Backlog gaming: Monster Party (NES)

Monster Party for the NES was one of those consistent rental games for me as a kid. The gameplay was solid, and the setting had a unique charm to it with its creepy atmosphere. And the game was *just* challenging enough that I could make good progress with it, but never get very far in the game. I decided to go back and put in a solid effort to fully finish the game this time, and knock it off my ever growing backlog. What better time to talk about this weird game full of weird half fish monsters and surprising-considering-Nintendo's-censorship-policies blood than the Halloween season?

Monster Party is a sidescrolling platform game that sees you take on the role of Mark, an ordinary kid who is selected by this monster, Bert, to come rescue his planet. Bert sees the kid's bat and just assumes he must be a great warrior. There some weird stuff in this intro, starting with the kid staring up at a shooting star, and the light cast from it causing his eyes to tear up. Like, what a strange detail to put in this very, very brief and bizarre intro. That's followed by a scene where Bert really needs to learn about consent, because he just merges with the kid without warning. No, Bert, bad monster.

When I was a kid I always remembered this game being very dark and creepy, and a lot of that comes from the event that happens shortly in the first world. You've got a pretty standard looking platformer level here, with a cool sounding soundtrack playing. But when you cross this one spot, for whatever reason everything changes to look absolutely horrifying.

This is the only time something like this happens in the game, and there doesn't appear to be any real reason for it to happen. I can only assume that it's meant purely to surprise the player early on and tell them that this is going to be a much weirder adventure than you may have guessed (though if anyone saw the shrimp and onion ring bosses that paraded by during the title screen, they may have already guessed to expect the unexpected). The background is now filled with grinning heads with eyes dripping out, these weird dog things freaked me out for some reason as a kid, and the trees look like something out of a nightmare. Now it's time to fight Audrey II!

Anyone that's played this game before knows that the wild and wacky bosses are a big draw of this game. Here we seem to have a monster that is clearly inspired by Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. Though instead of a flytrap, now it's a pitcher plant. This boss battle helps introduce the player to one of the most interesting game mechanics in its arsenal, hitting something with your bat swing. Not-Audrey II will throw bubbles towards you, and you're able to swing your bat and knock them back at the monster. If you hit the bubble at the right angles, you can aim where you'll knock back at and should be able to get rid of the boss with relative ease.

As I played through this game in 2024, I found this to still be a very enjoyable mechanic, and one that I'm surprised we haven't seen more of in other games, or maybe in newer indie games that borrow ideas from retro games in new fun ways. Let's explore the bat idea more! It has a nice risk/reward going for it, because if you miss, you'll get hit by a projectile, but if you connect with it and send it back it usually does much more damage than just hitting an enemy with your bat does. It felt really good and I'd love to see a new game explore this more.

After defeating a boss, you'll usually get a key that you'll need at the end of the level. It's possible to pass the plant boss and get to the end of the stage, but unless you get this key, they stage won't end. This is pretty much the formula for the rest of the game. The levels get a bit more maze-y at times, but you'll be looking for a boss room, then looking for the exit. With some careful playing, the platform stages aren't bad at all. It's the bosses that can make this game pretty brutal, in my opinion. A lot of the boss battles seem to have a lot of randomness involved in their movements, and I found it incredibly hard not to take a ton of hits during any of the battles. Looking back, this is definitely what prevented me from getting too far as a kid. Being able to throw a save down before entering a boss door made a world of difference in this playthrough, thank you emulators.

Like I said, the wacky bosses are a definite draw of this game, and special shoutout goes to the spider dead in a heap that just says 'Sorry, I'm dead' when you walk in. That kinda weirdness really stood out, you just didn't see something so bizarre. Then like I mentioned earlier, there's the boss fight of fried foods, like onion rings and fried shrimp that hop around the screen. And the pair of zombies, who tell you to watch them dance, and if you do, when they're done dancing they go away and you win the battle. The tone in the game was super weird, from the wacky and zany bosses, to the super creepy moment in the first level that I mentioned earlier.

I haven't mentioned it until now, but there's one other special move you have in the game, where if you get a pill item, you can transform into the monster, Bert, for a very brief period of time. He can fly freely by tapping the A button, and he can shoot projectiles, though they don't travel very far. He's sometimes very useful for a boss battle, but since the transformation lasts for such a brief amount of time it's hard to use it to your advantage too often.

Overall I felt this game held up really well. Each level and boss encounter felt unique, and while I think the random movements of the bosses make them a bit too hard at times, the game doesn't feel impossible to get through, especially with a save state shortly before the boss battles. It gets a boosted recommendation this time of year too, as it's a great NES Halloween title!

Thanks for reading, and share your Monster Party memories in the comments below. Was it a childhood favorite? Can you beat the bosses no problem? Or did you have to return as an adult using an emulator to finally see the end?