Monster Party is a lovely little horror title with an absolutely stupid plot and enemies that don't make sense, but the aesthetic alone will bring you back for more. Whether you play as Mark with his bat or Bert the dragonkin, each bring fun elements to the game. All of the bosses are beautifully designed and a few are quite amusing (such as the three form fried boss that one youtuber nicknamed two of the forms as Ebirah and Onion Ringu) and it ends up being a very memorable experience. It can be punishingly hard, but if you have access to save states this is a must for Spooktober.
𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧
#𝟔 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲
It’s very much one of “those” older NES games. Where the game is less focused with giving the player a reasonably balanced experience and more focused with busting the players balls and wasting their time to make them feel like they got their money's worth.
Normally when it comes to NES games like this one I’d probably just not bother and move on but the only reason I kept playing to the end was because of the sheer amount of charm this game is leaking.
Please I need to know where else are you gonna play as a human boy/alien pterodactyl hybrid shooting Jinmenken, fighting The plant from Little Shop of Horror but as an eggplant to avoid copyright, and fight a giant bouncing Tempura Shrimp and onion rings; all while the background as devolved to look like hell, with bleeding skulls and fire erupting from the ground. The amount of strange stuff they were able to pack into an NES game is honestly impressive, like sometimes when you enter a boss room you won’t even fight a boss, sometimes it’ll already be dead so you get the points regardless; or maybe you’ll come upon some zombies who just want to show you their strange dance, and if you watch their funny little dance you’ll just win the fight because that’s all the zombies wanted. Between the strange but fun bosses and the bizarre enemy choices in between the boss rooms you never really know what kind of weird monster or enemy choice you're gonna come upon next.
When replaying an NES game I find that most of them don’t hold up as well as I think a lot of people like to think they do, and what I mean by that is “Most of these games were always bad and if you think NES era difficulty wasn't complete BS then you were either a rich kid who got Nintendo Power and has false nostalgia of the past, or your just a sadomasochist”. That is mostly the case here too but unlike most NES games where the sprite work is either pretty great to shotty at best; the charm and personality this game oozes almost outweighs the poor hit detection, bad weapons, and the bullshit maze level.
#𝟔 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲
It’s very much one of “those” older NES games. Where the game is less focused with giving the player a reasonably balanced experience and more focused with busting the players balls and wasting their time to make them feel like they got their money's worth.
Normally when it comes to NES games like this one I’d probably just not bother and move on but the only reason I kept playing to the end was because of the sheer amount of charm this game is leaking.
Please I need to know where else are you gonna play as a human boy/alien pterodactyl hybrid shooting Jinmenken, fighting The plant from Little Shop of Horror but as an eggplant to avoid copyright, and fight a giant bouncing Tempura Shrimp and onion rings; all while the background as devolved to look like hell, with bleeding skulls and fire erupting from the ground. The amount of strange stuff they were able to pack into an NES game is honestly impressive, like sometimes when you enter a boss room you won’t even fight a boss, sometimes it’ll already be dead so you get the points regardless; or maybe you’ll come upon some zombies who just want to show you their strange dance, and if you watch their funny little dance you’ll just win the fight because that’s all the zombies wanted. Between the strange but fun bosses and the bizarre enemy choices in between the boss rooms you never really know what kind of weird monster or enemy choice you're gonna come upon next.
When replaying an NES game I find that most of them don’t hold up as well as I think a lot of people like to think they do, and what I mean by that is “Most of these games were always bad and if you think NES era difficulty wasn't complete BS then you were either a rich kid who got Nintendo Power and has false nostalgia of the past, or your just a sadomasochist”. That is mostly the case here too but unlike most NES games where the sprite work is either pretty great to shotty at best; the charm and personality this game oozes almost outweighs the poor hit detection, bad weapons, and the bullshit maze level.
This was definitely a NES game that I hadn't heard of until I began browsing the inner tubes of online. It's an intriguing cartridge of weirdness for sure, and it's even more baffling how it got away with so much under the odd iron fist of Nintendo's censorship policy.
It begins mostly harmless enough with the title screen of silly green ooze, and intro where your baseball kid named Mark meets his new BFF avian Red Arremer-like Bert who fell from space and asks for help. Immediately afterwards you're greeted by a stage start screen filled with blood and skeletons just hanging out in it. It gets even more odd when you begin and find random naked human legs stuck in the ground, and get jumpscared mid-stage with the level becoming a zombified hellhole. Apparently all you needed to get away with more against Nintendo was to replace blood on the title screen, and hope they didn't bother playing past that part, but even that scenario doesn't seem feasible due to them changing the Medusa boss from a snake lady to a snake demon with snakes for hair. They drew the line at violence against women, but figured kids were good with decaying faces and other potentially disturbing imagery for them? It's very odd, and like most things with censorship in this era it does nothing but astound me.
