The original game was developed by Data East and released way back n 1993. Now in 2024, developer Storm Trident and publisher Forever Entertainment bring the bloody and gruesome Night Slashers: Remake to a modern audience.

“Night Slashers is a pulse-pounding, horror-themed beat ’em up game, in a nightmarish world filled with bloodthirsty creatures and unspeakable horrors. Prepare to step into the shoes of the unlikely heroes, as they battle hordes of supernatural foes and terrifying monsters. In Night Slashers, you’re not just fighting for survival: you’re battling to save the world from a supernatural apocalypse. Join the fight, experience the adrenaline, and embrace the horror. Your darkest nightmares await…”

Full disclosure, I have never played the original Night Slashers, there were a lot of these beat ’em up around back then, and it was easy for several of them to slip through your gaming net. I did do a little light research into the original though. It seems to be a title that had a bit of a mixed response with reviews ranging from it being one of the best and most overlooked brawlers ever, to it being pretty average I also watched a playthrough on YouTube, and before I get into me review of the remake – I honestly preferred the pixel graphics of the original over this remake.

Anyway, Night Slashers: Remake is a side-scrolling beat ’em up that leans very heavily into horror, and this remake brings a few new features to the table that were not in the original. Let me get this one out of the way first, the graphics. It’s not that I don’t like the new art style of this remake, I just think that the arcade original looked better. The new graphics are too clean, and the pixel art of the original added to the horror feel. Then again, I’m the kind of person who prefers to watch The Evil Dead on VHS over Blu-ray because the scratchy tape quality is part of the film’s charm. As far as I know, you can’t play using the old graphics, so it is the new and smoother cartoon art, or nothing.

Another new addition to this remake is a new character, taking the count up to four. This means that you can now play four-player (local) co-op too. Then there is the custom mode. Here, you can tinker with a lot of the game’s rules and add modifiers to suit your own play style. Other than that, there is the standard arcade mode where you do what do always do in this genre, smack your way though enemies and face a big boss at the end of a stage – until you reach the end credits. Night Slashers: Remake is a very typical ’90s beat ’em up that doesn’t do anything unique or new. Still, I don’t think that it really needs to, this is simple button-mashing action with little depth but some genuinely fun gameplay. What you get is a big and chunky beat ’em up, very much like Capcom’s Final Fight, but with you punching zombies and vampires in the face. The controls are simple, you get an attack, a jump and a special attack. There are no complex combos to remember, no modern beat ’em up mechanics. This is just pure arcade-style gameplay from start to end, it’s really satisfying too.

Coming with a reasonable £9 price tag, and available now for everything. Night Slashers: Remake is fun and I really enjoyed playing through it. However, as this was originally an arcade game, the length is pretty short, and you can get to the end in around 30-40 minutes. There are different endings for each character, so there is some replayability here, and there are a handful of unlockables such as different coloured outfits for the characters and modifiers for the previously mentioned custom mode. As with all titles like this, it is great fun with some friends. It would’ve been nice to have had some more extras, maybe even the original game. Still, this is a low price point and if you’re a fan of the genre, then this is a beat ’em up worth adding to your collection.

Not to take anything away from this game, but there is a fan-made remake called Night Slashers X Rebalanced. This one adds new characters, stages, enemies, weapons and more – and it keeps the classic pixel art too. Worth checking out if you are fan of the original.