The Typing Of The Dead: Type Or Die

Arcade games have been a huge part of Japanese gaming culture, from racing games like Wangan Midnight to music games like Dance Dance Revolution.

Shooting games have also played a big role in the Japanese arcade game industry, with titles like The House of the Dead being a popular arcade choice amongst fans.

FPS arcade shooters typically consist of a gun attached to the game system itself, with the user pointing & shooting with it. Especially in Japan where guns are completely banned to carry, the feeling of being able to physically hold a gun and shoot enemies can be very stress-relieving.

But what if the gun was swapped out for a keyboard? And instead of shooting your enemies, you typed to kill them? The Typing of the Dead was exactly this, an arcade game published by SEGA released in Japanese arcades in 1999. It is a spin-off of SEGA's 1998 The House of the Dead 2, and the player must do their best to type words & phrases shown on the screen as fast as they can to kill enemies in a zombie-infested Venice. It was also released for the PC in 2000, SEGA Dreamcast in 2001, and PS2 in 2004.

Although the game technically is an "Edutainment" game, it was a huge hit due to its obscureness, uniqueness, and high level of difficulty. The PS2 version even came with a USB keyboard to type with. Later, a sequel, The Typing of the Dead 2 was released in Japan in 2007, and the series got even crazier from there. in 2008, English of the Dead, a language learning game was released for the Nintendo DS, and an iOS remake titled Flick of the Dead in 2012.