The game introduced unique resource management design elements which would later become more common place in survival horror games such as Resident Evil during the next console generation. Players would have the ability to use as few weapons as possible to progress through the early stages of the game, saving their weapons to utilize on harder levels. The strategic aspect of having to keep the neighbors alive along with the unique resource management design allowed players the ability to decide how they wanted to progress through the game. If players choose to rescue more neighbors it would take more time and resources in order to keep them alive but if they chose to rescue fewer neighbors then less resources would be required however would risk losing the game if the total number of rescued neighbors drops to zero.

The development team created 20 uniquely different levels with fairly distinctive game play then adapted those levels to create an additional 36 for a total of 56 levels in the game. Among the various 56 levels were a number of hidden levels including a credits level, “Monsters Among Us”, that placed the players in the LucasArts office. Players could explore the game studios office and interact with various members of the development team to find out their role in the title. The level also included a number of surprise cameos, including Day of the Tentacle’s purple tentacle, Sam & Max designer Steve Purcell dressed as Indiana Jones and George Lucas.

The game released for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis in 1993 to rave reviews however did not become a massive commercial success. The game was well received for its graphical style, humor and deep gameplay but lacked a good marketing campaign by the game’s publisher, Konami. The game did do well enough to spawn a sequel, Ghoul Patrol, the following year.