It's a graveyard smash!
Terrordrome is a freeware fighting game, which features characters from various horror film franchises battling each other and can be downloaded from here
.
Though heavily teased for years, it was finally announced on October 31st, 2016, that a sequel, titled Terrordrome 2: Reign of the Legends, was underway, with proposed plans for 2017. While still focused on the horror aesthetic, it would do away with licensed copyrighted characters, instead focusing on public domain characters, urban legends, and original characters. The sequel was released on Steam on July 24th, 2020.
The Roster
- Leatherface, a chainsaw-carrying cannibal who wears a mask made from the skins of his victims from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
- Freddy Krueger, the sadistic, wise-cracking murderous dream demon of A Nightmare on Elm Street.
- Ash Williams, the hero of the Evil Dead films, an everyman forced to fight alone against the forces of darkness.
- Michael Myers, the white-masked holiday killer from Halloween.
- Chucky, a serial killer whose soul is trapped within a doll from Child's Play.
- Jason Voorhees, the deformed summer camp killer from Friday the 13th. There are two playable versions of him; Classic Jason, who represents him when he was still human, and Zombie Jason, who represents his undead appearance from the sixth F13 film onwards.
- Ghostface, the masked, horror film-savvy killer from Scream. He is not represented by any of the canonical wearers of his mantle; he is actually a shared identity by four unnamed teenagers.
- The Tall Man, an extra-dimensional humanoid abomination who collects the dead to turn them into his slaves from Phantasm.
- Matt Cordell, a disgraced former police officer who now wears his uniform to hurt non-criminals from Maniac Cop.
- Candyman, a hook-handed spiritual representation of an urban legend from his namesake film series.
- Herbert West, an unscrupulous medical student who searches the key to eternal life from Re-Animator.
- Pinhead, the leader of S/M themed demons known as Cenobites from Hellraiser.
- Pumpkinhead, a demon of vengeance from his namesake film series.
This game has examples of:
- 13 Is Unlucky: Although there are 14 playable characters, two of them are just different versions of the same character, but even if one were still to count them as separate characters, there are still 13 movie franchises represented in the game's roster.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Even the Tall Man is substantially less powerful than Leviathan or the Djinn.
- Ambidextrous Sprite: Ash's chainsaw, Candyman's hook, and Freddy's clawed glove will switch places depending on what side they're facing (which is especially impressive for Ash and Candyman, considering each of them is an amputee).
- Assist Character:
- Pinhead's Helper move has him summon the other Cenobites to attack his opponent.
- Jason can summon the ghost of his mother to attack opponents, which has her spectral form charging forward while attacking with a phantom machete.
- As expected, Ghostface isn't alone and his Helper Attack has him summon another Ghostface to hold the opponent.
- Attention Whore: In Chucky's story, he's not getting any recognition in the news. He decides to fight all the other slashers to prove he's the greatest.
- Bee-Bee Gun: Candyman can shoot a small concentrated swarm of bees as his Helper-move, and a bigger one as his second Unleashed move.
- Body Backup Drive: Whenever the Tall Man is killed, another walks out of his portal completely fine, something that he can exploit with some of his supers.
- Bottomless Magazines: Averted with Ash and Classic Jason, the former must reload his boomstick after using it twice in a row and Jason can use his speargun only a limited amount. Played straight with everyone else, such as Chucky's nail gun.
- The Cameo: Several characters from other horror works only appear in some cutscenes.
- At the end Michael Myers' storyline, the voice that directed him towards fighting The Tall Man turns out to be Pennywise the Clown, who wanted the dimensional conqueror out of Derry, his turf.
- Ghostface's storyline is kicked off by four teens making a wish to the Djinn from Wishmaster films to become the greatest killers on Earth. In the ending to their storyline, they also get to meet Sil and a Predator.
- In the ending of Pinhead's story, the Warlock is revealed to be the one trying to weaken the Cenobites' power in order to help his father to fight Leviathan.
- Chainsaw Good: Leatherface and Ash come complete with their respective iconic chainsaws, while the Tallman can make his sphere have a small buzzsaw.
- Character Roster Global Warming: Somewhat inverted, as half of the playable characters are Mighty Glaciers (Cordell, Leatherface, Michael, Pumpkinhead, Tall Man, and both Jasons).
- Collective Identity: Ghostface, as usual, is actually multiple people using the same costume and identity. However, while there are never more than two people acting as Ghostface in any of the movies, Ghostface here is represented by four people, none of whom were Ghostface in any of the films.
- Composite Character: Leatherface of this game has elements from his classic 70s (the victory dance) and 00's TCM reboot (his home stage) appearances.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Computer-controlled opponents do not suffer from input delay, which allows them to string some very devastating combos.
- Counter-Attack: Pinhead has a special move that allows him to counter an attack with his trademark chains.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: After inputting the command for Ash's Assist, the game prompts you to press a directional button to decide between summoning a Deadite, a Mini-Ash, or a time vortex. The problem with this is that, unlike every other special move in the history of fighting games, the button prompts don't flip depending on which side of the screen you're facing, so you're likely to summon a Mini-Ash when you meant to summon the time vortex.
