Uninvited (NES)

Uninvited

Platform: NES Year: 1989 Developer: ICOM Simulations, Inc.,Kemco Buy: Amazon

Uninvited is the third and final title in the ICOM adventure puzzle games to be ported to the NES. It uses the same engine and mechanics as the two games before it, Déjà Vu (NES) and Shadowgate (NES).

Driving along the road with your little sister (or brother in the computer versions), you swerve your car to avoid hitting an animal, and end up smashing into a wall, knocking yourself unconscious. When you come to, you notice that your sister is gone—she probably went into the nearby mansion to look for help. Unfortunately, after you investigate the mansion, you not only find it to be inhabited by evil undead monsters under the control of a vile wizard's spirit, but you also become trapped in it as well! Using all the wisdom and intelligence you can muster, you must figure out what is going on, and somehow rescue your sister.

Uninvited plays as a traditional adventure game; the top-left window is a first-person perspective of the player of what they are seeing. The player then uses the top-right window to select from a list of options to interact with the environment. Some of these things include taking and dropping items, speaking, hitting, and even consuming something. The NES version had to have its graphics scaled back for the more limited hardware; this includes all the menu boxes from the computer versions being stuffed into the smaller NES screen resolution. However, the NES version adds also adds its own unique visuals, and above all, is the only version to feature a full soundtrack. Nintendo of America also made Kemco remove all references to the occult that were mentioned in the original computer versions. However, the Japanese Famicom version retains most of these references.

The NES version of the game was highly praised by critics. GamePro gave the game a 4.5/5 rating and Nintendo Power rated it a 3.6/5. The game was praised for its haunting music and visual style. There is also much replayability, as it's fun to explore all the various ways to die, as well as seeing what all the various items scattered around the mansion do to yourself or other things.

Screenshots

The title screen. Can't I just call AAA? Creepy mansion is creepy. Having a giant pentagram for a carpet might be a bad sign. Tell me, Scarlett, do you never shrink from marrying men you don't love? Be prepared to see this over and over again.

Music

VGMPF Album Art

This is the only port of the game that has a full soundtrack. Hiroyuki Masuno composed the music to give the game a nice spooky atmosphere. There are main themes for upstairs and downstairs areas. When the player is exploring the mansion, it gives the player a suspenseful feeling, making them think 'What's going to happen next?' or 'Am I going to die in the next room?'.

To create the game's music, Hiroyuki wrote MIDI files on his Roland CMU-800 and the Apple II's interior sound source, and converted the music to his sound driver.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
01	Uninvited Theme	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	1:49		Download
02	Crisis	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	0:28		Download
03	Upstairs	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	1:59		Download
04	Downstairs	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	0:52		Download
05	Southern Belle	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	1:01		Download
06	Phonograph	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	0:32		Download
07	Gremlin	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	1:00		Download
08	Church	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	1:12		Download
09	Maze	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	0:51		Download
10	Cave	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	1:01		Download
11	Horror	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	0:11		Download
12	Dead	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	1:01		Download
13	Ending	Hiroyuki Masuno	Hiroyuki Masuno	2:26		Download

Credits

• Ripper: myu2203
• Recorder: TheAlmightyGuru
• Game Credits:
  • Not Credited Composer / Arranger / Programmer: Hiroyuki Masuno
  • Sound Produce: Kento's Group

(Source: Manual, Box)

Hiroyuki took credit for the game on his LinkedIn page. He said that due to there not being enough space in the game, the staff was not able to put credits in the game.

The Japanese version, like Deja Vu (NES) and Shadowgate (NES) gives credit to "Kento's Group" for sound production. It is unknown if this was an alias for Masuno or if it was one or more other composers.

Game Rip

Format	Download
	Download (Info)

Ripping NES music is a very arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site. The rip includes a few duplicate songs. Track 3 is the same as track 1, track 8 is the same as track 7, and track 15 is the same as track 14.

Releases

Japan Title: 悪魔の招待状 (Devil's Invitation) Platform: Famicom Released: 1989-09-29 Publisher: Kemco     USA Title: Uninvited Platform: NES Released: 1991-06-?? Publisher: Kemco▲Seika

Links

• mobygames.com/game/nes/uninvited - MobyGames.
• gamefaqs.com/nes/563472-uninvited - GameFAQs.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninvited_%28game%29 - Wikipedia.
• khinsider.com/midi/nes/uninvited - MIDI arrangements.
• vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/nes/ - MIDI arrangements.
• youtube.com/watch?v=9Jqu0lfN-sE - Entire Uninvited soundtrack arranged for the YMF262 by Nick Kalata.