The mad scientist Dr. Tongue has created a wide variety of monsters within the bowels of his castle and has unleashed them on nearby suburban areas, terrorizing its inhabitants. Two teenage friends, Zeke and Julie, having witnessed the attack of said monsters, arm themselves with a great deal of unconventional weaponry and items to combat them and save their neighbors from certain death. Ultimately, they will come face to face with Dr. Tongue himself and defeat him to put an end to his plans.
The player can choose between Zeke and Julie, or play both in a two-player mode. They navigate suburban neighborhoods, shopping malls, pyramids, haunted castles, and other areas, destroying a variety of horror-movie monsters, including vampires, werewolves, huge demonic babies, spiders, squidmen, evil dolls, aliens, UFOs, giant ants, blobs, giant worms, mummies, chainsaw-wielding maniacs, "pod people" (aggressive alien clones of the players), and the game's namesake, zombies. In each of the 48 stages, which includes seven optional bonus levels, the players must rescue numerous types of neighbors, including barbecue chefs, teachers, babies, tourists, archeologists, soldiers, dogs, and cheerleaders. Once all neighbors on a level have been killed by zombies or saved by the players touching them, a door opens that will take the player to the next stage.[3]
All types of neighbors will be killed if an enemy touches them, preventing them from being saved for the remainder of the game or until an "Extra Bonus Victim" is awarded. On some levels, daytime gradually turns to night. Upon nightfall, tourists transform into werewolves and cannot be saved; the game counts it as if they had been killed. At least one neighbor must be saved from each level to progress to the next. The game is lost if the players lose all of their lives or if all of the neighbors are killed. Scoring points earns players neighbors to save and extra lives. Each level has at most ten neighbors, and each neighbor type is worth a different number of points.
There are various items that the players can pick up along the way. These include keys that open up doors, health packs that restore health, and potions with various effects such as increasing speed or temporarily transforming the player into a powerful monster. Players can also collect various types of weapons, such as an Uzi water gun, bazookas, weed-whackers, explosive soda cans, ice pops, tomatoes, silverware, dishes, ancient crucifixes, flamethrowers, fire extinguishers and Martian bubble guns, each with their own effectiveness against certain types of enemies.