The game itself has some interesting things going on with it's mechanics, but as you would expect from a less-known developer it's only executed so well. Mark is a world-class baseballer in training, he has the ability to reflect even bullets with his skills at swinging for the fences. Mark is also renown for his fantastic ability at crawling along on the ground like a worm and shrinking his hitbox to the size of a flea, which is something you might wanna know about when playing since it helps a ton. Despite these abilities you'll still be begging to turn into your buddy Bert to deal with the bosses, because trying to rely on the reflect ability can be patience-inducing even with access to a turbo button and save states.
Dumb hitboxes, a bunch of instances where you kinda have to take damage, etc. It'd be an incredibly forgettable game if it weren't for stuff like a decapitated King Tut zombie head going "OH BOY! MARK SOUP!", or being assaulted by sentient fried shrimp. Personality and allure as deep as the Mariana Trench. Hell, this game's Cutting Room Floor page is even horrifyingly interesting with the cut references like the ape on horseback threatening to seize you and make you their slave. Yet another example of why Backloggd needs to steal the "liked" button from Letterboxd, because while Monster Party isn't the most kind or well-designed game it sure has it's dumb charm.
Happy all hallows' eve. If you see an apparent "person" in a bird demon costume offering a little treasure chest make sure you take it, but never open it. The promise of a beautiful princess in it may be enticing, but I assure you it ain't a princess you'll want within your vicinity.
It begins mostly harmless enough with the title screen of silly green ooze, and intro where your baseball kid named Mark meets his new BFF avian Red Arremer-like Bert who fell from space and asks for help. Immediately afterwards you're greeted by a stage start screen filled with blood and skeletons just hanging out in it. It gets even more odd when you begin and find random naked human legs stuck in the ground, and get jumpscared mid-stage with the level becoming a zombified hellhole. Apparently all you needed to get away with more against Nintendo was to replace blood on the title screen, and hope they didn't bother playing past that part, but even that scenario doesn't seem feasible due to them changing the Medusa boss from a snake lady to a snake demon with snakes for hair. They drew the line at violence against women, but figured kids were good with decaying faces and other potentially disturbing imagery for them? It's very odd, and like most things with censorship in this era it does nothing but astound me.
The game itself has some interesting things going on with it's mechanics, but as you would expect from a less-known developer it's only executed so well. Mark is a world-class baseballer in training, he has the ability to reflect even bullets with his skills at swinging for the fences. Mark is also renown for his fantastic ability at crawling along on the ground like a worm and shrinking his hitbox to the size of a flea, which is something you might wanna know about when playing since it helps a ton. Despite these abilities you'll still be begging to turn into your buddy Bert to deal with the bosses, because trying to rely on the reflect ability can be patience-inducing even with access to a turbo button and save states.
Dumb hitboxes, a bunch of instances where you kinda have to take damage, etc. It'd be an incredibly forgettable game if it weren't for stuff like a decapitated King Tut zombie head going "OH BOY! MARK SOUP!", or being assaulted by sentient fried shrimp. Personality and allure as deep as the Mariana Trench. Hell, this game's Cutting Room Floor page is even horrifyingly interesting with the cut references like the ape on horseback threatening to seize you and make you their slave. Yet another example of why Backloggd needs to steal the "liked" button from Letterboxd, because while Monster Party isn't the most kind or well-designed game it sure has it's dumb charm.
Happy all hallows' eve. If you see an apparent "person" in a bird demon costume offering a little treasure chest make sure you take it, but never open it. The promise of a beautiful princess in it may be enticing, but I assure you it ain't a princess you'll want within your vicinity.
I can't believe I owned this. This is by far the craziest NES game. It's a hard one. I've gotten far but never beat it. But that's not why you play this game. It's its art and craziness. Stages are horror themed and can turn spookier. Enemies are grossly designed and unique. There are a ton of bosses. Oh man the bosses. So different and varied and did I mention crazy. One of the first stage bosses is an evil Onion Ring. Lots of classic monster designs too. Story was crazy. Boy visited by an alien monster and teleported to monster world. With enough power you could turn a baseball bat boy into a flying monster that could shoot projectiles. Was almost required to beat some bosses IMO. Game was one of those where the fuck do I go and how do I find the key to this door kinda games. It's art and monsters never kept me from not playing it though. Truly a special NES game.
Don't care about the fucked up hit detection, don't care about the bugged bossfight, don't care about the evil labrynth of hell and don't care about the bosses with unavoidable damage unless you are transformed.
Almost every second of this game makes for a funny screenshot and that's what truly matters in life.
Almost every second of this game makes for a funny screenshot and that's what truly matters in life.