Platform: NES
Genre
- Monster Party is a side scrolling adventure game which also acts as a platformer, with themes of horror and comedy thrown into the mix. It acts more of a parody of sorts to the former genre and is quite cartoony and interesting within it's design, giving the game a very unique charm. Much like other games Monster Party progresses through the storyline by moving the main character to the right in various levels, with the exception of one in which you have to ascend the level vertically, with the simple actions of jumping into the air and swinging your bat around being the only means of offense that you have at your disposal. In comparison to all the other NES side scroller games (trust me, there was a lot of them) it doesn't exactly stand out as much as some of the other, more popular ones, but it does stand out in the sense that this game is really strange. It's just weird. It has a bizarre sense of humour and the designs are quirky at best, especially when it comes down to the bosses. The dialogue is very lax and not exactly serious, which only further pushes and reinforces the parody label that this game has been granted. Another thing to note in this game is the use of blood. Whilst it's tame by today's standard back then this was probably the goriest NES game out there, even though it's depicted in this goofy sort of style. A pretty good example of this would be the round start screen, which shows six skeletons and hands rising up from a lake of blood as it drips down from the backdrop as well, it's over the top and cheesy, sure, but they certainly were not afraid to put it in there, and many more things within the game are on par with this balance between slightly offsetting and laughably excessive.
Narrative
- The story told in this game is that our young protagonist, Mark, was walking home from a baseball game when he looked up a saw a shining star. The star wasn't really a star at all, it was in fact, a monster, that fell from the sky and landed in front of him. It turns out this friendly creature goes by the name of Bert, and has come to Mark's world in order to find help in ridding his home land of the evil beasts that have taken over. Apparently Mark makes a good candidate considering he has a baseball bat, and Bert flies off with his newfound ally back to his world to begin their adventure. It's dangerous, Bert warns him, and the two of them fuse together. You read that last part right. Whilst the story isn't exactly the most gripping narrative of all time it at least sets up the criteria for the rest of the game, which involves going through every level and attempting to rid it of the bosses that are hiding within several doors scattered throughout the stage. The only interaction you really have with Bert is that certain enemies drop a pill which will transform you into your other half for a brief period of time. During this phase you can fly by repeatedly pressing the jump button and fire off projectiles using the attack button. Considering a lot of NES side scroller games don't have an in game explanation of the story (more than likely due to memory limitations) it's nice to actually see one kept through this game, including the opening cutscene, the dialogue of the final boss and the ending itself, which is actually sort of ambiguous and left on a cliff hanger. It has enough bat swings to keep anyone who wants a good adventure game entertained and just enough challenge to give a fair experience when playing. The story only really connects with the target audience by giving them a purpose to fulfil, plus I think the actual explanation of the story initially before the game begins will entice the player to complete the game to see what the ending will be like.
Production Process
- Bandai produced and released this game for the system in 1989, and even though the game was developed and made in Japan, it was exclusively released in the US. I'm not entirely sure why this happened or what the reasoning behind this was, but all I know is that this game was never released in Japan on their own Famicom system. Something to note with this is that one of the bosses, a haunted wishing well deep into Round 2 that attacks using plates, is based on a ghost story in Japan known as the Bancho Sarayashiki. No one outside of Japan would be all that familiar with the story to recognise the boss straight away. Several screenshots of the Beta version of the game can be seen online, and through these screenshots the game was discovered to be initially a lot more morbid and darker compared to the light-hearted game that the US got. The title screen didn't have the green slime, and was instead blood dripping from the creature's mouth, and the enemies were designed to be a lot more frightening. Rather than being a slightly odd background in the first level the original concept for it was to be a sunset with a mountain range in the background. The plant boss was also a lot different. Instead of being a purple pitcher plant the flora was originally what resembled a venus fly trap, with a microphone in front of it and a speaker behind it. This boss would attack by firing off projectiles in the shape of a musical note, and the whole set up was inspired and obviously is a reference to the Little Shop of Horrors. In the present game the collision detection for the speaker was actually never removed. If you beat the plant boss and jump to the right of the pot it once stood in you can intentionally stand on the air where the speaker should have been. Eventually a Japanese prototype was discovered of a game that was originally intended for the Famicom known as Parody World: Monster Party. I could be wrong on this, but this version seems to have things in common with the final release, such as the odd background, music and original tile sets in the first round, but it also has elements from the Beta version, such as the bloody title screen and the plant boss. The pumpkin boss was changed to become a reference to Planet of the Apes, being replaced by one of the primates on a horse with a broken version of the liberty statue in the background. With so little information around about this rather curious, obscure game and the history behind it, I really can't say for definite what I wrote up there about Parody World is true. The only reliable source of information I have for that version is this video here of someone who managed to get their hands on it, which is rather interesting to watch. There's also this video too, from the person who originally sold the prototype online showing the working game. Savour them. It's probably the only information you're going to get about this secretive little game.
