Samurai Zombie Nation

"1999. What appeared to be a harmless meteorite crashing in the Nevada desert has turned out to be Darc Seed, an evil alien creature with horrible powers. By shooting strange magnetic rays, Darc Seed had turned the helpless nation into zombies and had brought the Statue of Liberty to life to do his dirty work. These rays had also given him control over many deadly weapons, but none were more powerful than the legendary samurai sword, Shura. When the great head of the samurai, Namakubi, heard that the sword had fallen into evil hands, he set off immediately for the United States. For only he possessed the strength and knowledge needed to recapture the magical sword and free the U.S. from the evil clutches of Darc Seed."

- Intro to Samurai Zombie Nation

A 1990 NES game developed by KAZe. Samurai Zombie Nation chronicles the epic struggle of one man's giant head against an army of zombie ninjas, whom he must kill with Eye Beams and acid spit, and eat the corpses for extra points.

This game provides examples of:

 * Abnormal Ammo: Namakubi fires his eyeballs and chunks of his tongue at enemies.
 * Always Night
 * Battleship Raid: Stage 3's boss is quite literally one of these.
 * Big Bad: Darc Seed.
 * Bilingual Bonus: "Namakubi" literally means "severed head" in Japanese.
 * Chasing Your Tail: Boss of stage 4.
 * Completely Different Title: The original Japanese title was Abarenbou Tengu = "Hooligan Tengu"; more on that below.
 * Cores and Turrets Boss: Again. Stage 3's boss.
 * In the manual: he's called "Atlas". May also double as That One Boss as he can kill you instantly on contact.
 * Cultural Translation
 * The Dragon: The Statue of Liberty.
 * Deathtrap Boss: Boss of Stage 3.
 * Did Not Do the Research: Magnetism does what now?
 * Everythings Deader With Zombies:
 * Everything Is Smashable Area: All the buildings and certain mountains can be blown apart spectacularly.
 * Flunky Boss: Stage 3 once again. I'm beginning to think the developers really liked this guy.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: This game rates up there close to Monster Party.
 * Also, the manual makes no mention of the more disturbing elements in the game like your means of attacking. In the manual, they also Hand Wave the fact that you're playing as a severed head by saying it's "a violent holographic projection of Namakubi's head".
 * In the original Japanese version you play as a giant Tengu mask (and the story says so, too.) Not that it makes any more sense...
 * Konami Code: Refills your lifebar.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: The HEAD of the legendary samurai.....
 * Mind Screw: Look back up at the description and tell us if anything makes any kind of sense.
 * Losing Your Head
 * Nintendo Hard:
 * Our Zombies Are Different: Apparently they are able to man heavy machinery, use weapons, and are created by exposing human beings to magnetism.
 * Palette Swap: Namakubi encounters blue-tinged clones of himself near the end of the second stage.
 * Scoring Points: Done in an odd way. This is the only way to not only get extra lives, but heal yourself as well. Can also be considered Pinball Scoring due to how easily and quickly you can rack up points.
 * Stationary Boss: This applies mostly to Darc Seed himself, but could also apply to Stage 1's boss the Statue of Liberty.
 * Weaponized Landmark: The Statue of Liberty, who can use her torch as a flamethrower and has snakes for hair.
 * What Happened to The Mouse: The manual makes mention of a sword that fell into the wrong hands, but it is never seen or mentioned again.
 * Zombie Apocalypse: And how!
 * Also, Naked Zombie Sean Connery.