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Clock Tower (video game)
Encyclopedia
is the first installment of the stealth-based survival horror adventure game
series Clock Tower
created by Human Entertainment
for the Super Famicom
. The game was published by Human Entertainment
and was released in Japan in 1995. It was then re-released in Japan in 1997, when it was ported to the PlayStation with some adjustments, and renamed to . There have also been ports to the WonderSwan
, and PC
, both of which were released in 1999. The game has not been officially released outside of Japan, but has reached gamers internationally through ROM
-swapping and hacked fan translations. The story is loosely based on Dario Argento
's film, Phenomena
. This was considered as the scariest game for the Super Famicom and other ports by players.
Clock Tower is a 2D
point-and-click
style game, where the player controls a cursor
to direct the main character, Jennifer Simpson, and give commands such as investigating objects or opening doors. The interface is akin to 1990-era computer adventure games, but simplified to work better with a gamepad
. Primarily, the player can only move Jennifer left and right through the environment, although there are some rooms in which an action requires Jennifer to step into the background.
Clock Tower is unique to other adventure games of the era in that it features a stalker pursuing the main character; this delays puzzle solving and requires the player to run in order to find objects or hiding places to fend off or avoid the attacker. The stalker is a slasher
villain, named Bobby, who wields a large pair of scissors. If directly confronted by Bobby, the player engages in a "panic" phase and must repeatedly pound the "panic button" to struggle with the attacker. If Jennifer is low on health, or the player does not tap the panic button fast enough, Bobby will attack Jennifer and the player will be presented with a game over screen.
Although the game refers to it as Jennifer's health, the color of the background where her face is shown changes to represent her current fear level. Blue means she is in a calm state, while yellow means she is startled, orange meaning she is alarmed, and finally red, where she will begin to panic. In red, she is more likely to be attacked during a direct confrontation with Bobby. Additionally, while running away from Bobby, there is a chance Jennifer might trip over her feet, making her vulnerable if Bobby is close by.
Many of Bobby’s appearances are triggered by the player inspecting certain objects, but there are some cases in which he will come out of a hiding place and chase Jennifer as soon as she enters a room.
en, Norway
. She and her friends, who are also orphans (Laura, Ann and Lotte) are adopted in September 1995 (the same month the game was released) by a wealthy recluse named Mr. Barrows, who lives in a mansion known as the "Clock Tower", named after its most predominant feature.
The game immediately begins with these characters walking towards the Barrows mansion and settling in the main foyer
. Mary, the woman who brought the children to the mansion, leaves to find Mr. Barrows, but she takes an unusually long time. Jennifer offers to investigate, but upon leaving the room, a scream is heard from the main foyer. Jennifer returns to find the lights are off and the girls are missing. She soon finds herself being stalked after finding either Laura or Ann killed by a murderous little boy with deformed features, wielding a huge pair of scissors. The boy is Bobby Barrows, the Scissorman, who will be Jennifer's main stalker and tormentor for the rest of the game.
While exploring the mansion, Jennifer will need to find out Mary's true intentions - either by discovering Simon Barrows trapped in a jail cell inside the courtyard, or by discovering her father's corpse in a hidden room. If the former happens, Jennifer will need to give him a piece of ham as food. If the latter happens, Jennifer will find his death letter that tells of his account about Mary Barrows and her twins, Bobby and Dan. It says that he was trapped there for three days, until his death on November 10, 1986.
Jennifer visits a small, Satanic-looking church. However, to obtain the key to that church, Jennifer fights off a possessed doll in Bobby's room that tries to kill her. If the player has collected all the necessary items and clues, then Jennifer is able to gain access to the underground catacombs of the mansion - using either the Devil Idol or the Sceptor, but the former is canonical as it appears in the sequel. Jennifer sees a cloaked figure walking ahead of her; this is Mary. She follows it, wearing a disguise to fool the guard dog using Mary's perfume, and a black cloak found in the mansion. If she did not need to rescue Jennifer from the jail cell, Lotte can be found dying at an altar, and tells Jennifer about the switches in the clock tower. Otherwise, she rescues Jennifer from the jail cell, but is shot by a threatening Mary.
