Halloween is a video game developed by Wizard Video Games and released in 1983 for the Atari 2600. The game is based off of the horror movie franchise of the same name, which led many retailers to not want to place the video game on their shelves if even stocking it at all.
The player takes on the role of a babysitter and must save as many children as possible from a killer who is running around the house with a knife. She must simply move children to rooms at both ends of the house where they are safe. She also has the option of picking up a knife to use herself to stab the killer. She moves to another level if she rescues five children, or stabs the killer twice.
Despite the license tie-in, the sitter and killer are not named, despite clearly being based on Laurie Strode from the first film, and Michael Myers. The only semblance to the film is a chiptune version of the killer's theme that plays when he is on screen.
Tropes featured in the game.
- Blackout Basement: Subverted. The top-most floor of the house repeatedly goes black, making it a Blackout Attic.
- Endless Game: The game only ends if the sitter loses all of her lives.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: If the babysitter is hit by the killer, she loses her head and her body runs around with blood spurting from her neck. The same thing happens to the killer. The children also spurt blood from their necks if killed by the killer.
- No Name Given: Despite the game being based off of the first Halloween film, the sitter and killer don't have a name, despite clearly being Laurie Strode and Michael Myers.
- Off with His Head!: What happens to characters when they are killed in-game. It happens to the sitter, the children, and the killer.
- Stupid Evil: For some reason, the killer will not go into the rooms on both ends of every floor of the house, making them safe to put the children into.
- Variant Cover: As Wizard was in the process of liquidating, they eventually ran out of cartridge labels and proceeded to begin selling copies of the game with a generic label with "Halloween" written on it in orange text. Today the generic label version is a lot easier to find than one with the real label.
- Video-Game Lives: Three jack-o-lanterns on top of the screen represent the sitter's lives. She loses one if the killer removes her head.
