CarnEvil (1998)

Oh man, this one left quite an impression on me as a youth. One of the most aggressively 90's arcade shooters you could possibly imagine, CarnEvil featured graphic (at the time) mutilation of all manner of clowns, googly eyed monsters, giant babies, Santa Clauses (!?), and a veritable bevy of grotesque carnival freaks. Seeing them realistically gib-out (once again, for the time) right in front of you as you blast their faces off to reveal their bloody skeletons, still gleefully smiling and flailing towards you might have actually damaged my brain when I was young. So when I saw this game at a local barcade not too long ago, I knew it was time to finish the fight and exorcise this evil clown-demon once and for all, It style. No surprise, the graphics do not hold up particularly well. Same goes for the gameplay. It's a short repetitive, arcade shooter in the vein of Area 51 where you just blast away for about 30 minutes until the credits roll, and decidedly NOT scary in the slightest. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't thoroughly enjoy the deep rush of nostalgia. In fact, if this game were to be remastered or even remade for modern consoles, maybe in VR ala Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, I would probably be there on day one. And I would definitely throw on some ICP to get the mood right.