Jennifer enters a room, where she discovers the humongous Dan Barrows, hidden within curtains. At that point, the awakened Dan chases down Jennifer to a steep cliff. She successfully climbs over, knocking down a can of kerosene which splashes onto a nearby candle. This triggers an explosion that immolates Dan (While in the PSX Version The first fear , after dan melts down a little child appears from the remain of the burnt dan whom will be the reborn dan that appears in Clock tower 2 , Clock tower PSX in the US ) , and Jennifer rides an elevator in the catacombs. She ends up defeating Bobby in the clock tower, and Mary as well in (or around, depending on prior actions) the clock tower. If Ann (or Laura) had not died yet, then this survivor would reunite with Jennifer at the clock tower, but later be thrown down the tower by Mary. These actions would lead to one of Endings A, B, or C - any of these could be canonical according to the events of the next game. Because of the game's open-ended nature, the player can also discover a number of other endings.
Jennifer is the primary protagonist and was made an orphan when Walter was killed by Mary Barrows to cover-up the birth of her demon sons. She wears a dark blue dress and a white blouse.
Walter is Jennifer's father. His corpse can be found in a hidden room, with the door covered with plaster. Jennifer can uncover and destroy this wall. A few medical charts show his patients' (Mary, Dan and Bobby) names. He is identified by Jennifer when she discovers his medical bag
on the floor, with his name printed on it. Jennifer can examine the body, and find a memo which triggers a cutscene showing her holding his dead body, while reading the note. The note explains that he had been called to help Mary deliver the boys. After they were born, Dan and Bobby devoured his right hand. He knew something was very wrong with the boys, which caused Mary to hide him in a room, and plaster the door shut.
Ann is Jennifer's brunette friend. She has long brown hair and wears a long green dress with her top as a yellow blouse topped off with a brown vest. Ann dies in different ways. She can be thrown out a window, drowned in the pool or impaled through a stained glass skylight by Bobby. She (like Laura) can be thrown off the clock tower by Mary. If she survives, she will appear in endings A and S.
Lotte is Jennifer's best friend. She has short red hair and wears a plaid shirt with blue jeans. She is uneasy about the Barrows Mansion. Lotte rescues Jennifer from Simon Barrows' cage before being shot by Mary. If the player does not see this, Lotte will be found in the caves. Unlike Ann and Laura, Lotte can't be saved.
Laura is Jennifer's blond friend, wearing a blue dress. Laura can be found either hanging from a shower or inside a suit of armor. She (like Ann) can be thrown off the clock tower by Mary. If she survives, she will appear in endings A and S. Her surname is revealed in the novel.
Mary is Simon Barrows' wife and the primary antagonist of the game, although she is seemingly kind when she takes the girls to the Clock Tower mansion. Mary is a curvaceous woman with blond hair. She is the mother of Bobby and Dan, the demonic twins. She is involved in occult activities. She is killed either from falling off the tower while being plucked by crows that Jennifer saved, being thrown by Jennifer into the electric generator box after Mary tried to choke her to death, or lose her grip on a ladder leading to the clock tower while trying to push Jennifer off of it.
Bobby is the 'Scissorman' and the secondary antagonist of the game. Bobby is a short 9-year-old dressed in a school uniform who wields a pair of scissors. Bobby can be found by entering certain rooms, examining certain items and sometimes remaining in an area for a period of time. Bobby never talks, although he makes swift, high-pitched giggles whenever Jennifer is in terror (while dancing in enjoyment) or is about to sneak up on her, and his face is deformed. He dies after falling off the clock tower, due to the bells' chimes disorienting him.
Dan is the deformed brother of Bobby and the minor antagonist of the game. Dan is a purple, fleshy beast that spends his time in the caves. When Jennifer finds him, he gives chase but is "killed" when she accidentally ignites a can of explosive kerosene on a candle. Dan reappears in Clock Tower as a amnesia schoolboy (and also survived the events in this game) named Edward, and takes up the role of the Scissorman. How Dan survived is never revealed, but the PlayStation version has a cut scene showing Edward rising from the charred remains of Dan.
Simon is the supposed adopter. He is Mary's husband and the father of her twins. For some reason, Mary locks him in a cage. Due to being imprisoned for a long period and the lack of food, Simon becomes insane. As one of Jennifer's deaths, he can try to eat her if she does not give him the ham from the kitchen.