- Really the characters are only relevant to the target audience because it fits the natural conventions of this genre, in which there's typically a hero, Mark, or heroes, in the case of Mark and Bert, who go up against an enemy, the Dark World master, and fight his various minions, which are both the enemies and bosses in game. Mark is appealing to the target audience simply because he's capable of taking out enemies and bosses and can suffer a few hits before going down, and he's easy to control, which are things that are pretty essential to a game genre like this. Apart from the opening and end cutscenes, Mark and Bert are really just static characters for you to control, to be truthfully honest they're not exactly that interesting, with the only exception being Bert regarding the final cutscene. It's probably sort of bad that I find the boss characters, or guardians as they're called, more interesting than the protagonists themselves. They don't do much other than pose a threat, mind you, but they just seem so... interesting. I can't really describe it. Every one of them is completely different and they usually say something extremely corny before the battle starts. I've been called 'baby' three times now by a plant, a giant tempura shrimp and a dragon respectively, along with being told to 'Mooove it!' by a green minotaur. "Please don't pick on me" says the pumpkin ghost that almost immediately proceeds to attack me thereafter. Let's also not forget that the corpse of a red, bloated lizard says 'Sorry, I'm dead' as you enter the room and the only way to defeat a pair of dancing zombies is to watch them prance around until they disintegrate and disappear as you presumably sit there confused. Or amused. Or both. There's also a spider which, although it's nothing special, made me laugh. When you find him he'll remark that he'll 'suck all your blood' and proceed to attack you. Then, later on in the game, you'll find him again. Apparently he thought he won last time around, as he says he'll 'suck all your blood again'. I think the reason as to why I love these bosses so much is because they make up a big portion of the game, and they're so silly and fun to fight as well but they also provide a considerable challenge to players. They make it so that you want to know what you'll be going up against next, because if it's as crazy as the last boss you fought, you're in for a fun time.
- As mentioned before the gameplay for Monster Party is extremely simple. You move from left to right along what are known as Rounds and kill enemies and face off against bosses. The only real reason for beating the bosses is because you need to find a key which will unlock the door at the end of the Round, and you'll only acquire said key if you eliminate them all. NES games were a little unforgiving back in the day and they still are now, but the challenge, if you can adjust to it, isn't so bad in the beginning of the game, and like most games the difficulty curve slowly progresses the further you progress into it. It engages the player because they have to keep on their toes and get better as the game goes along, getting used to the controls and enemy mechanics and finding out ways to get around the various hazards within the levels or finding an easier way to kill a troublesome boss. The typical idea of going around beating up any enemy in sight and fighting bosses is normal for any game, really, but it's simple and easy enough to pick up on in this game that it really does help it in the long run. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but it's definitely fun enough, although it can get a little repetitive and annoying at times. At least we understand why we're going around beating the living daylights out of any creature with our bat thanks to the introduction of the story, but it's not mentioned or referred to ever again until the end of the game. Whilst most levels are the same it always seems to offer some sort of variation to at least get your attention, but in terms of variety is not exactly that broad of a subject. I guess the console's limitations could be partially to blame for this, but it's down to the creators as well.
