!As this is a Moment of Awesome page, all spoilers are left unmarked.
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: In general ]]

* The premise of the series. Two agents, armed with nothing but handguns, fight their way through an army of the living dead. Said living dead includes not only humans, but also animals, plants, and ''[[EldritchAbomination supernatural beings]]''. And if you play it right, they are able to do it without suffering a single wound. Later installments add more powerful weapons, but the point still stands: every player character of the series is automatically a badass.
* DualWielding. To compensate for the fact that two people are playing, the game pumps up the difficulty for two player. Grabbing both guns and going GunsAkimbo in the Arcade solo and finishing the game? Brilliance.
* If you fulfill a particular task that lasts throughout the game (saving every civilian in ''1'' and ''2'', rescuing your partner successfully every time in ''III'', or reaching the end of the game without dying in ''4'' and ''Scarlet Dawn''), the game treats you to a bonus room full of extra lives and point-bonus items right before the FinalBoss.

''[[/folder]]

[[folder: The House of the Dead ]]
''
* Ladies and gentlemen, introducing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCWpLNqMv-E The Magician's Theme]], arguably THE single most pulse-poundingly HotBlooded and ferocious boss-fight music ever composed for a RailShooter game. As for the Magician himself? He kills Curien and is the most intense battle of the game.
* Getting knocked nearly off the rooftop by Hanged Man and finishing him while dangling one-handed from the ledge was and still is a pretty cool moment.
* The fact that not only was [[DamselInDistress Sophie]] the only person on the DBR research staff that called for outside help from the AMS right away when zombies started showing up, but also managed to [[HopeSpot almost make it to safety]] before Rogan and G even showed up is very impressive, considering that she is just [[ActionSurvivor an unarmed researcher]]. It took some effort from ''two of the bosses'' to take her down temporarily. The existence of Lisa, the daughter of her and Thomas, in ''III'' confirms that yes, she survived and the good ending is canon. It is not hard to see where Lisa got her ActionGirl side from.
* The fact that this game received a remake after 26 years is quite impressive. While it's not perfect, the developers did their best efforts to recreate the game as faithfully as they could, considering the original game's code was lost to time.

''[[/folder]]

[[folder: The House of the Dead 2 ]]
''
* Fighting the Tower. Hordes of zombies? Easy for any normal hero with a gun. A five-headed hydra? A completely different story.
* Playing ''House of the Dead 2'' for the first time and reaching the Stage 5 boss, provided that you played ''House of the Dead 1'' in its entirety beforehand.
** Even better once you realize that his lines aren't as {{Narm}}-filled as the dialogue for the other characters.
--> '''The Magician''': I've been waiting for this time to come. You have no future: either I get you or the Emperor will. [[BadassBoast Either way, your fate is in OUR hands!]]
** Or, in the case of a two-player game:
--> '''The Magician''': I've been waiting for this time to come. There is no future for you people: either I get you or the Emperor will. [[TemptingFate Either way, there is NOTHING you people can do!]]
* Despite the ridiculous dialogue, the fight against the Emperor is awesome, because that being can shapeshift into all the previous bosses except the Magician.

''[[/folder]]

[[folder: The House of the Dead III ]]
''
* Lisa's BondOneLiner when [[ImplacableMan Death]] is finally destroyed.
--> '''Lisa:''' When a lady says 'no', ''she means it!''
* The Wheel of Fate. Unlike in every other game, a sapient villain, Dr.Curien from the first game, ''actually fights you''!
* After defeating the FinalBoss, [[BigBad Dr. Curien]]:
--> '''Wheel of Fate (Curien):''' This is the world you humans wanted. [[OverpopulationCrisis The world is overpopulated... even you must realise that!]] Daniel. You... need... me...!
--> '''Lisa:''' (''[[ShutUpHannibal drawing her shotgun, along with Daniel]]'') This is ''our'' future, we'll handle it ourselves. ''You've'' got bigger problems to worry about!
--> '''Daniel:''' [[YouAreNotMyFather You're NOT my father!]] (''the two blast Wheel of Fate one final time, destroying him for good'')

''[[/folder]]

[[folder: The House of the Dead 4 and Special ]]
''
* Goldman took acting lessons. His [[MotiveRant Motive Rants]] at the beginning of each chapter are genuinely chilling.
* The G ending, naturally obtained only by means of performing well throughout the game.
--> '''G:''' "James, it's not over yet. [[BadassBoast We'll fight this]] [[CallForward back to the source.]] [[DueToTheDead It's time for you to rest now]], [[HeroicSacrifice James]]."
* The battle against Temperance. It's [[ImmuneToBullets completely bulletproof]]? No problem, just ''drop a clock into its head''.
* The battle against The World. He might be immobile and have his heart exposed, but he is resilient. His ice powers are great and creative, as he can make meteors and axes out of ice in the first form alone. His second, more demonic form can create ice ''dragons''. And his ''third'' form, which seems to be even stronger, is completely immune to bullets. But James, albeit being wounded, is not afraid to die for the good of the world, and he blows up with one of the strongest monsters in the series.
* After James dies, Kate manages to survive by herself, in a city full of zombies and no living humans, until she rendezvouses with G.
* The fact that the Magician is [[{{Determinator}} resurrected for the second time]] in ''Special''. And if you fail to detonate the box, he summons ''at least three'' of his clones, with the full power of the original, and you canonically [[DownerEnding lose the fight]]. G's reaction to it?
--> '''G:''' [[FaceDeathWithDignity Who's next?]]
* Detonate the box, on the other hand, and you reduce one of the most iconic and badass enemies in the series to a pathetic mess before he dies.
--> '''The Magician:''' Nothing can erase my pain...
* Justice returning to fight you one more time in ''Special'' as one of the only two bosses is awe-inducing, too, considering that he was merely a WarmupBoss in the original game.

''[[/folder]]

[[folder: House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn ]]
''
* The fact that this game was made at all. After years of pleading, fans had given up and accepted that the series would not be picked up again. Then out of the blue, [[https://gematsu.com/2018/01/house-dead-scarlet-dawn-announced-arcades on January 14, 2018]]...
* The return of the Chariot and the Hangedman after 22 years in full Unreal Engine 4 graphics. And both are much stronger than in the past. For example, the Chariot, which simply needed to be shot in the chest to lose its armor in the past, now takes a rocket launcher to do so.
* Instead of a predefined weapon, you get to choose which weapon you want to wield in each stage. You can also toggle them at certain points of the game. That alone increases the game's ReplayValue.
* From what we see, Kate has become an experienced agent in the intervening three years between this game and ''4'', as she is unfazed by the zombie infestation. She is less inclined to freak out and seems to serve as the leader of the mission, guiding the less experienced Ryan away from screwing up and helping him survive the outbreak. She has come a long way from being a NaiveNewcomer.
* How the final boss is defeated: Ryan jumps at the Moon from a several-stories building while wielding a spear and impales it in the head. But it's not enough; a few seconds later, [[HighVoltageDeath a sudden lightning strike blasts the spear and deals the final blow]]. Voila, the monster is gone.
** After the attack, Ryan free falls and comes out of it with nothing more than a scratch, avoiding James' fate.
** The lightning strike was so unexpected, Kate speculates that it was James himself who intervened to help his brother.