Monster Party - NES

Whose Idea was it to have an onion ring boss and why fight it? Now, if I were hungry I would eat it. Eh! My stomaching is growling.
By eep
On
October 11, 2005
Monster Party - nes




Mark: “Who are you?”
Monster: “I’m Bert!”
Mark: “What’s up?”
Bert: “I’m looking for help; evil monsters are out of control in my world”
Bert: “Come and help me.”
Mark: “I’m afraid to fight the evil monsters.”
Bert: “Don’t worry! With your weapon you’ll be able to destroy them easily.”
Mark: “This isn’t a weapon, it’s a bat!”
Bert: “Bat! Batter! Anything is ok! Anyhow, let’s go!”

Bert grabbed Mark’s hand and flew away.

Bert: “What’s your name?”
Mark: “Mark.”
Bert: “Mark, my planet is dangerous. So, we must act together.”
Mark: “How?”
Bert: “Like this!”

"Then they fused together. This is how Mark’s adventure began!" -Monster Party Intro

This is how a crappy Nintendo video game began! I didn’t always feel this way about the game, but replaying it for the first time in fifteen years the perspective I once had was something to be desired. Visualize an eight year old on the brink of obsession with horror movies, violence, and stimulating visuals of great saturation…that was me. So think about it, a game titled Monster Party was a high priority of mine to play amongst other games. I had such high expectations about the game, wondering what the game play might be like and the story behind these monsters partying down. I needed to know the answers to these burning questions, and only Crescent Video could’ve answered them since they were the only rental store in my neighborhood that carried a copy of Monster Party.


I threw three bucks at the cashier for twenty-four hours alone with Monster Party and ran home to waste what little youth I had left. The intro wasn’t as predictable as most other NES games which gained a huge plus towards a classic factor and its round start had bloody skeletons. The game appeared to be flawless, until the game play began.

I sort of understood the scenario of the game to a certain extent, but I honestly played the game for its 8-bit gore and cheap horror. I wasn’t expecting the awful awakening of how Bandai and Nintendo were/are known for being the two biggest video game companies supporting censorship and were/are totally against the sight of blood and other “mature” displays of human on human acts. The backgrounds and other layered screens could demonstrate some gore and disgust but not a drop could be shown through “physical violence” in the game play. Proceed with game play analysis. Where to start with the game play? Well, the controlling is perfect in everyway except Mark’s weapon, his baseball bat. Mark’s bat swings are extremely slow and short for distance. Mark has to stand millimeters away from an enemy before he could get a hit in. This problem with distance could cause an unnecessary hit from the enemies. This is the major problem of the game.
Another fault in the game play is its challenge…there is no challenge. Many of the bosses have the same attack patterns and get tedious and boring (much like the entire game). Each stage, besides the Door Maze stage, is extremely simplistic. Objective of overall game, move Mark from point ‘A’ (far left) to point ‘B’ (far right) without getting hit much. Oh man! That’s all side scrollers! The only thing that really kept me playing fifteen years ago and today was the bizarre stage graphics and character designs.

Though, bashing this game is rather easy, let’s look at the positive side of things. The graphics are wonderfully bloody and twisted, and so are the enemies. Unlike many other NES games, the enemies actually differ from stage to stage instead of just palette swapping the same character; also quite original. A few of the boss enemies in the game make absolutely no sense to have displayed and ultimately have no purpose which makes them almost comical.


Who would think of an onion ring to be a boss in a monster oriented game and why the hell would I fight it? Now, if I were hungry I would eat it. Eh! My stomaching is growling.


Many of the bosses have already been murdered and grinded into a pulp when entering their rooms. They apologize and explain that they are dead; humorous but a cheap way of adding more elements to the game. At least they have manners.

Accumulating all the amusing factors of the game, only one truly horrifies me until this day. It’s not a reoccurring dream or anything but the sight of it is somewhat disturbing to me. Many might chuckle at it or even say it’s cute in a peculiar fashion but nevertheless this character is one that will puzzle me and only tempt me to imagine it as an actually being…THE MAN DOG!!! BOO!!!

Well, to be straightforward, I seriously don’t want to review this game any longer…that’s how much I hate it at the moment. Though, I know if I were to wait a few years and play it again, like I’ve already done, I suppose I would rate the game a little better. So, I’m going to channel into my childhood psyche and rate this as if I were still eight.


This game is fun. I like it a lot. I like the kitty cat boss. The kitty cat boss throws balls of yarn. I like him a lot. The monsters are scary. I like them a lot. I wish I had more money so I could rent it all the time. I like it a lot. The eggplant monster looks like the flower from Little Shop of Horrors. I like that movie a lot. I like this game much better. It’s gooder. I hope I get Gameboy this Christmas. I like it a lot. What’s the Simpsons? 2 out of 4.


-eep!
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