10 Amazing Game Spin-Offs You Totally Forgot Existed

For '90s kids, there was a moment when zombies completely flooded the gaming scene thanks to two iconic franchises: Capcom’s Resident Evil on home consoles, and Sega’s The House of the Dead in arcades. The latter was very much the antidote to the former’s slow-burning, creepy atmosphere, strategic inventory management, and hair-pulling puzzles - instead, for a handful of coins, you grabbed a light gun and blew apart chainsaw-wielding corpses before they could shred your screen in half.

For a while, both series existed in tandem, yet House of the Dead was never exactly known for prestige. It was loud, cheesy, and repetitive, but it had a certain charm. As the arcade scene faded, though, so did the franchise’s relevance. In 2009, hoping to have fun with the concept and take advantage of the Wii’s popularity and motion controls, Sega produced a wildly irreverent spin-off that deserved far more attention than it got.

Drawing inspiration from the mid-2000s wave of grindhouse and exploitation cinema homages, Overkill drenched its visuals in film grain and partnered the straight-laced Agent G with foul-mouthed detective Isaac Washington. The result was an absolute blast of a campaign - packed with sharp dialogue, clever cinematic nods, and gloriously over-the-top boss battles.

It was a House of the Dead game that finally embraced the goof factor of the series while delivering some of its best action set pieces. It’s a shame it didn’t catch on, as it could’ve given the franchise a new tongue-in-cheek identity and a much-needed second wind - instead, it remains a brilliant but forgotten experiment.