Mail Order Monsters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mail Order Monsters is an innovative 1985 computer game created by Paul Reiche III, Evan Robinson and Nicky Robinson and published by Electronic Arts ( Ariolasoft in Europe) for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit family home computers.
Reiche had previously worked with renowned designers Jon Freeman and Anne Westfall of Free Fall Associates on the seminal game Archon for EA, and teamed with the Robinsons to take the concept of action-strategy games in new directions.
The game provided a way for players to create a variety of monsters and equip them with futuristic and modern weapons to do battle. The game allowed two players to play and compete at the same time and fight each other, or to play capture the flag. Monsters could be stored on diskette and could be upgraded by successful victories against other monsters or computer opponents.
Mail Order Monsters was widely regarded as important for its cooperative play aspect and the ability to enhance and customize monsters.
The game's designers and producer Don Daglow worked for several months in an attempt to create a name for the game that would survive a trademark search and still reflect the title's core gameplay. Finally, with the package design deadline looming, then-Director of Marketing at EA Bing Gordon suggested the name Mail Order Monsters and it stuck.
