Splatterhouse 2

Splatterhouse 2 is a sidescrolling action/survival horror video game released in 1992 on the Sega Genesis home video game console by Namco. It is the sequel to Splatterhouse.

The opening of Splatterhouse 2 states that it has been three months since the events of the first game. The Terror Mask, which has reformed after breaking at the climax of the first game, appears to Rick and repeatedly tempts him to "go back to the house", telling him that Jennifer "doesn't have to die", It closes by telling Rick "You need me."

The rest of the opening to the game as indicated in the instruction manual are the dreams. The translation of the script made on a refubished machine adds some endcaps to the first story.

"It’s not as scary as knowing Jennifer is gone. The worst part is the demonic hatred the mask gives you. And every night it’s enticement like withdrawal from a drug. Awake in a sweat with your heart racing you can almost remember the last time. Locked in the mask, body surging with feral rage and an insatiable hunger. The cold steel pipe in your hands slick with gore. Under the mask you were smiling. Yes it was wrong. But the satisfying crunch of sinew and tearing the joints of creatures. The expression in their face, knowing I was the true momentous being. I was the one the Hell Mask chose. And the realization that next comes Hell. The dead wished they could stay dead, if they feel life they must feel fear too. I know I have to go, But is it for the dark power. Or is it to save Jennifer..."

Splatterhouse 2 follows the same formula as its predecessor as far as gameplay is concerned. The player controls Rick and traverses through a variety of locales populated by grotesque creatures and faces off against level bosses as they progress toward the final stage of the game.

In the US and European versions of the game, the design of the terror mask is skull-like, In the Japanese version, the mask is white with black stripes over each eye, the mask loosely resembles a Japanese kabuki mask.

Due to the translation when the game was localized, some elements are clearer in the Japanese version. In it, the Mask instructs Rick to "find the hidden house" and that Jennifer is in "the land of the dead". In the US version, the Mask instructs Rick to "go back to the house" and doesn't specify where Jennifer is. This has caused some confusion among players that have not played the original Japanese version, with several believing that the intact mansion in the second game is the West Mansion from the original Splatterhouse, when in fact the charred ruins that make up the first stage are what's left of West Mansion (these ruins can also be clearly seen in the opening of the game, before the screen scrolls over to reveal the other mansion, aka the "hidden house").