Clock Tower has a variety of endings depending on the choices the player makes throughout the game. The endings run from A to H, H being the worst and A being the best, with a special S ending above A. Endings A, B, and C seem to be canonical
, as the sequel Clock Tower (Clock Tower 2) is compatible with any of these endings.
This ending is non-canonical and the most difficult to obtain. In the initial list of endings, if it has not been unlocked, it is not shown at all. Jennifer's friend is seen lying unconscious on the floor. Mary is pushed back, and falls from the tower by an enraged flock of crows, one of which Jennifer freed from a cage earlier in the game. Jennifer is then joined by her one surviving friend for the credits. (If Jennifer saw Ann die, then Laura will join her, and vice versa. Lotte can't be saved.) Two of the requirements are freeing the crows, and discover Walter's secret room.
If Jennifer encounters Simon Barrows in the shed, and one of her friends survives, this ending is unlocked. After Bobby falls to his death, the surviving friend runs to Jennifer. Their reunion is cut short when Mary steps out from the shadows and tries to grab Jennifer but she misses and instead throws Jennifer's friend off over the side into the Clock Tower's gears. Mary is defeated when Jennifer/the crows pulls her off of the side, when Mary attempts to stab her.
Having seen all her friends die, Jennifer goes to the third floor using the elevator. Just before the elevator stops, Bobby attempts to break into it using an overhead vent. Jennifer escapes to the top of the clock tower using a ladder, and activates the clock tower bells with the switches, disorienting Bobby enough so that he falls off the top of the tower to his presumed death. Mary arrives, and hysterical at the deaths of her two children, attempts to throttle Jennifer. Jennifer throws Mary into a generator box, electrocuting her. Jennifer is the only survivor.
Inside the elevator, Jennifer presses the button for the second floor, and finds Mary in the hall. Having seen her father's corpse, Jennifer talks to Mary before she attacks her with a knife. Mary then calls for Bobby to help her. Jennifer avoids Mary and climbs up a ladder to reach the clock tower. However, Mary grabs Jennifer's leg while she is climbing. Jennifer breaks free of Mary's grip and she is flung off the ladder to her death. At the top of the clock tower, Jennifer faces Bobby again who is out to avenge his mother and brother, but she activates the clock's bells. The bell's chimes disorient Bobby enough so that he falls off the top of the tower to his death. Jennifer is the only survivor.
Inside the elevator, Jennifer presses the button for the second floor, and finds Mary in the hall. Having not seen her father's corpse, Jennifer talks to Mary and Mary consoles her, telling her that "You're safe now". Jennifer runs towards Mary at which point Mary stabs Jennifer in the chest with a knife. With her dying breath, Jennifer asks "Why" and Mary stands there with an evil grin.
There is an alternate Ending D, see below.
Inside the elevator, Jennifer presses the button for the third floor, and the elevator suddenly halts. Bobby breaks into the elevator through an overhead vent, Jennifer screams and the screen fades to black.
If Jennifer does not see Lotte die, she will continue the game normally until the elevator sequence. Upon entering the elevator, the doors close. Bobby attacks Jennifer off-screen, and blood seeps from under the elevator doors.
If Jennifer sees two of her friends die, she will leave in the car, escaping the mansion and return to the orphanage. A text cut scene tells that Jennifer was found dead three days later in her room. The cause of this ending is unclear; the most common theories that she is killed by one or more of the Barrows, or that Jennifer committed suicide over the loss of her friends.
This ending is considered the "worst". Jennifer stumbles across a car in the garage, and finds the key in a crate. She is unable to leave her friends in the mansion, but after three attempts to enter the car, she eventually gives in and escapes, driving through the wall of the shed. In the ensuing cut scene, a pair of scissors can be seen from the back seat, Jennifer appears shocked, and screams. The screen then fades to black.
There are two endings that can be obtained through a glitch in the game in which Jennifer does not see Ann or Laura die. The first is identical to endings H and G, but only displays the credits after Jennifer leaves; this results in a Ranking of D. The second is obtained if the player meets the prerequisites for Ending S, but it is identical to Ending F.
Clock Tower can be considered one of the pioneers of survival horror games. It was also one of the first to incorporate multiple endings. It contains more endings than most modern day games. Clock Tower was later released only in Japan on PlayStation, WonderSwan
, and Windows 95
. Other games in the series have been released in other countries since.
