Okay so this is a weird one. I remember playing this one a lot as a kid which doesn't surprise me considering how much I was into weird things. It's also one of the better games published by Bandai, but that really isn't saying too much. Bandai is one of the more infamous licensed NES publishers. They're not quite down there with THQ or LJN, but they're pretty close. They did publish Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde after all. However, that's another entry for another day. I sure can't wait to go back through that one again.
So what's up with Monster Party? I will say that it's not much of a party, but it sure is full of monsters. The name might not be the most appropriate, but I can't think of a better name for it. The main character is a cute little kid with a baseball bat, so you can't really name it after him. Monster Bat Boy just doesn't have the same ring to it, although I wouldn't be too surprised if that's the game's name in Japan. Actually I think it's just called Monster Party over there, but that's not nearly as interesting.
As I was saying, you play as a little kid with a baseball bat taking on some of the weirdest monsters I've ever seen. The picture on the box has a vampire and gill man, but the only movie monster I remember seeing is the plant from Little Shop of Horrors. Ok so if there aren't any famous movie monsters than what is there? Well how about a fried shrimp? Or a couple of zombies that dance themselves to death? Or an empty pair of pants with a life of its own? Or a giant spider that just tells you it's dead? I'm not kidding guys, there is some weird stuff in this game. In fact that's really the whole reason to play. The gameplay itself is fairly dull. Take out all the weird monsters and it's a perfectly dull side scroller.
Well I guess that's not entirely true. There are a few other interesting things about this game. You've only got one life in this game, but you do have a really huge life bar. It starts half full, and one of the main goals in the game is to keep this meter full so that you can take on the boss at the end. I think that's interesting. Also some of the levels scroll in different directions so at least you won't get bored just traveling from left to right.
However, even with this the game is a little dull. The whole game is spent going from door to door in the levels and looking for bosses. Some doors are hard to get too and contain nothing at all. I hate these doors. Once you kill all the bosses you get a key and then go on to the next level. A couple of doors are a little bit hidden, but it's still pretty basic. There's also a password given after ever level so the stakes are pretty low. You don't have to try especially hard when you know you can always just start back at he same level again.
I will say that I had a pretty good time playing it. As I said earlier in this post, I used to play this game all the time when I was a kid. Or at the very least I remember it well. I never did beat it though. I got very close once in college, but I got stuck at the boss and then lost my password. I played through it this time with the knowledge that the final boss was going to be very hard. I was very careful throughout the game. I spent large amounts of time fighting overworld monsters so I could build up my life bar. This epic battle was in the back of my head the whole time. So what happens when I finally get there? It turns out to be real easy. I have no idea what hung me up the first time. I bet I only had about half of my life left when I figured out what I was doing, but he was still no problem. Just jump over stuff and hit him in the mouth. What was my problem anyway?
It was all for the best though, because it gave me a brand new game to beat on my blog. It's nice not only playing through repeats. So how was my Monster Party experience? The gameplay is boring, but this game has character to spare. It's worth it just to see all the bosses and read the stupid things they say. There really is a monster in this game that curls up into a ball and says "My Name's Royce." If that doesn't prove that playing video games is the best way to waste your life than I don't know what will. Sorry stamp collectors, but this is the best hobby ever.
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