- Decapitation Presentation: Pulling a Trophy finisher with most of the characters has them knocking/slicing their opponent's head off, and then presenting it to the player. Herbert stands out by using his reanimation agent to bring the decapitated head back to life.
- Demonic Possession:
- Chucky at the end of his story mode uses his brand of Hollywood Voodoo to possess Zombie Jason's corpse.
- Deadites possess the corpse of Pamela Voorhees to direct Zombie Jason after Ash Williams, so that they can take the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis from him.
- Developer's Foresight: The game, recognizing just how tiny Chucky is, will make horizontal projectiles fire at a lower x-axis in battles where he's fighting, ensuring that he can still be hit normally by them. Several characters also have special animations where they actively throw/fire the projectile lower, making the change look natural.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In his ending, Michael Myers manages to outlast and defeat the Tall Man, forcing him to suspend his plans to conquer Derry... at least for now.
- The Dreaded: Freddy's reaction to realizing Pinhead is after him is to instantly flee.
- Evil Laugh: The victory animations for Freddy and Chucky feature a sound clip of them laughing evilly from their respective movies.
- Evil Twin: In Classic Jason's story, its shown that a lightning bolt hits the real Jason, somehow splitting him into two separate Jasons: Classic and Zombie. Of course, they are both evil.
- Evil vs. Evil: Ash is the only heroic playable character in the entire game, so any match not involving him will be this trope.
- Excuse Plot: The various reasons each character has for fighting each other.
- Finishing Move: Called "Slasher Moves", these attacks will decapitate your opponent if you finish the round with it. The characters typically hold up the fallen head to the camera as a victory pose, though Pumpkinhead instead stomps it into a bloody mess.
- Flipping the Bird: Chucky does this as his taunt, complete with "Son of a bitch!"
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: In contrast to his portraits, Herbert West's eyes cannot be seen through his glasses in-game, which gives him an appropriately sinister appearance.
- Game Mod: One that adds the version of Pennywise from the 2017 version of It as a playable character. Said mod also explains that the 2017 version exists as a result of the 1990 version of Pennywise having his energy split off during his arrival to Derry.
- Genius Bruiser: In Chucky's ending, after defeating Jason, he steals his body with a voodoo ritual, gaining Jason's immense strength and undying body, while retaining his own "brilliant mind".
- Guardian Entity: Zombie Jason can send the vengeful spirit of his mother, Pamela, to attack his opponents.
- Harpoon Gun: Classic Jason's Helper-move is firing a harpoon at his opponent. If hit, the opponent has to waste time to rip the thing off, giving Jason little time to hit them again.
- Hooks and Crooks: Candyman's weapon of choice (besides Bees) is the hook on his right hand. While he's more sympathetic than the other villains, he is still villainous.
- Hook Hand: A rather gnarly example for Candyman, as he stuffs a whole hook into the exposed stump on his right hand.
- Hearing Voices: In regular gameplay, Micheal's taunts have him hearing the disembodied voice of Dr. Sam Loomis. In his Story Mode, Myers is stated to hear various disembodied voices talking to him, and when a voice that silences the others starts ordering him around, he is compelled to follow it. It turns out said voice just so happens to belong to Pennywise the Clown.
- Hollywood Voodoo: Chucky uses voodoo in his attacks. His Helper Attack has him bring out a voodoo doll to stun opponents, while his taunt can steal meter from his enemy.
- It's Personal: Unlike the other fighters who just happen to be at odds with one another, Leatherface's story mode has him on a quest for a personal revenge for the destruction of his family at the hands of The Tall Man.
- Killer Doll: Chucky, of course. He acts like a normal doll in his intro before coming to life.
- Literal Genie: The four people acting as Ghostface make a wish to the Djinn to become the most notorious killers on Earth. In their ending, the Djinn presents them aliens as their next opponents, wondering what they are going to do with killers that are not from Earth. Once they try to go back before they made their wish, he sends them back in time, but to Camp Crystal Lake, powerless, as they hadn't specified where they wanted to return.
- Literal Split Personality: The narrative reason for the game having two different versions of Jason Voorhees is that the Deadites from the Evil Dead films split him apart to further their own goals.
- Losing Your Head: In his trophy kill, after decapitating his opponent, West reanimates their severed head, giving them a moment to reflect on their unfortunate circumstances.
- Mama Bear: Even in death, Mrs. Voorhees loves her little boy. She appears as a spirit in Zombie Jason's intro and in his Unleashed Attack "Pamela's Anger".
- Meet Your Early-Installment Weirdness: Classic and Zombie Jason are playable characters. Zombie Jason is also Classic Jason's final opponent.
- Mirror Match: Pinhead's final match in his story mode is against a double of himself.
- Momma's Boy: Jason, of course, whose mother appears to goad him into killing in some of Zombie intros, and who is easily manipulated by the Deadites once they possess her corpse.
