Now a days, violent video games are the norm. But back in the 90's, that wasn't the case. Back then, video games were seen as a kids toy. Something only children play. Adults never really played video games, and games were created with children in mind. So developers kept games very low key, with as little violence as possible. We had a few violent games, like Wolfenstein 3D. But those were for the PC, and unless you were rich, you didn't own a PC. There was nothing mainstream, that everybody could play, but more importantly, got attention.

That all changed in 1992. A little fighting game called "Mortal Kombat" came out in the arcades. With its hyper violence and buckets of blood & gore. It even featured a way to "finish" your opponent. Using a simple button combination, you can input a code that allows you to perform a "fatality" on your opponent. Some of them were simple, like punching somebody's head off. Others however, were very intense.

The change was starting. The Mortal Kombat arcade cabinet was every where, not just in the local arcades. Pizza shops and even Laundromats had a Mortal Kombat machine in it.

With the success of Mortal Kombat, more and more violent games were starting to get released, and the children were eating them up. The popularity of violent games were increasing, and the developers were taking advantage of this. Violent games were being pumped out in the arcade, games like Lethal Enforcers and Time Killers were all hyper bloody and violent... and more importantly. Making millions.

Amidst all of this. Sega, fighting for supremacy in the console market against their rival Nintendo, released their Sega Genesis attachment known as the Sega CD. This device, attached to the Genesis turning it into a CD console. CD's were all the rage around this time and Sega took full advantage of the technology and their hype. The attachment allowed for higher processing power and graphical upgrades. The new thing that this console brought to the table were Full Motion Videos (FMVs). And boy, did it have a lot of FMV games. 

Around this time, Sega released a little known game called "Night Trap". Night Trap was a Full Motion Video game developed by Digital Pictures. In it, you play a Special Control Attack Team agent known as "Control" tasked with watching 5 teenage girls in a lake shore home that has been known to have disappearances. In the home, you take control (haha get it? How cleaver.) of security cameras and traps located around the house. Your job is to protect these girls and to capture the person(s) responsible. Night Trap is a throw back to the slasher films of the 80's. The premise of the game is. You're watching an FMV of these girls doing.. Well... girly things. The actual game part is, once in awhile, a figure wearing all black will come into contact with one of the girls, and its your job to stop them, using the traps in the environment.

Sounds pretty tame right? Well, the US Congress didn't think so. On December 9th, 1993. The Congress of the United States of America began holding hearings on violent video games and their impact and marketing towards children. These hears were headed by Senator Joseph Lieberman and Herb Kohl. The 3 games targeted for these hearings were; Lethal Enforcers, Mortal Kombat, and of course, Night Trap. Because of this controversy, Night Trap started to fly off of stores selves. To save themselves from any type of legal action, Toys R' Us and FAO Schwarz pulled the game from their shelves. Toys R' Us went even further by banning all violent video games in all of their locations.

The Senators main issue with these games were their realistic portrayal of human beings and their deaths. Other violent games, like Duke Nukem 3D, took a very cartoony approach to their violence. The funny part is, at least with Night Trap. You don't actually see any killings. There is no gore, or even blood in the game. Senator Lieberman's main issue with Night Trap was one scene in which a girl, who is dressed in nightgown, is about to take a shower until she is assaulted by 3 of the black clothed figures and they precede to drain her of her blood. You see the device on her, and you can hear her screams for help, but you don't actually see any blood. You can view the scene in question below.

This scene was cited by Lieberman as "promoting gratuitous violence and sexual aggression against women". With that said and done, the Federal Government gave the Entertainment Software Industry one year to create a ratings board. If they didn't, the government was going to step in and regulate video games. The video game industry, not wanting government oversight, created the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB for short) in 1994. Night Trap, now being ported over to other consoles, was given an MA rating, and could only be bought by people over the age of 17.

ESRB rating scale

With the ESRB scale. Games are rated based off of several factors, including violence, sexual content, and even story themes. Developers can now push the envelop even further than before, with out fear of the government getting involved. Now, almost 50% of all games released, have either a T or MA rating, with a small number of them getting the dreaded AO rating. There are more violent video games being released now than ever before due in no small part because of Night Trap. The controversy that Night Trap, and other violent video games of the day caused gave developers their freedom to do what they want with their games. No matter how over the top they may be. Now, we can play and experience games like God of War, with its over the top violence and blood, and yes, even boobies. Games like Call of Duty have the freedom to portray realistic combat with adult themes and tones.  

With that said.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Night Trap and what would an anniversary be with out a re-release?Screaming Villains, a small development team out of northern Kentucky is doing the honors of re-releasing the game, in glorious HD, for modern consoles in digital format for both the X-Box 1 and the PS4. The PS4 is even getting a special edition physical copy, with 3 special covers, being released by none of than Limited Run Games.

And before you ask, the game is rated T for teens for violence, blood, and suggestive themes.

You can watch the announcement trailer below. 

Are you hyped for the Night Trap re-release? Did you play Night Trap as a kid? Did it affect you any weird sort of way? Comment below with your thoughts and weirdness. 

As always, this is James with Game Fix. Game on everybody.