History VideoGame / SilentHillTheArcade

* NintendoHard: Monsters travel in packs, they like cheap hits, healing items are rare and don't heal very much, and as in the other games, one hit by Pyramid Head is an almost certain GameOver. Also, the game is one of the longest, if not the longest, rail shooter ever compared to another arcade games.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Compared to other light gun rail shooters.

* NintendoHard: Monsters travel in packs, they like cheap hits, healing items are rare and don't heal very much, and as in the other games, one hit by Pyramid Head is an almost certain GameOver.

* SimpleRescueMechanic: All of the friends you save, but particularly Bill, who explicitly tells Tina and Eric to leave him behind (so he doesn't even have the excuse of being BehindTheBlack like Emilie) yet is the only friend who can't possibly be lost, as he automatically marked "saved" right at the beginning of the game.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Near the end of the game, Tina comments how her arms are getting tired from shooting so much, and Eric responds with a comment about how they've [[fired so many bullets yet somehow never run out of ammo]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: All of the friends you save, but particularly Bill, the one who gives you your guns, is left at the beginning of the game badly wounded and never heard from again.

In November 1918, the sightseeing ship ''Little Baroness'' disappeared with all its passengers and crew while crossing Toluca Lake, near the little town of Franchise/SilentHill. Despite all the subsequent inquiries, no bodies or shipwrecks were ever found. What no one knows is that Hanna, a poor little IllGirl, was thrown overboard by her mother for no apparent reason, and the ship's captain tried in vain to save her before... something pulled the ship underwater.

In November 1918, the sightseeing ship ''Little Baroness'' disappeared with all its passengers and crew while crossing Toluca Lake, near the little town of Silent Hill. Despite all the subsequent inquiries, no bodies or shipwrecks were ever found. What no one knows is that Hanna, a poor little IllGirl, was thrown overboard by her mother for no apparent reason, and the ship's captain tried in vain to save her before... something pulled the ship underwater.

Cut to 75 years later, where Eric, the 21-year-old great-grandson of the captain, his classmate Tina, and some of their college friends arrive at Silent Hill to investigate the occult mysteries behind the town's legends, while Tina pays a visit to Emilie, a young Internet friend of hers who lives there with her father. Emilie looks an awful lot like Hanna. Needless to say, it went FromBadToWorse.

This game contains examples of:

* AdvancingBossOfDoom: Pyramid Head. Just because it's an arcade shooter, don't think he'll go down easily.

[[caption-width-right:348:Y-You're kidding, r-r-right ?]]

* CompositeCharacter: The nurses resemble the ones from ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' but have the voices of the "Bubble Heads" from ''VideoGame/SilentHill2''.

* ContinuityNod: Surprisingly enough, the ''Little Baroness'' and [[spoiler:the ghastly hands of the dead at the bottom of Toluca Lake]] are all mentioned in ''VideoGame/SilentHill2''.
** At one point, the protagonists find themselves warped directly into certain levels of VideoGame/SilentHill3 and VideoGame/SilentHill4, (the amusement park and mall, complete with Numb Bodies, and the staircase between worlds, to be specific).

* MythologyGag: At one point Eric considers examining [[VideoGame/SilentHill2 the inside of a toilet.]]

** At one point, the protagonists find themselves warped directly into certain levels of VideoGame/SilentHill3 and VideoGame/SilentHill4, (the mall, complete with Numb Bodies, and the staircase between worlds, to be specific).

* MythologyGag: At one point Eric considers examining [[SilentHill2 the inside of a toilet.]]

* ContinuityNod: Surprisingly enough, the ''Little Baroness'' and [[spoiler:the ghastly hands of the dead at the bottom of Toluca Lake]] are all mentioned in ''SilentHill2''.
** At one point, the protagonists find themselves warped directly into certain levels of SilentHill3 and SilentHill4, (the mall, complete with Numb Bodies, and the staircase between worlds, to be specific).

-->''On a fog-bound November day in 1918, the Little Baroness, a ship filled with tourists, failed to return to port.''\\

Breaking from its SurvivalHorror roots, ''Silent Hill: The Arcade'' is a ''HouseOfTheDead''-style shooter spinoff that, while aimed for people unfamiliar with the other games, still features the series's trademark settings, enemies, music, and MultipleEndings, even making [[RailShooter rail shooting]] [[NightmareFuel scarier than usual]].