The Typing of the Dead (1999)
Port of The House of the Dead 2
Arcade · Dreamcast · PC (Microsoft Windows) · PlayStation 2
3.74 from 212 ratings
421 members have it in their collection · 7 playing now · 75 backlogged · 97 wish listed
The Typing of the Dead is an arcade game that was developed by WOW Entertainment and published by Sega for the NAOMI hardware. The game was released in Japanese arcades in 1999 and was ported to the Sega Dreamcast in 2001 by Smilebit. A Windows version was released in 2000 and a PlayStation 2 port followed in 2004.
The Typing …
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The Typing of the Dead is an arcade game that was developed by WOW Entertainment and published by Sega for the NAOMI hardware. The game was released in Japanese arcades in 1999 and was ported to the Sega Dreamcast in 2001 by Smilebit. A Windows version was released in 2000 and a PlayStation 2 port followed in 2004.
The Typing of the Dead is a modification of Sega's 1998 light gun arcade game The House of the Dead 2 in which the gun is replaced by a computer keyboard. The player takes the role of a secret agent in a zombie-infested Venice and must quickly type letters, words and phrases in order to kill fast-advancing enemies.
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Details
- Developers
- WOW Entertainment
- Publishers
- Sega
- Genres
- Shooter
- Themes
- Action, Comedy, Educational, Horror, Survival
- Franchises
- The House of the Dead
- Series
- The Typing of the Dead
Release dates
- 1999 (Full Release) (Japan) Arcade
- Mar 30, 2000 (Full Release) (Japan) Dreamcast
- Dec 07, 2000 (Full Release) (Japan) PC (Microsoft Windows)
- Jan 23, 2001 (Full Release) (North_America) Dreamcast
- Sep 23, 2001 (North_America) PC (Microsoft Windows)
- Dec 22, 2004 (Full Release) (Japan) PlayStation 2
Also available on
- The House of the Dead 2 (1998) · ARC, DC, PC, Wii
- The Flick of the Dead (2012) · iOS
- The House of the Dead 2: Remake - Infect Edition (2025) · NSW, PS5, XSX
Rating distribution
5 stars
50
4 stars
77
3 stars
68
2 stars
14
1 star
3
Community All Reviews Statuses
Status SuperFieroStatus Feb 15, 2023
My typing sucks and I feel like a dumbass on the work Slack, making all sorts of mistakes. I should play a typing game, like Typing of the Dead.
Status TheBeautifulEric Jan 21, 2023 Completed
Fun game. Uses special characters and longer phrases unlike the Epistory game I played right before this. I was actually able to see the end to this game unlike the original House of the Dead 2. It was pretty neat having an Arcade mode and an Original mode where you could unlock things. They did a good job making the …
Read moreFun game. Uses special characters and longer phrases unlike the Epistory game I played right before this. I was actually able to see the end to this game unlike the original House of the Dead 2. It was pretty neat having an Arcade mode and an Original mode where you could unlock things. They did a good job making the bosses have different mechanics to keep it interesting. My biggest gripe is that you have to commit to a phrase once you start, so if an enemy throws an axe at you, you have to finish typing what you started before you can defend yourself. The window to save people or attack boxes in the environment is also pretty short. I actually skipped the tutorial, so I might be wrong about some of this stuff. Interested in trying The Typing of the Dead Overkill.
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Review SIGINT 3/5 · Apr 14, 2021
Getting Down and QWERTY
I loved this "type to shoot" game, very entertaining and unique way to spend an hour or so. Its absurd story and gameplay are heightened by unbelievably cheesy voice acting and an often hilarious selection of phrases to type to take these zombies down.
I've always liked on-rails games for their ability to create challenging and engaging experiences that purely …
I loved this "type to shoot" game, very entertaining and unique way to spend an hour or so. Its absurd story and gameplay are heightened by unbelievably cheesy voice acting and an often hilarious selection of phrases to type to take these zombies down.
I've always liked on-rails games for their ability to create challenging and engaging experiences that purely concentrate on one actiony mechanic. Whether it's painting over targets, aiming with a physical light gun, or typing random sentences, this is a great way to make an accessible and concise arcade-style game that is fun from start to finish. This one, based on the original The House of the Dead 2, is very well-paced, demanding your attention almost constantly but spacing things out to give just enough breathing room. The difficulty was perfect for me, with sentences often getting finished riiiight as the zombie was about to hit me -- very fun and tense at times.
Typing random sentences to kill zombies sounds gimmicky, and it is to an extent, but I really liked what they did with it here. Not only are the sentences and phrases themselves often funny, but they have many different types of things to type that challenge in different ways. Quickly hitting one key to block a projectile, finishing a section prioritizing accuracy over speed, actually having to think to answer a multiple-choice question. It creates a good sense of variation. Typing is as intuitive as pointing a light gun at an enemy for most people these days, so I think almost anyone could have fun with the game.
If this game has one major flaw that detracts from the experience, it's the occasional visibility issues where either text is blocked by the UI, or the big text boxes making it nearly impossible to read relatively how far incoming projectiles/zombies are from you to determine the priority order you should shoot them in. In a similar vein, you're often going to suddenly get something flung at you mid-sentence and not be able to deal with it in time. I'm sure this is just to encourage replays for full mastery.
If anyone is interested in this game, the 2000 PC release is available on a site called "My Abandonware" for free download. Lots of fun!
Review vodsel 5/5 · Apr 27, 2017
An absurd and classic gem
I stumbled across an archive of this game tonight and had a blast playing through it. House of the Dead 2, in all it's great light-gun gameplay glory and its classic Japanese SEGA style, but converted into a typing game with a ridiculous dictionary of sentences and phrases. I played all the way up to The Emperor and got my …
I stumbled across an archive of this game tonight and had a blast playing through it. House of the Dead 2, in all it's great light-gun gameplay glory and its classic Japanese SEGA style, but converted into a typing game with a ridiculous dictionary of sentences and phrases. I played all the way up to The Emperor and got my ass kicked... it's a tough game.
Download link is in my profile.
Review MrSaturn21 4/5 · Oct 27, 2014
Way better than Typer Shark. This is what I will give my kids whenever he's having trouble with a keyboard. I'm surprised this game hasn't been promoted more and isn't in every school in America to be honest.
This is also a great way to learn new keyboard setups. For instance if you were switching from QWERTY to a DVORAK …
Way better than Typer Shark. This is what I will give my kids whenever he's having trouble with a keyboard. I'm surprised this game hasn't been promoted more and isn't in every school in America to be honest.
This is also a great way to learn new keyboard setups. For instance if you were switching from QWERTY to a DVORAK or ABC setup. :D
Pretty fond memories playing this game whenever I was in middle school.