“I went on a family vacation to Hersheypark, Pennsylvania, and there was an Evil Dead 2 shirt. I’d seen some horror, but I had no idea what Evil Dead was — I just thought the shirt was cool,” RetroRealms Arcade executive producer Tim Hesse says while reminiscing about his first foray into the genre. “I watched the film, and there was no stopping after that. I jumped straight into all the big ones, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Hellraiser.”
It’s no surprise then that RetroRealms started out with Ash vs. Evil Dead and Halloween. This Capcom Arcade Stadium-inspired gallery is for horror fans who grew up on those icons like Hesse, with cabinets based on iconic legacy franchises that turn them into retro-style 2D platformers. You can even bring Michael Myers to Elk Grove or take Ash Williams on a vacation to Haddonfield. But aside from the obvious, why start with these two?
Why Halloween And Ash vs. Evil Dead?
And How Boss Team Games Picks A Horror Series
“Michael is a cool matchup with Ash, because Ash has a few games [already]. There’s been a handful, probably more than any other horror IP character. Not counting inclusions in other games like Dead by Daylight, Michael hasn’t had a game in forever. I think he’s had one.” Hesse explains, referencing an old Atari title from 1983 that barely looks like Halloween. “We felt it would be cool to do something with him because he hasn’t had anything done in the game space — there’s a lot of IP that we’ve chased for that specific reason.”
With a development team made up of horror nerds and collectors as eager to adapt these games as fans are to play them, arguing over their favourite scary movies is a big part of the selection process, but there are business logistics that also must be considered.
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Boss Team Games needs IP holders to be willing to see their characters crossover into other franchises, because it plans to launch two cabinets simultaneously each year. Popularity is equally important, so you’re probably not gonna see Alice, Sweet Alice or Valentine, because they simply won’t sell as well as the titans. There’s also the cost. Every IP has its price, which has to be weighed up against how well an adaptation might perform in an already niche space.
It’s a more mechanical way of viewing things than we tend to as fans, but it does give us a good insight into how cabinets will be decided going forward. We’ll most likely see big, popular names that haven’t been adapted before in the game space, and there’s a surprising number of candidates that fit the bill. I’m holding out hope for Scream, Hellraiser, and Child’s Play.
RetroRealms Is Open To Co-Op And More DLC Characters
It’s not just future cabinets that we have to look forward to. Already, RetroRealms has expanded on each game with DLC characters like Laurie Strode and Kelly Maxwell, something that Boss Team Games has discussed taking even further.
“When you look at Ash vs. Evil Dead, there are certain characters — or a character — who are missing. Pretty obvious who that would be, right? Whether that’s the person we choose, I don’t know, but we’ve looked at it,” Hesse says. “We can obviously add characters, like Lori and Kelly, and that was because they’re both badasses. It also diversifies our content, right? We have female characters, strong female characters.”
DLC is a great way to expand on existing cabinets, but they also open the door for less popular series to be adapted without risking underperformance. “Does the Blob deserve its own game? Maybe not. Would someone buy it as a DLC character to play through all the other games that they already purchased? Probably, if you price it right,” Hesse says. “When we talk about adding DLC, it’s not just about characters that exist in those franchises.”
What’s especially interesting is that these new characters could even be used in cooperative play. Arcades are a social space, after all. Buying tokens with your friends to kill an afternoon and carving out a high score together is still a lot of fun even as arcades have died down in popularity. It would only feel right for RetroRealms to capture that spirit in digital form.
“Early on in development, we wanted like [sic], ‘Can we do a co-op drop-in, where we have Kelly as the secondary playable character?’ That’s also something we’re exploring,” Hesse tells me. “Kelly already exists. It’s adding a multiplayer code portion on top to allow a drop in or couch co-op. If that’s something the fans want, then that’s something we can add.”
How RetroRealms Plans To Expand The Arcade
As more cabinets are added, the arcade itself will have to expand as each game also comes with two dedicated rooms, a museum full of memorabilia, and a space for dioramas of each level. Two more cabinets next year means two more rooms, and already Boss Team Games has ideas for how it’ll breathe new life into the physical space we explore when we’re not carving up Deadites with Myers’ kitchen knife.
“We have some broader plans. It stems from Capcom Arcade Stadium, but also from the Virtual Cabin in Friday the 13th, which we had our hand in,” Hesse says. “It’s about giving fans some fan content, it’s fan service, it’s, ‘Hey, neat! I can go play this game, get some tickets, and unlock this character model or prop.’ It becomes their own little personal space. We definitely scoped it out to be large scale, multi floor, multi feature, leaderboards, feeder screens, demos…”
Hesse also tells me that they’re considering jukeboxes that could play the games’ themes, or even pull from your hard drive so you can play your own music. It’s not a static space to simply fill with machines, it’s a fluid ever-growing hub that will change over time, depending on what cabinets are developed and, ultimately, what fans want to see. Hesse even muses that there could be a sci-fi wing, or one dedicated solely to a single series.