(known as Creepers in the US). This is likely because the film and the game share similarities, including the name and basic appearance of the leading character (Jennifer), a deformed killer child and a deranged mother.
There are some additional comparisons to Argento's other supernatural thrillers that may be seen in Clock Tower's presentation. Also in Suspiria, the opening death scene is of a woman falling though a red rosette-window in a manner which is almost identical to one of the opening death scenes found in the game. Some of the character traits and actions, particularly those of Mary Barrows, also share similarities with those in Argento's 1975 movie "Profondo Rosso".
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
series Clock Tower
Clock Tower (series)
Clock Tower is a stealth-based survival horror adventure video game series, created by Human Entertainment and continued by Sunsoft. The series plays like a horror film and unlike some of the other survival horror games, the Clock Tower series does not focus on shooting creatures or using violence,...
created by Human Entertainment
Human Entertainment
Human Entertainment was a Japanese computer and video game developer and publisher. The company produced games for a number of platforms, including Dreamcast, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, TurboGrafx-16, PC , PlayStation, Saturn, Sega CD, Super NES, TurboGrafx-CD, and WonderSwan...
for the Super Famicom
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
. The game was published by Human Entertainment
Human Entertainment
Human Entertainment was a Japanese computer and video game developer and publisher. The company produced games for a number of platforms, including Dreamcast, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, TurboGrafx-16, PC , PlayStation, Saturn, Sega CD, Super NES, TurboGrafx-CD, and WonderSwan...
and was released in Japan in 1995. It was then re-released in Japan in 1997, when it was ported to the PlayStation with some adjustments, and renamed to . There have also been ports to the WonderSwan
WonderSwan
was a line of handheld game consoles produced in Japan by Bandai between 1999 and 2003. It was developed by the late Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto and Bandai...
, and PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, both of which were released in 1999. The game has not been officially released outside of Japan, but has reached gamers internationally through ROM
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
-swapping and hacked fan translations. The story is loosely based on Dario Argento
Dario Argento
Dario Argento is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies....
's film, Phenomena
Phenomena (film)
Phenomena is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Dario Argento. An edited version of the film was released in the United States under the title Creepers , the game called Clock_Tower_ that was released in 1995 for snes , was loosely based on Phenomena.Jennifer Connelly stars as a young girl who...
. This was considered as the scariest game for the Super Famicom and other ports by players.
Gameplay
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
point-and-click
Point-and-click
Point-and-click is the action of a computer user moving a cursor to a certain location on a screen and then pressing a mouse button, usually the left button , or other pointing device...
style game, where the player controls a cursor
Cursor (computers)
In computing, a cursor is an indicator used to show the position on a computer monitor or other display device that will respond to input from a text input or pointing device. The flashing text cursor may be referred to as a caret in some cases...
to direct the main character, Jennifer Simpson, and give commands such as investigating objects or opening doors. The interface is akin to 1990-era computer adventure games, but simplified to work better with a gamepad
Gamepad
A gamepad , is a type of game controller held in two hands, where the digits are used to provide input. Gamepads generally feature a set of action buttons handled with the right thumb and a direction controller handled with the left...
. Primarily, the player can only move Jennifer left and right through the environment, although there are some rooms in which an action requires Jennifer to step into the background.
Clock Tower is unique to other adventure games of the era in that it features a stalker pursuing the main character; this delays puzzle solving and requires the player to run in order to find objects or hiding places to fend off or avoid the attacker. The stalker is a slasher
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
villain, named Bobby, who wields a large pair of scissors. If directly confronted by Bobby, the player engages in a "panic" phase and must repeatedly pound the "panic button" to struggle with the attacker. If Jennifer is low on health, or the player does not tap the panic button fast enough, Bobby will attack Jennifer and the player will be presented with a game over screen.
Although the game refers to it as Jennifer's health, the color of the background where her face is shown changes to represent her current fear level. Blue means she is in a calm state, while yellow means she is startled, orange meaning she is alarmed, and finally red, where she will begin to panic. In red, she is more likely to be attacked during a direct confrontation with Bobby. Additionally, while running away from Bobby, there is a chance Jennifer might trip over her feet, making her vulnerable if Bobby is close by.
Many of Bobby’s appearances are triggered by the player inspecting certain objects, but there are some cases in which he will come out of a hiding place and chase Jennifer as soon as she enters a room.
