GOTD 6/8/2016: Monster In My Pocket (NES)

[celerystalker]

Monster In My Pocket was a popular toy line in the early '90s much in the same vein as M.U.S.C.L.E., revolving around collecting tiny rubber figurines and trading them with your friends. For what was clearly going to be a fad, it lucked out and was licensed by Konami in their heyday to be translated into video game format. Transformed into an action/platformer, the NES game starred the Vampire and the (Frankenstein's) Monster on their quest to defeat the evil Warlock, who challenges them from the other side of the TV screen. Vampire and Monster set out together to crush Warlock for his insolence and prove once and for all that... hell, they just want to beat his ass for being a jerk.

Monster In My Pocket supports one or two players, and players can choose which monster they'd rather play. Playing two players allows for cooperative simultaneous play, which works pretty well save a bit of flicker. The monsters can punch, claw, jump, and double jump to make their way through six modest stages. Occasionally, they'll run across a screw or key to pick up, which you can then hurl at enemies. It all feels really good, though there is little in the way of variety, and you'll see pretty much all of the mechanics in the first level... at least they're a strong suit.

Each stage ends in a boss fight, and there is a boss rush for most of the final level. These creatures are all unique in their patterns, and oddly the first one fights just like Chief Scalpem from Sunset Riders. The challenge level is pretty low, and even the boss rush is a breeze once you get a feel for handling your monster. The whole game takes some 20 minutes or so to beat, but what's there is good... though there's hardly enough action to keep both players busy in co-op.

As a later Konami game, Monster In My Pocket shows off a lot of what they had learned in prior NES development. The backgrounds are bright, colorful, and realistic, conveying a great sense of scale for your tiny monstrous heroes, and has some nice scrolling effects to boot. The animation is very fluid, and the sprites are big and well-defined. The music has the signature percussion common to NES Konami titles of the era, and while okay, hardly live up to Contra or Castlevania. Still, it's an attractive game with smooth control whose only real issue is that it is rather short.

Played it?