There’s Always A Chance Crossovers Can’t Happen
Right now, RetroRealms has two IP holders in agreement that the other can crossover into its property, but things will inevitably get complicated as more cabinets are added. Maybe IP holder A is okay collaborating with IP holder B, but not C, and D only wants to work with A. It could easily get as messy as a cabin after Jason’s carved through it.
Ideally, all future cabinets will be able to crossover with one another, meaning that the entire arcade is one big horror sandbox, but Boss Team Games warns that some characters might not have that opportunity.
“The fans are very hardcore about their franchises, and if you ever crossover the wrong way or do something incorrectly, you pay the price for it,” Hesse says. “So, the IP holders are very protective of anything that they feel jeopardizes the integrity of their brand, and rightfully so. Again, it’s their IP, their baby. We may come into situations where we’ve got a bunch of IP characters, really popular horror characters, and maybe not all of them can dip into one of the other worlds because of licensing agreements.
“It’s very plausible that we could end up with six games and two of those characters don’t step foot in two of the other games just because of rights holders. It’s pretty complicated. I think as the game gets more popular, which it’s doing very well, that those sort of strict IP regulations may lessen a bit.”
For DLC characters, even with the already-adapted franchises, Boss Team Games has to go back and get approval for crossovers with each IP holder.
That being said, Hesse doesn’t want to add a character that can’t be played in another cabinet, since that’s not what the game is selling to players. A big hook behind RetroRealms is that you can pick and choose your own crossovers, with the Halloween cabinet even allowing you to fight Shadow Michael Myers as Ash Williams, a face-off between two horror legends.
So, maybe these potential clashes will become another factor in the decision making of what horror series get adapted. Only time will tell.
Looking To 2025
Hesse can’t tell me what cabinets are in development (though it’s worth noting he’s a big fan of Event Horizon and Hellraiser). But he was able to divulge a little bit about what we can expect to see next year.
“There’s no guarantee we’re going to hit two new games,” Hesse prefaces. “We’re already in the holidays, nobody’s going to be working hardcore in the next couple months. So, in theory, to get a game out next year by October, it would have had to have been in development along with the two we just released.
“They’re in the works. If we can hit October, that’d be great, but we have to make sure the two IPs work well together, the gameplay is different enough from previous iterations that it doesn’t feel like a reskin, or the characters don’t play different enough from one another.”
The goal is for two cabinets to launch together each year, much as Halloween and Ash vs. Evil Dead did, so we could see a couple of new horror icons join the arcade next October. What those cabinets will be, we can only speculate, but Hesse has given us a good idea of what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to making that decision, which is at least helpful in tempering expectations. Niche slashers from the ‘80s that only diehard fans will have seen are unlikely.
Regardless of what comes next, the passion behind RetroRealms is infectious. Hesse tells me that the team are always nerding out about their favourite horror series (even refusing to say any are the ‘best’), and are just as excited to adapt the movies, TV shows, and possibly even games that haven’t had as much time in the spotlight as others. “You know the story I told you about going to Hersheypark, and getting the shirt and getting into horror — for me, as a fan, being able to do that… It’s amazing.”
Enter the RetroRealms™ and take control of iconic horror characters in two separate games filled with over-the-top arcade action!
Step into a 16-bit Pixel Art world filled with gory good fun as horror legends Michael Myers and Ash Williams! Slice and shoot your way across multiple levels of terrifying platformer action filled with familiar sights and sounds from the original “Halloween” film and the STARZ television series “Ash vs Evil Dead!” Test your skill, use your weapons, and confront twisted and fiendish versions of iconic characters in two separate games that can be connected for even more fun. (Each game sold separately.) Engage in epic, heart-pounding encounters to overcome the ultimate evil in this sprawling adventure filled with over-the-top terror!
RetroRealms Arcade:
RetroRealms includes access to the RetroRealms Arcade that connects select RetroRealms games with other titles in the series that you own (games and DLC sold separately) to unlock new access and abilities and create the ultimate mash-up of horror legends!
Retro Aesthetic:
Immerse yourself in Pixel Art-styled 16-bit visuals and a hauntingly nostalgic horror soundtrack. RetroRealms pays homage to classic side-scrollers while delivering a fresh take on retro gameplay.
Secrets, Upgrades, and Unlockables:
Discover hidden relics and collectibles. Unlock new power-ups and abilities to enhance your character’s skills, and discover all-new ways play.
See where you Stand:
With leaderboards for both “Halloween” and “Ash vs Evil Dead” you can see how you stack up against other RetroRealms players. Do you have skills to get your name on the high score list?
It’s the ultimate arcade experience with iconic legends of horror! Cross into the RetroRealms and see if you have what it takes to make it out alive!