At the start of each level the player is informed who they are pursuing, a great distance away: They must apprehend the criminal before their time limit expires. The criminal's car is constantly moving away, so if the player repeatedly crashes or drives too slowly, the criminal will escape. At some points during the game the road splits, and the correct turn must be taken, otherwise it will take longer to catch the criminal. When their vehicle is reached, the time limit is extended; the vehicle must be rammed a number of times until the criminal is forced to stop, then is arrested.
The game includes five levels. As both the initial time limit to reach the criminal and the time extension to ram the criminal are just 60 seconds, the game is very short - a player who is able to finish the game on one credit will enjoy at most ten minutes of game-play.
Interestingly enough when Nancy at Chase HQ (at the start of every level) calls on the radio the frequency is always 144.X (various)Mhz. This is actually the 2-meter band of amateur or ham radio frequencies.
Although superficially similar in technology to Sega's Outrun, Chase HQ features significant technical advancements over that title in the presentation of perspective, hills and track splits.
In the steamy jungles of South America, heavily armed extremists are holding innocent civilians prisoner. Little do these terrorists know that real terror is about to land on their front porch! The sound of rotor blades and staccato bursts of gunfire echo through the valleys. Terrorists be warned! Operation Wolf is going to teach you what terror is all about!
Operation Wolf consists of six missions, which are displayed on the Operations Map Screen. A mission is completed when all enemy forces are reduced to zero. The current level is completed when you escape from the airport with the prisoners. Your injury level increases when the enemy hits you. The game automatically ends if the injury indicator on the right side of the screen becomes completely red. You can reduce your injury level by getting power drinks.
Splatterhouse is a sidescrolling beat 'em up video game in which the player controls Rick, a parapsychology student who is trapped inside West Mansion. After his resurrection by the Terror Mask, Rick makes his way through the mansion, fighting off hordes of creatures in a vain attempt to save his girlfriend Jennifer from a grisly fate. Players of this game will also recognize a number of western horror film influences, such as Friday the 13th and Evil Dead 2.
Similar to many sidescrolling beat 'em up games, Rick can only move in a two-dimensional environment. The playing field does not feature a three-dimensional area, a feature that was added later in the series with Splatterhouse 3. He has the ability to jump and can punch and kick. Rick also has a Special Attack, where he will perform a drop kick that sends him skidding along the ground, damaging any enemies he hits. Rick can also perform a low kick, low punch, and jumping attacks, as well as pick up and use various weapons placed in the levels.
All of the levels consist of walking left to right, with occasional auto-scrolling segments. However, alternative pathways through sections of the house are possible by falling down through holes or jumping up onto ladders. In this way, branching gameplay is possible, if only prevalent in the middle levels. Levels culminate in boss fights that take place in a single room. Unlike traditional side-scrolling fighters, boss fights have varying objectives and styles. Unlike most arcade games in the genre, Splatterhouse sends players back to checkpoints after losing lives or reaching game over, discouraging "credit feeding" as a method of overcoming the various challenges.
Tiki, a sneaker-wearing kiwi who must save his lover Phee Phee and several of his other kiwi chick friends who have been kiwi-napped by a large blue leopard seal. The player has to navigate a scrolling maze-like level, at the end of which they release one of Tiki's kiwi chick friends trapped in a cage.