As promised in the Nightmare instructions, we get to meet some of the characters as hosts of the expansions; the first of these came in 1992. It consisted of a new 60-min VHS tape and new decks of Time and Fate cards. All the rest of the components from the first game were required to play. This was an interesting way to keep the game fresh without driving up costs by supplying new components that you already had. One of the main drawbacks of Nightmare was that once you played it once, there wasn't much left to shock you upon repeat plays (unless you regulated yourself to playing once a year on Halloween).
This time, we are facing off against Baron Samedi, the zombie. You'll notice right away that he sounds very similar to The Gatekeeper; that's because he's played by Wenanty Nosul - THE SAME ACTOR! I have to say that of all the characters these games have portrayed, the Baron is my favorite. He's a little off the wall and more charismatic when compared to The Gatekeeper. Anyone with a fear of clowns (which I had until I was 9) will find this host unsettling to say the least. There's a creepiness about him which is offset by his playful nature. It makes him a very entertaining host for this installment. Once again, there's a large thunderclap when he enters and when he demands, "Thrill me!" you much respond, "Yo Baron! I can dig it!" "He's taking last requests and 'Stayin' Alive' ain't one of his favorites. He's Baron Samedi - Voodoo's ad-Minister of the living dead - the last 'VJ' on The Other Side who hold's court every Saturday in his Cathedral of Jive. Leading his choir of lost souls dancing the 'banda', the chain-smoking Samedi calls up the dead toll free.With a sense of fun as bent as a rib, the chief pranktitioner of black magic and comedy just loves to throw a funeral '...cause I always miss my own.'"
If you thought the first game was unbalanced, you'll kick yourself even harder over this one. One of the best things about this one, is just how utterly unfair it is. The Baron gives obnoxious challenges - like adding six rapid fire numbers while he counts to ten...skipping numbers four through seven. You'll also notice after playing for a bit that most of the Fate and Time cards apply to the player who is the Baron; this was an intentional joke on the players as the Baron stacked the game in his own favor. He also singles out this player from time to time and offers them free turns. As he even states in the video, "If you can't help yourself, who can you help?" On the flip side of this, he also singles out one unlucky player and nicknames them "Dirtbag". Throughout the video, he punishes that player mercilessly and even goes so far as to claim friendship while in the same breath dishing out a punishment. The games that are the most fun, are the ones in which the person who is playing the Baron also ends up being "Dirtbag". This expression of a major paradox in the space-time continuum has the Baron both helping AND hindering that poor player.
In the US version, there is an extra scene where the Baron plays a knock-knock joke; this version also has an alternate ending where his eyeball is hanging out at the end. The other versions omitted both scenes and the ending was filmed differently. For the game's release in Mexico and Italy, different actors were used who could speak the language so they didn't have to dub over Nosul, which would have lessened the affect of the performance.
Riding the tidal wave of hype from the first game, a deal was made with Sony to produce a music video and dance song to go along with this installment. It was performed by Twilight and features Baron Samedi "getting down" with an assortment of skeletons in a broken down carnival. It is catchy and was used to host Nightmare Dance Parties in Australia. There was even a tie-in with Pepsi. This game was seriously that huge.
Nightmare II is my favorite of the expansions. That being said, I have to grade it harsher than the first one. Being an expansion, there isn't much in the presentation department. A new board would have been nice to explore or even some broken rule fixes. A new special Baron playing piece would've been fitting since he favors the person playing him. I feel it was a missed opportunity there where each expansion could have a replacement playing piece for the host character. Getting one of these is not easy as copies pop up on eBay only once in a while and when they do they will cost you about as much as the base game - which you also need in order to play. Otherwise, the fun factor is still with this one if not better than the first game. The Baron is lively (or is that un-deadly?) and it's loads of fun watching him pick on poor "Dirtbag". It's not as scary as the first installment but it really wasn't meant to be. I think the creep factor is what they were going for. You and your friends will have fun with this one, as unbalanced as it is, as long as you just enjoy the experience of playing together.
Ready for more?
In a future review, I'll take a look at the next installment: Nightmare III: The Witch!