Karens may be a modern meme, but their ancestors had a lot to say back in the early 90s when the video game Night Trap was released. Their chorus of sanctimonious voices helped get the groundbreaking title removed from toy retailers and changed the world of gaming forever.

But before we get to all their gripes that led to that, let’s do a short list about the game, its tech, and what all that meant to the world of in-home entertainment.

Night Trap probably conjures up memories for gamers in their 40s who, in 1992, couldn’t wait to get their hands on an exciting new system called the Sega CD. At the time CDs were removable storage mediums that held all kinds of vital information from software for computer operating systems to entire videos. It’s the latter technology that made Night Trap so unique, players could essentially watch a live-action movie and manipulate what was going on in real-time.

It may seem commonplace now, but having that type of technology in your hands, on your television, and at home in the early 90s was almost erotic.

The Tech

The choose-your-own-path style using optical technology was already being done with Dragon’s Lair, a large arcade cabinet game that played out like a big-budget animated movie. Inside the massive deck was a laserdisc player which when triggered at the right time, skipped chapters affecting the outcome of the story.

Laserdiscs were large and bulky, not really viable for personal home gaming, but CDs were perfect. They were small, able to hold a lot of information and pretty inexpensive. PC gaming brands such as NEC were already using this medium. Remember TurboGrafx-CD?

Sega CD hoped to lead the way for commercial disc-based gaming for televisions, and third-party developers were working hard on bringing new titles to market. It took a year after Sega CD was released in North American for Night Trap to debut.

The game wasn’t the best in Sega’s catalog, that honor would go to the revered Sonic CD.

But Night Trap was something different, it was an example of how far creative minds could go given the right resources. Conservative parents eventually got wind of the title and took their concerns all the way to congress.

Politicians agreed with parents about Night Trap‘s in-game violence but mostly ignored the more brutal Mortal Kombat released the same year.

The Plot

Night Trap’s schematics may have been complicated for the time, but the slasher-style plot is about as basic as it gets.

A mysterious estate is under investigation by an elite force chosen to research the recent disappearance of missing girls. In their quest, they find and gain access to a series of video cameras which are situated around the mansion. These cameras are the player’s insight to clues and codes which can then be used to trap masked invaders called Augers, hobbling bloodsuckers that enter the house and try to turn the occupants into vampires.

The player can switch to different cameras throughout the house and trigger traps that get rid of the monsters and save the teens.

The ending isn’t always the same and depends on which characters you are able to save.

Modern gamers might find the surveillance camera gimmick similar to today’s Five Nights at Freddy’s.  

The home-invasion theme of the game and its emphasis on hunting half-exposed young girls was what got moms and politicians involved. Suddenly what was as tepid as a Saturday Night Live skit became a digital pariah.

Congress Weighs In

Leading the crusade was Joe Leiberman (D), who summarized in his argument that the game, “ends with this attack scene on this woman in lingerie, in her bathroom. I know that the creator of the game said it was all meant to be a satire of Dracula; but nonetheless, I thought it sent out the wrong message.”

He would later admit he never played the game.

However, many watchdogs agreed with Sen. Leiberman and in doing so mistakenly thought the gameplayer was the one killing the young girls when it’s their job to save them.

Karens across the country started a telephone campaign against Toys R Us and Kaybee Toys to get the title pulled. The collective worked and the stores took Night Trap away, but oddly left the much bloodier, more violent Mortal Kombat alone, a testament to just how clueless parents were. Notably, both titles were eventually considered when implementing the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).

Sadly the CD technology in Night Trap became obsolete only a year later anyway, but its legacy lives on. Again, see Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Night Trap‘s Troubled Star

Although Night Trap will always be remembered as the first “horror interactive movie video game,” perhaps its star Dana Plato is its second claim to fame.

At the time the footage was being recorded for the game, Plato was already a Hollywood starlet. She played the older sister to co-stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges’ characters in the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes, a ratings giant that lasted from 1978 to 1986.

After her stint on that show, the actress wanted to be taken seriously and thus began a Hollywood glow up that included plastic surgery and a pictorial for Playboy. The star wasn’t able to land any significant roles and therefore resigned herself to a B-movie actress, something she reportedly despised.  It was during that time she accepted the role as Kelli Medd in Night Trap.

Her character joins an ensemble of other young women in the game who face vampiric villains. For what it’s worth, Plato is recognized as the first star to appear in a video game. Her participation coupled with the game’s controversy helped boost its sales.

Originally Plato was excited to participate. Only later did she vocalize that doing so was beneath her.

“Dana was fine to work with at first, very professional; she needed the work,” recalls game creator Rob Fulop. “Later she became more problematic; she’d come late and never wanted to rehearse. Her doing this project was obviously a step down from her previous popularity and she didn’t make a great deal of effort to hide this fact.”

Sadly Plato died in 1999 from an accidental overdose of painkillers, she was only 34-years-old.

The Irony of Nintendo and Night Trap‘s 25th Anniversary

In 2017, Night Trap would again head to consoles this time as a downloadable title with physical commemorative copies as chase collectibles.

The game was released on both Windows and PlayStation 4 on August 15, 2017

Nintendo swore it would never release Night Trap on any of its systems back in 1993. It ate its words on August 24, 2018, when it became available on the gaming giant’s Switch platform.

One for the Ages

Modern gamers are probably in no rush to play Night Trap; it just feels cheap and comical compared to the massive open worlds available today. But it does hold a place not only in gaming, but in the hearts of horror historians.

It was the first to immerse the casual player into an interactive world by giving them choices they could actually see played out on screen.

As a horror title, it was influential enough to spawn a congressional hearing which eventually led to a game ratings system. That method may be frowned upon, but it did prove that gaming is an entertainment force to be reckoned with alongside movies and television.

Lastly, it was a title that came out during an exciting time in game development. Pushing code, creating playable worlds and giving enthusiasts a sample of not only where the medium was going but what was possible.

It created diehard fans, forever loyal to future consoles and more importantly gave respect to indie developers.