selling points of this title.  After realizing that his wolfen form is very weak until much later in the game, Laura was rather unimpressed by this shapeshifter.  But she did love his little scabbard and belt.

Darkstalkers was the first series that Laura and I mutually geeked out about.  Each of us have fond memories playing this horror-inspired fighting game.  I would regularly play as the lovable ghost girl Hsien-Ko, while Laura would take on the role of the werewolf martial artist, Jon Talbain.  One thing I always wondered: why does a werewolf need to battle with nunchuks?

Killer Instinct is a cartridge that still makes the rounds in my family’s Super Nintendo.  My brother and I had many an epic battle between the lycanthrope Sabrewulf and the animated skeleton Spinal.  But, as it goes with fighting games, the balance of power shifted, and now Cory is the master of the Ultratech tournament.

 In a fighting game about soldiers who can transform into animals, you can pretty much count on a werewolf character being included in the roster.  Bloody Roar featured Yugo Ogami as the resident werewolf protagonist, who is trying to uncover the circumstances behind his father’s mysterious death.

Despite my absolute devotion and love for Guilty Gear, I could never seem to get into its spiritual successor, Blazblue.  You would think that the inclusion of a very detailed training system, along with a playable werewolf character (Valkenhayn R. Hellsing) would guarantee that Laura and I would pick up this game, but somehow, we still have not purchased it.

When Castlevania 64 was first previewed, it featured four playable characters, but in order to release at a “reasonable” date, two of the characters (along with several levels) were cut from the game.  Later, Konami would release Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, which cast the once-cut werewolf Cornell as the main character and included many of the features that were previously removed.  I guess even game developers need a do-over sometimes.

On the once peaceful shores of Lake Jansenia, the bodies of young maidens have been found slashed and torn to pieces by wild dogs.  As the player investigates the area, the governor Sirius challenges the hero to a battle at his mansion at night.  Sure enough, the governor is the werewolf behind all the attacks, and any of the player’s soldiers who are bitten by the madman receive the curse of lycanthropy.  And that is how you make werewolf troops in the SNES classic Ogre Battle!

So let me get this straight: in A Link to the Past, the Hylian hero turns into a defenseless pink bunny when he passes into the Dark World.  But in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Link transforms into an awesome wolf when he is pulled into the Twilight Realm.  Hmm, I suppose bounding through the game world as a wolfen hero is much cooler than hopping along as a fluffy bunny.

Not all heroes become stronger when they become werewolves.  Just look at Sonic the Hedgehog.  In Sonic Unleashed, Sega’s speedy blue mascot transforms into the werehog, which slows him down and makes his arms all stretchy.  Similarly, Sonic Unleashed transformed a once great game series into a pile of crap.

Well, that about covers it.  I have included nearly every game that features a werewolf protagonist.  What’s that?  You say I am missing a massive title from this list?  Well, I certainly would not leave a game off of the list just because I am worried that if Laura started playing it, she would never stop…

Alright, you figured it out.  Not only does World of Warcraft: Cataclysm provide the player an opportunity to take control of a Worgen warrior, but you can also dress up your werewolf character in a fancy top hat.  So please, don’t let Laura know, or we will never get anything done around here.

Skyrim

Game: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Released: Bethesda Games, November 11, 2011
System: Xbox360
Game started: December 25th, 2011
Amount completed: (Chip) Level 25 Harbinger of the Companions, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, just fought Alduin, and now I suppose I have to catch a dragon in Whiterun. (Laura) Level 17 Kitty-Cat Vampire Lord, running around with a topless elf dude.

Chip’s Thoughts

In the past, when I would play a game with a character creation system, I inevitably made a virtual copy of myself as which to play.  Whether I traversed the ruined cities in the Capital Wasteland or repaired the world as a Sentinel of the Starry Sky, I always tried to imagine what decisions I would make in every game situation.  However, as Laura and I began our quest into the world of Skyrim, we decided to take a different approach to character creation for this title: we would make our virtual children and send them off into battle.