Plot
Jennifer Simpson is a child from the fictional Granite Orphanage in RomsdalRomsdal
Romsdal is the name of a traditional district in the Norwegian county Møre og Romsdal, located between Nordmøre and Sunnmøre. The district of Romsdal comprises Aukra, Fræna, Midsund, Molde, Nesset, Rauma, Sandøy, and Vestnes. It is named for the valley of Romsdalen, which covers part of Rauma.The...
en, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. She and her friends, who are also orphans (Laura, Ann and Lotte) are adopted in September 1995 (the same month the game was released) by a wealthy recluse named Mr. Barrows, who lives in a mansion known as the "Clock Tower", named after its most predominant feature.
The game immediately begins with these characters walking towards the Barrows mansion and settling in the main foyer
Foyer
A foyer or lobby is a large, vast room or complex of rooms adjacent to the auditorium...
. Mary, the woman who brought the children to the mansion, leaves to find Mr. Barrows, but she takes an unusually long time. Jennifer offers to investigate, but upon leaving the room, a scream is heard from the main foyer. Jennifer returns to find the lights are off and the girls are missing. She soon finds herself being stalked after finding either Laura or Ann killed by a murderous little boy with deformed features, wielding a huge pair of scissors. The boy is Bobby Barrows, the Scissorman, who will be Jennifer's main stalker and tormentor for the rest of the game.
While exploring the mansion, Jennifer will need to find out Mary's true intentions - either by discovering Simon Barrows trapped in a jail cell inside the courtyard, or by discovering her father's corpse in a hidden room. If the former happens, Jennifer will need to give him a piece of ham as food. If the latter happens, Jennifer will find his death letter that tells of his account about Mary Barrows and her twins, Bobby and Dan. It says that he was trapped there for three days, until his death on November 10, 1986.
Jennifer visits a small, Satanic-looking church. However, to obtain the key to that church, Jennifer fights off a possessed doll in Bobby's room that tries to kill her. If the player has collected all the necessary items and clues, then Jennifer is able to gain access to the underground catacombs of the mansion - using either the Devil Idol or the Sceptor, but the former is canonical as it appears in the sequel. Jennifer sees a cloaked figure walking ahead of her; this is Mary. She follows it, wearing a disguise to fool the guard dog using Mary's perfume, and a black cloak found in the mansion. If she did not need to rescue Jennifer from the jail cell, Lotte can be found dying at an altar, and tells Jennifer about the switches in the clock tower. Otherwise, she rescues Jennifer from the jail cell, but is shot by a threatening Mary.
Jennifer enters a room, where she discovers the humongous Dan Barrows, hidden within curtains. At that point, the awakened Dan chases down Jennifer to a steep cliff. She successfully climbs over, knocking down a can of kerosene which splashes onto a nearby candle. This triggers an explosion that immolates Dan (While in the PSX Version The first fear , after dan melts down a little child appears from the remain of the burnt dan whom will be the reborn dan that appears in Clock tower 2 , Clock tower PSX in the US ) , and Jennifer rides an elevator in the catacombs. She ends up defeating Bobby in the clock tower, and Mary as well in (or around, depending on prior actions) the clock tower. If Ann (or Laura) had not died yet, then this survivor would reunite with Jennifer at the clock tower, but later be thrown down the tower by Mary. These actions would lead to one of Endings A, B, or C - any of these could be canonical according to the events of the next game. Because of the game's open-ended nature, the player can also discover a number of other endings.
Characters
- Jennifer Simpson
Jennifer is the primary protagonist and was made an orphan when Walter was killed by Mary Barrows to cover-up the birth of her demon sons. She wears a dark blue dress and a white blouse.
- Dr. Walter Simpson
Walter is Jennifer's father. His corpse can be found in a hidden room, with the door covered with plaster. Jennifer can uncover and destroy this wall. A few medical charts show his patients' (Mary, Dan and Bobby) names. He is identified by Jennifer when she discovers his medical bag
Medical bag
A medical bag is a portable bag used by a doctor or other medical professional to transport medical supplies and medicine....
on the floor, with his name printed on it. Jennifer can examine the body, and find a memo which triggers a cutscene showing her holding his dead body, while reading the note. The note explains that he had been called to help Mary deliver the boys. After they were born, Dan and Bobby devoured his right hand. He knew something was very wrong with the boys, which caused Mary to hide him in a room, and plaster the door shut.
