Monster Bash
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| Monster Bash | |
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| Developer(s) | Apogee Software |
| Publisher(s) | Apogee Software |
| Designer(s) | Frank Maddin |
| Version | 2.1 |
| Platform(s) | PC (MS-DOS) |
| Release date | 9 April 1993 |
| Genre(s) | Side-scrolling platform game |
| Mode(s) | Single Player |
| Rating(s) | OFLC: G8+ |
| Media | 3½" Floppy Disk (3) |
| System requirements | 286 PC, 565kB RAM |
| Input methods | keyboard, joystick |
Monster Bash (called Graveyard during development) is a side-scrolling platform video game developed and published by Apogee Software on 9 April 1993 for the MS-DOS PC. The game features 16-color EGA graphics and IMF AdLib compatible music. It was developed by Frank Maddin and Gerald Lindlsy.
The game is divided in three episodes or parts. The first episode of the game is available to download under a shareware license, but the two remaining parts of the game must be purchased. The registered game also removes advertisements from the first episode and enables cheat code functionality.
Contents |
[edit] Story
The story has a fantasy/horror theme, and a simple plot. The original story can be accessed through the main menu of each episode. The player is informed as to the continuation of the story with dialogue and events that appear as scrollable messages on the screen.
The player controls Johnny Dash, the ten year old hero of the game, whose pet dog Tex was just kidnapped by the game's main villain, Count Chuck. During a fearsome storm a friendly monster under his bed tells Johnny that hundreds of other pets have been kidnapped as well, and that Count Chuck took them to his Under World to transform them all into evil monsters. The 'bed monster' empowers Johnny with a bottomless pocket of rocks with which to arm his slingshot. There is a secret and temporary portal in his closet that operates as a passageway for Johnny to enter the Under World, in order to defeat the Count's army and save the pets.
[edit] Gameplay
Johnny must work his way through several horror-themed levels armed with his slingshot. In each level, the player has to break the locks of the pets' cages in order to free them. The player cannot complete the level until all pets are freed. The game follows a typical platform game style, where the player must fight boss monsters at the end of each episode to be able to complete it and advance to the next one.
The first episode has 10 levels, and the other two have 9 levels each, for a total of 28 levels on all three episodes. This includes a single boss level in each episode. When the player enters a new level, Johnny's health is replenished, and any powerups acquired in the previous level are removed. The player has 10 slots per episode to save games, and can save only at the beginning of a level. The levels feature different environments, including graveyards, caves, haunted houses, castles, labs, ghost towns, woods, and swamps.
During one level in the third episode Johnny gains the use of a captured broomstick. In the course of this level the player can activate the broomstick to navigate the level, offering a more arcade-style of gameplay.
The player comes across various inanimate objects which they must interact with in order to complete the level. These include furniture that springs Johnny into the air, as well as deployable ladders and flying broomsticks.One feature rarely found in games since is the ability to access hints (F10 key) from the game developers specific to the level that is being played. The hints are effective as a rudimentary walkthrough as well as a tutorial for players to whom the gameplay may be unfamiliar.
[edit] Fighting and health
Johnny has an unlimited supply of rocks, and he can fire his slingshot either forward or diagonally up. Rocks move in a realistic projectile-like pattern, and can bounce off walls and other objects. The player can collect powerups for the slingshot that allow Johnny to shoot a limited quantity of more powerful projectiles, including a bigger rock that splits into smaller ones on impact, a triple-rock, enemy-seeking rockets and a fireball.
Enemies are based on horror-monsters, and include disembodied crawling hands, flying witches, zombies, demons, walking skeletons and werewolves. While some enemies appear in several levels, others only appear in theme-related levels; for example, the rock men only appear in the cave-themed levels, and the poltergeist only in the haunted house levels. Some enemies take more hits to die than others, and a couple are invincible.
There are also several boss enemies throughout the levels. There are a couple of "minor" bosses that appear in the earlier levels of each episode. One recurring enemy is Dash's 'nemesis': an evil clone of himself who he fights in each episode and finally defeats in the last. There are three "major" bosses who feature in the boss levels of each episode: Cyclops in the first episode, Igor in the second and Count Chuck in the final.
Johnny has a health bar consisting of several slots. Each time he is hit by a monster or a hazard, he loses one slot; if he loses all of them, Johnny dies. There are three difficulty levels, which change the number of health slots Johnny has: 9 in Easy, 6 in Medium and 3 in Hard. The player can collect hearts in the levels to replenish health.
The player has a limited number of lives, and if he loses all of them the game is over. The player can collect Johnny-shaped, hanging voodoo dolls to get more lives, to a maximum of five. There are "checkpoints" in the form of pirate flags throughout the levels; if the player dies, Johnny is returned to the last checkpoint that was passed, or to the beginning if no checkpoint had been activated. After dying, the state of the level is maintained, as are the powerups collected, and Johnny's health is replenished.
[edit] Points and bonuses
Apart from the powerups and health, Johnny can collect several other items in the levels that give the player points, including different types of candies and treasure chests that can be broken for points. Points are also awarded for killing monsters and for some other feats.
There are several bonuses that can be acquired by completing certain tasks in a level:
- Skull Bonus: 50.000 points are awarded for shooting all the "evil skulls" in a level.
- Loot Bonus: 50.000 points are awarded for getting all the candy in a level.
- Par-Time Bonus: 50.000 points are awarded for finishing the level in less time than the indicated "par time" for that level.
- No-hit Bonus: points are awarded for finishing the level without being hit.
[edit] Cultural references
- The game title is a pun on Monster Mash, a song performed by Bobby "Boris" Pickett (the theme song is a rearrangement of that song).
- The character's name, Johnny Dash, is possibly a pun or acknowledgement of Johnny Cash.
- One of the level songs is based on Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor.
- The default high scores suggest the names of several horror-related people and characters (as only the initial is given for the first name): Vincent Price, Lon Chaney, Lon Chaney Jr., Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Dr. Jeckle, Abraham Van Helsing, Boris Karloff, Ray Harryhausen and Vlad Tepis.
- The game's story mentions that Jill of the Jungle, the protagonist of the namesake game, lives in Johnny's street.
[edit] External links
- Monster Bash Official page
- Monster Bash at MobyGames
- For technical information about the file formats used by the game, see Monster Bash at the Game Modding Wiki
- Interview with designer Frank Maddin
- 1bash21.zip - v2.1 shareware episode (1016k)
