Out of all the major holidays celebrated around the world, Halloween just has a certain spark that makes it the perfect material for a video game adaption. Sure, a romantic adventure set in February could work and many a hero has worn Santa's hat for a yuletide special, but All Hallows' Eve brings the antagonism and mysticism that video games already thrive on. Especially in more simplistic genres like platformers, theming enemies after the ghouls and ghosts of October 31 is a slam dunk that can give a game a little something extra. Beyond that, games that truly embrace the Jack-o'-lantern can create memorable adventures that stick with players year after year.
Most recently, developer Nicolas Meyssonnier and publisher Headup brought the world nostalgic 3D platformer Pumpkin Jack. The game casts players as a malevolent spirit haunting a pumpkin-headed scarecrow, the game brings simple pleasures alongside plenty of opportunities to bash apart skeletons. While it's not directly about the act of trick or treating or dressing in costumes, the iconography firmly sets it in the realm of the holiday, and the story feels like a legend told around a campfire after a long night of bobbing for apples. Releasing in a year where many couldn't go out to properly celebrate, it became a perfect way to observe the spookiest night of the year. Those who haven't yet tried it can see what all the fuss is about through a release on next-gen consoles this October 27.
Of course, Pumpkin Jack isn't the first platformer to harness the many chilling haunts associated with Halloween. From almost the dawn of interactive entertainment all the way to today, players have battled scores of goblins, vampires, and witches in games that just so happen to release around the month of October. For anyone looking to go beyond pure horror and celebrate the season with a more jovial adventure, look no further than these amazing platforming achievements past and present.
Great Halloween Platformers: Halloween Forever
Released five years ago onto Steam and later onto PlayStation and Switch, Halloween Forever is the perfect way to chill after a night of trick or treating. Pumpkin Man quests through spooky graveyards and crypts in this 8-bit platformer developed by Imaginary Monsters. While the game does match the difficulty of the NES games that inspired it, support options like a 99 Lives mode and more modern continues let players with more modern sensibilities enjoy the joys of defeating snakes and chainsaw-wielding zombies by spitting an endless supply of candy corn.
Great Halloween Platformers: BloodRayne Betrayal
Adapted from Terminal Reality's duo of notable 3D action games, BloodRayne Betrayal sees the talented team at WayForward bring the bloodthirsty vampire Rayne into the second dimension. A hack and slash action platformer, Betrayal's love of gory combat and gothic imagery make it fit right in around the end of October. The game recently received a 2021 graphical refresh called Fresh Bites to go along with the rerelease of the first two games, though that doesn't update any of the somewhat aging gameplay that has kept Betrayal firmly in the realm of cult classics. At least it doesn't have anything to do with Uwe Boll's notorious film adaption of the material.
Great Halloween Platformers: Decap Attack
Decap Attack is not only an early hidden gem on the Sega Genesis, but it's also great evidence of how versatile the frights of Halloween can be as a theme for a video game. Originally released in Japan as a licensed game based on the anime Magical Hat, developer Vic Tokai gave the platformer a complete reskin.
Now, instead of a hat, protagonist Chuck D. Head does his name proud and throws his skull as a weapon. Assisted by his creator Dr. Frank N. Stein, Chuck fights a variety of Halloween staples all enlisted into the hellish army of Max D. Cap. While not a particularly scary game, Decap Attack ends up capturing the fun of a Halloween cartoon special in video game form.
Great Halloween Platformers: They Bleed Pixels
One of the first indie games to jump onto the Super Meat Boy bandwagon, They Bleed Pixels combines precision splatforming with the classic tropes of Lovecraftian horror for a unique experience that still feels fresh almost a decade after its initial release. The game builds on the skillset players mastered in Meat Boy, which means it's certainly not for the faint of heart, but anyone with the skills to speedrun an average SNES classic may find another tome worth staring into for hundreds of hours on PC or Nintendo Switch.
Great Halloween Platformers: Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit
Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit is an energetic and colorful 2D platformer set in the depths of hell. Released by SEGA and developer Arkedo in 2012, players climb onto a General Grievous-esque single wheel motorcycle/jetpack and drill through demonic enemies with reckless abandon. Some of the jokes are starting to show their age, but the rapid-fire gameplay shifts ala WarioWare (and the relatively short length) make the entire adventure one worth looking into for those who want some over-the-top thrills to go along with their Halloween chills.
Great Halloween Platformers: MANOS: The Hands of Fate
Based on the classic turkey made famous by Mystery Science Theater 3000, MANOS: The Hands of Fate imagines a world where one of the worst movies of all times got an NES adaption. Playing as the dim-witted Mike, players shoot their way through scenes from the film in environments rife with references to other B-movie greats. While Manos isn't scary in the traditional sense, the cavalcade of creeps Mike shoots down certainly puts the game in contention for a Halloween playthrough, and it ends up being substantially more cohesive as a package than its filmic counterpart.
Great Halloween Platformers: Savage Halloween
Pumpkin Jack isn't the only game proving that there's still plenty of frightful good times to come from combining Halloween and platforming. Take Savage Halloween, a game somewhere between 8 and 16-bit that features three ghoulish heroes fighting hordes of monsters celebrating after a holiday rager. Created by Brazilian developers 2ndBoss, Savage Halloween combines classic action gameplay with a menagerie of unique bad guys. Take one look at something like the Frankenstein's Monster heads that shoot lightning from their mouths and it's clear that classic Castlevania games like Aria of Sorrow have new design competition in a new genre, one that's a perfect fit for Halloween.