- Ann (Anne)
Ann is Jennifer's brunette friend. She has long brown hair and wears a long green dress with her top as a yellow blouse topped off with a brown vest. Ann dies in different ways. She can be thrown out a window, drowned in the pool or impaled through a stained glass skylight by Bobby. She (like Laura) can be thrown off the clock tower by Mary. If she survives, she will appear in endings A and S.
- Lotte
Lotte is Jennifer's best friend. She has short red hair and wears a plaid shirt with blue jeans. She is uneasy about the Barrows Mansion. Lotte rescues Jennifer from Simon Barrows' cage before being shot by Mary. If the player does not see this, Lotte will be found in the caves. Unlike Ann and Laura, Lotte can't be saved.
- Laura Harrington (Rolla Harrington)
Laura is Jennifer's blond friend, wearing a blue dress. Laura can be found either hanging from a shower or inside a suit of armor. She (like Ann) can be thrown off the clock tower by Mary. If she survives, she will appear in endings A and S. Her surname is revealed in the novel.
- Mary Barrows (Mary Burroughs)
Mary is Simon Barrows' wife and the primary antagonist of the game, although she is seemingly kind when she takes the girls to the Clock Tower mansion. Mary is a curvaceous woman with blond hair. She is the mother of Bobby and Dan, the demonic twins. She is involved in occult activities. She is killed either from falling off the tower while being plucked by crows that Jennifer saved, being thrown by Jennifer into the electric generator box after Mary tried to choke her to death, or lose her grip on a ladder leading to the clock tower while trying to push Jennifer off of it.
- Bobby Barrows (Bobby Burroughs)
Bobby is the 'Scissorman' and the secondary antagonist of the game. Bobby is a short 9-year-old dressed in a school uniform who wields a pair of scissors. Bobby can be found by entering certain rooms, examining certain items and sometimes remaining in an area for a period of time. Bobby never talks, although he makes swift, high-pitched giggles whenever Jennifer is in terror (while dancing in enjoyment) or is about to sneak up on her, and his face is deformed. He dies after falling off the clock tower, due to the bells' chimes disorienting him.
- Dan Barrows (Dan Burroughs)
Dan is the deformed brother of Bobby and the minor antagonist of the game. Dan is a purple, fleshy beast that spends his time in the caves. When Jennifer finds him, he gives chase but is "killed" when she accidentally ignites a can of explosive kerosene on a candle. Dan reappears in Clock Tower as a amnesia schoolboy (and also survived the events in this game) named Edward, and takes up the role of the Scissorman. How Dan survived is never revealed, but the PlayStation version has a cut scene showing Edward rising from the charred remains of Dan.
- Simon Barrows (Simon Burroughs)
Simon is the supposed adopter. He is Mary's husband and the father of her twins. For some reason, Mary locks him in a cage. Due to being imprisoned for a long period and the lack of food, Simon becomes insane. As one of Jennifer's deaths, he can try to eat her if she does not give him the ham from the kitchen.
Endings
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
, as the sequel Clock Tower (Clock Tower 2) is compatible with any of these endings.
- Ending S
This ending is non-canonical and the most difficult to obtain. In the initial list of endings, if it has not been unlocked, it is not shown at all. Jennifer's friend is seen lying unconscious on the floor. Mary is pushed back, and falls from the tower by an enraged flock of crows, one of which Jennifer freed from a cage earlier in the game. Jennifer is then joined by her one surviving friend for the credits. (If Jennifer saw Ann die, then Laura will join her, and vice versa. Lotte can't be saved.) Two of the requirements are freeing the crows, and discover Walter's secret room.
- Ending A
If Jennifer encounters Simon Barrows in the shed, and one of her friends survives, this ending is unlocked. After Bobby falls to his death, the surviving friend runs to Jennifer. Their reunion is cut short when Mary steps out from the shadows and tries to grab Jennifer but she misses and instead throws Jennifer's friend off over the side into the Clock Tower's gears. Mary is defeated when Jennifer/the crows pulls her off of the side, when Mary attempts to stab her.