For my game, I created our daughter, the headstrong Wood Elf, Zoe, while Laura produced our reckless Khajit son, Locke.  How does a couple make an elf child and a cat child, you ask?  What can I say, genetics are a tricky business (my grandfather was a Khajit warrior, while Laura’s mother is a powerful Wood Elf tracker, duh).  With our children born and raised from the outset of the game (thanks, Bethesda!), we gave them a bit of money for the horse carriage, and sent them off into the world.  What sort of advice would Laura and I impart unto our brood as they sought to fufill their destiny as Dovahkhiin(s)?

The first advice I gave our daughter as I pushed her out the door with the family helmet was a classic line every parent feeds their child: ‘You can be anything, as long as you put your mind to it.’  I was surprised when she took me at my word quite literally, and became the Harbinger of the Companions, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, a servant of several Daedric Lords, and a werewolf, too!  One would think being a member of so many guilds and noble houses would fill up a schedule rather quickly, but it seems that there is no pressure to finish any request with urgency in Skyrim.  Zoe has several contracts and jobs that are well beyond their prime, but no one seems to take issue with poor punctuality anymore.  Sigh, the youth of today have no scruples.

As I am getting on in years, I find that making lists and notes to remind myself of tasks is important.  That is why I would tell Zoe to take a page from her brother’s book, and save her progress often.  So many letters to home from my daughter have some complaint of losing hours and hours of work due to her forgetting to save.  You would think that Skyrim would have a robust auto-save system to deal with this problem.  I know that most games seem to autosave with the frequency of a hummingbird’s wing-flap, but only saving at major doorways is a bit ridiculous when exploring a massive dungeon.  It would be nice to at least have a quicksave button, instead of paging through three menus to perform a hard save.  But a moment’s preparation can save hours of lost time, so I hope Zoe can learn to save more often, even if it is an inconvenience (and breaks immersion, hard).

When I was young, my father taught me the importance of proper manners and ettiquette when meeting new people.  That being said, I would warn Zoe not to be put off by the vacant, sometimes dead stares of the citizens of Skyrim.  True, their expressions are better than the denizens of Tamriel, but one can still be unnerved when the eyes of a new friend pierce into your very soul.  Also, I have noticed that the local militia all seem to have a similar dialect and vocal inflection.  While I am sure they must come from a very large family with a pride for defending their homes, such a relation doesn’t explain how they all seem to suffer from the same war wound of an arrow to the knee.

Finally, I would tell my daughter to always appreciate the blessings of having steady work.  Sure you have to kill every majestic dragon you encounter, but at least you get to hear a fantastic theme song every time you murder a graceful mythic beast.  I know you would rather make peace with the dragons, and try to make the world a better place with their ancient knowledge and power, but you simply do not have that option (unless you download a mod, I suppose).  Back in my day, we used to be lucky to even see a dragon, much less get paid to slay them, so I don’t want to hear your complaints, young lady!

Good luck, my darling girl, and remember what your grandmother used to say, “Always check for traps, pookie!”

Laura’s Thoughts

I have now officially quit playing Skyrim about 7 times, I think. Each time I get frustrated,  put the controller down, saying that the game is too hard or I’m an adult, I don’t have time for this. I have more important activities to attend to, like yoga, or cleaning, or pinning things to my various Pinterest boards. Then I dramatically vow to never play it again. But low and behold, the next week ( j/k, j/k the next day), there I am again, controller in hand, trotting along.

Despite how little I normally play games, this is the sort of game I love. A big, open, fantasy world with lots to explore and many adventures to have at my leisure. And most importantly, I can have a dog. However, when I watch Chip playing this game, it occurs to me that we approach this type of game in very different ways.

Chip will kill things without thought or discrimination, while I will try to sleep with everyone without thought or discrimination. Our amorality is quite polarized in this way. This is why Skyrim is more suited to Chip than it is to me. I can’t rampantly seduce in the same way that Chip can rampantly slaughter. It is my only real complaint about the game (also I would rather be friends with dragons rather than slay them). So while Chip’s needs are met by the Dark Brotherhood, I have to make due by refusing to allow any of my questing companions to wear clothing. So poor Faendal gets to scale the mountains of Skyrim in little more than a loin cloth.