Presented primarily through full-motion video (FMV), Night Trap has the player observe teenage girls having a sleepover visiting a house which, unbeknownst to them, is infested with vampires.

Hasbro suddenly canceled the Control-Vision in 1989, which prompted the game's executive producer, Tom Zito, to purchase the film footage and found Digital Pictures to complete Night Trap.

Night Trap was eventually released in October 1992 as the first interactive movie on the Sega CD, becoming a North American launch title for the add-on.

The controversy surrounding Night Trap inspired its designer, Rob Fulop, to then create a contrastingly "cute" game, which was released as Dogz: Your Computer Pet in 1995.

After the controversy subsided, Night Trap was ported to other systems, including the 32X, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, MS-DOS, and Mac OS.

[3][4] The player is instructed by the in-game police squad to watch live surveillance footage of the Martin household and trigger traps to capture anyone that is seen endangering the house guests.

Cameras are situated in eight locations in and around the house: the entryway, living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, driveway, and two hallways.

The police then handed over the case to S.C.A.T., which investigated the house and discovered a series of traps, security cameras, and an operational unit in the basement to control the apparatus.

Riley received a call from Fulop, his neighbor, who explained that an engineer presented an interesting device to another one of Bushnell's employees, Tom Zito.

[10] The system used VHS technology to create movie-like gaming experiences and allowed four video tracks to be played simultaneously.

[12] A prototype game titled Scene of the Crime was produced to demonstrate the new technology to Hasbro and test the surveillance camera gameplay.

[10][11] It was a short five-minute demo where the player follows suspicious characters around a house to find who stole a stash of money.

[10][11][13] Ready to begin work on a full game, the NEMO team returned to the idea of surveillance cameras but wanted to make a more interactive and engaging experience.

In addition, the device used by the Augers to drain blood from their victims was purposely designed to pass Hasbro's non-reproducible violence requirements.

The team could not go back and "tweak" on-screen elements and other assets, such as inserting new scenes or changing the time an actor comes into view.

[10] Fulop went on to form PF.Magic, which later created the Petz virtual pet simulation series,[11] partly inspired by the negativity surrounding Night Trap.

[17] Zito purchased the rights to the abandoned Control-Vision games, and after learning that Sony was considering Sewer Shark for a release on its forthcoming Super NES CD-ROM, he founded his own company to bring them to the system, Digital Pictures.

Night Trap transitioned from VHS to CD-ROM and was released in 1992 for the Sega CD, five years after it was originally filmed.

[20][21] The hearing was led by senators Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl and was covered in major newspapers including USA Today, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

[11][20] One game over scene considered particularly offensive involved the nightgown-clad character Lisa being captured by Augers attempting to drain her blood.

[22] In the short documentary Dangerous Games (included with PC versions), the producers and cast explained the plot was to prevent the trapping and killing of women.

[22] Fulop was irked that Night Trap was compared to Mortal Kombat, which features ultraviolent gore, such as a character ripping the heart out of an opponent.

[25] The Night Trap box art was also criticized by interest groups for what many believed to be a sexist depiction.

Bill White, Sega Vice President of Marketing, stated that Night Trap was pulled because the continuing controversy surrounding it prevented constructive dialogue about an industry-wide rating system.

[30][36][39] From a technological perspective, the video was praised for being high-quality and smooth, although the Sega CD's low color capabilities were identified as a weakness.

Some critics cited it for being boring and shallow because it mostly involved pressing one button at the right time to trap the enemies.

[49] In May 2014, Night Trap designer James Riley announced that he was in talks to re-release the game with improved resolution and gameplay.

[50] That August, a Kickstarter campaign appeared for the game's original creators, who formed a company titled Night Trap LLC.

[52] Two years later, in May 2016, game developer Tyler Hogle created a tech demo of Night Trap being played on a smartphone.

Hogle had previously worked on official ports for two other Digital Pictures games, Double Switch (1993) and Quarterback Attack (1995).