Monster Party

Abnormal NES game with unfamiliar boss battles, creepy scenes and simple gameplay. The story is that you will help a monster defeat evil monsters by fusing with it to gain powers.

Alongside using your bat, you will be able to transform into the monster to fly when you pick up the item which looks like a drugged medicine. An iconic scene is early on at the huge cactus when the screen changes from a trippy scene into a messed up scary scene, definitely for 80’s standards.

The bosses are sometimes really out there, when they sometimes just won’t attack you or die by themselves for the strangest reasons. The animations of the playable character are quite refreshing. If he hits the ceiling, his head gets hurt.

  

If he crouches, he lays down on the ground like a lazy dog and you can even move forward slowly. And if you jump, you can fall down quickly simply by pressing down. So a lot of thought was focused in this area.

Each round consists of three bosses to fight, ranging from simple battles reflecting their missiles back to bizarre conditions and appearances in them. Horror pop culture is also widely present, and it's notorius and unique for having large amounts of blood present while Nintendo was well known for censoring adult themes.

Monster Party also feels like a lost cousin towards the Splatterhouse series for having some creepy enemy design and by the way a pretty haunting ending too. I would never have discovered this obscure game as a kid, but now I am glad I have experienced it.

Rating: 7.6