Clock Tower 2, one of the scariest games ever released for 32-bit systems, celebrates its 19th Japanese birthday today in retro gaming history! It’s impossible to explain what this game meant to me when I discovered it completely by accident at a Toys ‘R’ Us in the late 90’s. While Resident Evil made me jump in alarm while battling zombies, and Silent Hill creeped me out for weeks as I explored the fog-enshrouded town, Clock Tower 2 was the first game I played that genuinely invoked fear: that unsettling emotion that something wasn’t right and my day could turn to complete shit in the span of a single heartbeat. Man, do I love this beast from 1996!

Hello, title screen!

The first Clock Tower came out on the Super Famicom in Japan (and later received a re-release on the PS1 as Clock Tower: The First Fear), but never had an official US release. It wasn’t until years later I discovered its existence at all, and that was long after I’d experienced Clock Tower 2 which was released as Clock Tower for the PlayStation in North America and Europe. Experience with the first game thankfully isn’t necessary as the opening cinematic sort of explains what you missed, and I had a hell of a good time despite my utter ignorance of what came before.

You got that right, Professor Barton.

What makes Clock Tower such an effective series is its roots as an adventure game. Rather than a pistol-packing cop or even a knife-wielding author, the game’s protagonists are unarmed, untrained, and generally pursued through unfamiliar environments by a sadistic killer with an endless supply of patience, stamina, and sharp objects. Evasion, not combat, is the order of the day. If you’re the type to laugh every time some idiot in a movie gets carved up as a result of his own stupidity, playing Clock Tower will result in the sobering revelation that you wouldn’t survive going toe-to-toe with Jason Voorhees either. Replace ‘Jason Voorhees’ with ‘Scissorman’ and you’ve got the basic premise of Clock Tower.

Oh, so that’s why we’re calling him ‘Scissorman’!

Between the multiple endings, different protagonist options depending on choices made during the prologue, a variety of puzzles to solve, and the random entry of your giant-cutting-implement armed nemesis, it’s a game that will challenge even the most hardcore horror nut to keep their cool. Hell, US publisher ASCII Entertainment loved this game so much they dolled up a multi-page ad for it that ran in both GamePro and Electronic Gaming Monthly disguised as an actual review. Check it out below:

Michael Crisman

In 1979, Michael Crisman was mauled by a radioactive Gorgar pinball machine. After the wounds healed, doctors discovered his DNA had been re-coded. No longer fully human, Michael requires regular infusions of video games in order to continue living among you. If you see him, he can see you. Make no sudden moves, but instead bribe him with old issues of computer and video game magazines or a mint-in-box copy of Dragon Warrior IV.


If he made you laugh, drop a tip in his jar at http://paypal.me/modernzorker


(If he didn't make you laugh, donate to cure his compulsion to bang keyboards by sending an absurdly huge amount of money to his tip jar instead. That'll show him!)