- Ending B
Having seen all her friends die, Jennifer goes to the third floor using the elevator. Just before the elevator stops, Bobby attempts to break into it using an overhead vent. Jennifer escapes to the top of the clock tower using a ladder, and activates the clock tower bells with the switches, disorienting Bobby enough so that he falls off the top of the tower to his presumed death. Mary arrives, and hysterical at the deaths of her two children, attempts to throttle Jennifer. Jennifer throws Mary into a generator box, electrocuting her. Jennifer is the only survivor.
- Ending C
Inside the elevator, Jennifer presses the button for the second floor, and finds Mary in the hall. Having seen her father's corpse, Jennifer talks to Mary before she attacks her with a knife. Mary then calls for Bobby to help her. Jennifer avoids Mary and climbs up a ladder to reach the clock tower. However, Mary grabs Jennifer's leg while she is climbing. Jennifer breaks free of Mary's grip and she is flung off the ladder to her death. At the top of the clock tower, Jennifer faces Bobby again who is out to avenge his mother and brother, but she activates the clock's bells. The bell's chimes disorient Bobby enough so that he falls off the top of the tower to his death. Jennifer is the only survivor.
- Ending D
Inside the elevator, Jennifer presses the button for the second floor, and finds Mary in the hall. Having not seen her father's corpse, Jennifer talks to Mary and Mary consoles her, telling her that "You're safe now". Jennifer runs towards Mary at which point Mary stabs Jennifer in the chest with a knife. With her dying breath, Jennifer asks "Why" and Mary stands there with an evil grin.
There is an alternate Ending D, see below.
- Ending E
Inside the elevator, Jennifer presses the button for the third floor, and the elevator suddenly halts. Bobby breaks into the elevator through an overhead vent, Jennifer screams and the screen fades to black.
- Ending F
If Jennifer does not see Lotte die, she will continue the game normally until the elevator sequence. Upon entering the elevator, the doors close. Bobby attacks Jennifer off-screen, and blood seeps from under the elevator doors.
- Ending G
If Jennifer sees two of her friends die, she will leave in the car, escaping the mansion and return to the orphanage. A text cut scene tells that Jennifer was found dead three days later in her room. The cause of this ending is unclear; the most common theories that she is killed by one or more of the Barrows, or that Jennifer committed suicide over the loss of her friends.
- Ending H
This ending is considered the "worst". Jennifer stumbles across a car in the garage, and finds the key in a crate. She is unable to leave her friends in the mansion, but after three attempts to enter the car, she eventually gives in and escapes, driving through the wall of the shed. In the ensuing cut scene, a pair of scissors can be seen from the back seat, Jennifer appears shocked, and screams. The screen then fades to black.
- Alternate Endings
There are two endings that can be obtained through a glitch in the game in which Jennifer does not see Ann or Laura die. The first is identical to endings H and G, but only displays the credits after Jennifer leaves; this results in a Ranking of D. The second is obtained if the player meets the prerequisites for Ending S, but it is identical to Ending F.
Development history
WonderSwan
was a line of handheld game consoles produced in Japan by Bandai between 1999 and 2003. It was developed by the late Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto and Bandai...
, and Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
. Other games in the series have been released in other countries since.
Details
It has been stated by the producers of the game that the game design was inspired by Dario Argento's PhenomenaPhenomena (film)
Phenomena is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Dario Argento. An edited version of the film was released in the United States under the title Creepers , the game called Clock_Tower_ that was released in 1995 for snes , was loosely based on Phenomena.Jennifer Connelly stars as a young girl who...
(known as Creepers in the US). This is likely because the film and the game share similarities, including the name and basic appearance of the leading character (Jennifer), a deformed killer child and a deranged mother.
There are some additional comparisons to Argento's other supernatural thrillers that may be seen in Clock Tower's presentation. Also in Suspiria, the opening death scene is of a woman falling though a red rosette-window in a manner which is almost identical to one of the opening death scenes found in the game. Some of the character traits and actions, particularly those of Mary Barrows, also share similarities with those in Argento's 1975 movie "Profondo Rosso".
External links
- Clock Tower at GameFAQsGameFAQsGameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...
. - Clock Tower ~The First Fear~ at GameFAQsGameFAQsGameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...
. - Clock Tower at MobyGamesMobyGames-Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...
. - English patch for Clock Tower by Aeon Genesis.
- Clock Tower English screen captures
- The Barrows Mansion A french fan site.
- Soundtrack Information at snesmusic.org