- Monster Mash: While Terrordrome doesn't have as large a roster as more mainstream crossover fighting games, having playable characters from 13 different film franchises, three of which redefined the horror genre itself in the 1980s, is still an accomplishment.
- Mythology Gag: The game is clearly a big love letter to horror fans and different horror media.
- Most of the fighter's movesets are references to things they have done in their respective film franchises.
- Matt Cordell's first opponent in Story Mode is Ash, obviously referencing how Bruce Campbell played Forrest in the first two Maniac Cop films.
- When decapitated, Freddy keeps his smug smirk in reference to Freddy vs. Jason.
- Herbert's "Slasher" has him decapitate his head with a shovel before reanimating said head. Just like what he did to Dr. Hill in his first movie.
- Neck Lift: Both of Michael Myers' Grabs have him lifting his opponent by the throat, either to stab them several times or to break their neck.
- Off with His Head!: Each character has a Finishing Move called a "Slasher" that they can use to decapitate their opponent. Notably, Zombie Jason uppercuts his opponent's head straight off.
- One-Steve Limit: Subverted. Jason has two different playable versions of himself, one that depicts him alive (from Friday the 13th Parts II, III and The Final Chapter, with his design and entire moveset being based on the third movie in particular) where he alternates between a pitchfork and axe, and one that depicts him in his zombie form (Friday the 13th Part VI to Freddy vs. Jason) that has his him wielding his trademark machete.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: In Classic Jason's ending Chucky appears and in true Chucky fashion, gets his attention by yelling "Hey retard, right here!"
- Practical Taunt: Many of the taunts gives different buffs and effects for each character.
- Precision F-Strike: In Chucky's Super Nailing Unleashed Attack, he yells "Don't fuck with the Chuck!"
- Psycho Knife Nut: As expected many of the fighters are slasher villains armed with different kinds of knives.
- Classic Jason uses a meat cleaver in one of his grab moves while Undead Jason can use a throwing knife as a ranged attack.
- Michael and Chucky are armed with different kinds of kitchen knives.
- Matt Cordell has a hidden knife in his nighstick
- Ghostface has their iconic Buck 120 Hunting Knife.
- Real-Time Weapon Change: With a certain input, Classic Jason can alternate between using an axe and a pitchfork as his primary weapon.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Leatherface's story mode has him going after the Tall Man after he turns Leatherface's family into more of his dwarf servants.
- Quizzical Tilt: Michael Myers' victory animation has him tilting his head to the side as he looks down on his opponent. He also tilts his head in his Slasher move while he looks at his opponents decapitated head.
- Scare Chord: When Michael, both Jasons, and Matt Cordell get hit, a sting from their respective movies' soundtracks plays.
- Shout-Out:
- Ash manages to yet again to mangle the magic words "Klaatu Barada Nikto"; this time substituting the last word with "Nickelodeon".
- Candyman's Bee Swarmn Unleashed move is very similar to Blackheart's Hyper "Judgment Day".
- Shovel Strike: Herbest West has a special attack which has him attacking his opponent with a shovel. It's even used in his Slasher where he uses it to decapitate his opponent similar to what he did to Dr. Hill from the first Reanimator Re-Animator film.
- Smurfette Principle: Of the four teenagers who are dressing up as Ghostface, only one of them is a girl. Technically, she's also the only "playable" girl in the entire game.
- The Speechless: Michael, both Jasons, and Matt Cordell are silent as usual. Instead of grunting when they get hit, a Scare Chord from their respective series plays. Cordell is the only one to speak up at all, wheezing out only his name when reanimated by West.
- Summon Bigger Fish:
- Knowing that they can't beat the Cenobites by themselves, Ash and Herbert West summon Pumpkinhead to fight them.
- At the end of The Tall Man's story mode, Cenobites are unable to beat him since an another version of him will simply appear whenever he is defeated, forcing them turn to their master Leviathan for help. When confronted by Leviathan's power, The Tall Man promptly decides to retreat from their dimension.
- Teleport Spam: One of Candyman's unleashed move "Teleport Slaughter" does what it says on the tin. Going to town on his opponent with his hook hand while teleporting all around them.
- Token Good Teammate: Ash is the only playable character who is not a villain.
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: Ash carries the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, the book from the Evil Dead with various evil spells within it, and uses it in combat. It also figures into the plot of several characters' story modes.
- The Voiceless: As expected from slasher villains, a good amount of them don't really talk. Both Jasons and Michael Myers never say a word or grunt in the game, instead when they attack or get hit, scare chords play instead.
- Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: The game basically has you pit several horror movie icons against each other.
- White Sheep: Ash Williams and, to a lesser extent, Herbert West, are the only characters who are not villains.
- Working for a Body Upgrade: In his story, Matt Cordell searches for Herbert West so that he'll make him a new body. After finding him, West and Cordell strike a deal; Cordell will help West in his experiments, and he will eventually create one for him.
