Clock Tower (1995) — the horror game that hands you no weapon and sets a man with shears loose behind you

September 14, 1995: the Super Famicom got a horror game you cannot fight in

Hello, Toki here. Episode 55 of “Today Is Release Day.” Today's game hands its heroine no weapon at all.From the thumbnail of “Clock Tower: Rewind - Official Launch Trailer” (GameSpot Trailers, YouTube)

Clock Tower, for the Super Famicom, published by Human. It went on sale in Japan on September 14, 1995 — thirty-one years ago to the day, counting from today, September 14, 2026.

The director was Hifumi Kono. The heroine, Jennifer, is a slight young woman. She cannot punch and she cannot shoot. All she can do is run, and hide.

You don't move the heroine. You point at where she should go

The controls are point-and-click. You put the cursor somewhere on screen, and Jennifer walks there. You are not her; you are outside, giving directions.

So you are always a beat late. Make her run and she runs out of breath; sit her down to rest or she slows to a crawl. That frustration is the horror.

Then a man with a huge pair of shears turns up. Scissorman. Once he is after you, all you can do is dive for a hiding place — behind a curtain, under a bed — or fend him off with an item. There is also a button-mashing struggle system (the RSI system) for the worst moments.From the thumbnail of “Clock Tower: Rewind - Official Animated Intro Preview Trailer” (GameSpot Trailers, YouTube)

Scissorman is not the only danger. A parrot. Dolls that start moving. A mirror with a hand reaching out of it. The mansion itself is one long trap, and you will often die before you ever meet the killer.

On top of that, items sit in different places each time you play. Following someone else's walkthrough will not carry you through. There are nine endings, and reaching a good one means going back into that house again and again.

Famitsu's panel gave it 8, 7, 8, 8 — 31 points and a Silver Hall of Fame

So how was it received at the time?

Famitsu's four-reviewer panel scored it 8, 7, 8 and 8: 31 points out of 40, good for a Silver Hall of Fame award. Readers of Famicom Magazine rated it 20.3 out of 30.

Underneath it all sits the work of the Italian horror director Dario Argento. Phenomena in particular shows through: the heroine's name and look come from that film. Jennifer is named after Jennifer Connelly, who starred in it.

Which is the point of the design. You are not playing the heroine of a horror film. You are watching the film and calling out to her.

The praise went to the dim, thin art direction and to the nerve of leaving the music mostly silent. The complaints, then as now: the slow movement, the scarcity of hints, the single save slot, and bugs that could strand you.

The game then travelled. A PlayStation version and a Windows 95 version arrived in 1997, a WonderSwan version in 1999. The PlayStation release charted eighth for the week, with 54,293 copies.

2024: it came back as Clock Tower: Rewind

Now for the present day.

On October 29, 2024, Clock Tower: Rewind was released — a restoration built on the Super Famicom version, playable on current machines.

The video below is its official launch trailer. Thirty-one years on, still no weapon in sight.

It had also been sold on the Wii and Wii U Virtual Console for a while. This mansion has never really gone away; it just keeps changing shape.

Nineteen ninety-five, I'll write it down

1995. If I don't write the year down like that, the piece never feels finished. The Japanese release was September 14, 1995 — thirty-one years ago today, September 14, 2026.

One more coincidence. On that same September 14, 1995, a second Super Famicom game went on sale: Mario's Super Picross. One is a horror game you spend running away; the other is a puzzle where you fill in a picture by reading numbers. Same day, same machine, same shelf. I wonder which one people picked up.

Is there a game whose release day you still remember?