Round 1 introduces us to the fact that the world is changing when you pass by what's known as a haniwa (a statue often buried with the dead in Japanese culture) as the screen flickers and everything becomes suddenly dark and gloomy, including the music, enemies and the entire tileset itself. You'll find guys on fire and people stuck in the ground here in terms of enemies, but eyeballs and dogs with human faces will appear as soon as the level shifts. Round 2 is a dungeon, although it looks more like a sewer, and this introduces ladders into the game in which you'll need to use to get to higher platforms, presumably to reach boss doors. It's also worthy to note that this is the level in which they throw the tempura shrimp at you in a boss battle entitled Shrimp Attack, where the shrimp will turn into an onion ring and a shish kabob upon taking enough damage. They don't really wait to throw you into the madness, do they? Round 3 takes place inside a cavern whilst Round 4 takes place within what is described as castle ruins, although the interior of the place is decorated with Egyptian themed murals and hieroglyphics. Round 5 is surprisingly peaceful, having only two bosses and one of them you don't even have to fight (lookin' at you, dancing zombies), which is a nice break from the other levels, but Round 6... just, no. It's a haunted house. Alright. It's a maze. Not alright. Mazes can work in games, don't get me wrong, but this one fails in every aspect and is a blemish on an otherwise decent little game. There's no hints whatsoever and you won't have any indication to where you are if you do get lost, and you will, trust me, and end up running in circles for ages and will probably die several times before you even realise where you have to go. It doesn't help that every room looks the same with all the floors and walls being purple in colour and every door is alike, boring and grey, with the exception of the last one, which is blue. The enemies in this stage are seemingly ten times more annoying than usual, with furniture that flies all over the place, sentient pants and drops of plasma or wisps or whatever they are will often fire from the top of the screen and home in on you. Maybe it's the enemy placement going on there, or maybe it's because you've had enough of hearing that awful music play over and over again. It's literally a never ending two second loop of 'ooOOOoo' and the worst part is that every time you enter a door it pauses before starting over. I'd say it's a bad thing because you're hearing the same bit of music over and over again, but it really doesn't help when the entire music track is a two second loop in itself. The only saving grace to this level is that it only has one boss and it's actually pretty cool. The boss room is covered in a mess of bleeding green faces and there are four heads that blend in with the background, and you have to hit the real one to kill it.
Thankfully Round 7 changes it up a bit as you climb the level vertically, but it's not without it's own problems, too, showcasing a rather major glitch. In this level you have three bosses to fight, but to get the key you only have to kill two of them. Killing the third boss takes the key away and renders the game unwinnable because you can't get through the door at the end of the round. It can especially take new players by surprise and can be equally infuriating as well. Round 8, luckily, is the last level in the game, and is fairly straight forward. Just be sure to go immediately left of the spawn point, since the game designers deliberately hid one of the boss rooms back there. After that you fight the Dark World master, and then the game is over.
Target Audience
- I'd say that the target audience for this game was mainly male centric, considering both game consoles and the actual games themselves around the time when this game came out were catered more towards boys with their content and advertising. It can also appeal to anyone who likes these sorts of games and to anyone who likes horror respectively. Mentioning it again, this game was released exclusively in the US. I'm not exactly sure it counts as a target audience though, since it's a pretty broad area of reach.
Platform
- The only platform that this game is available for would be the NES system. It's not suited to any other device and as such only uses one simple control scheme. The A button is used for jumping and the B button is used for attacking, whilst both can be used at the same time to simultaneously do a jumping attack, where Mark will swing his bat in mid-air. The left and right directional buttons on the D-Pad move Mark in that respective direction and pressing down will allow Mark to crouch, or, rather, lay, on the ground. If you also move Mark whilst in this mode you can essentially 'crawl' on the floor, although it looks like you're more so humping the ground and many entertaining moments have come from this animation alone. Pressing up causes Mark to either climb up a ladder or enter a door. Start pauses the game, and select doesn't do anything.
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