Monster Bash | |
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Developer(s) | Apogee Software |
Publisher(s) | Apogee Software |
Designer(s) | Frank Maddin [1] |
Engine | F.A.S.T. Game System |
Platform(s) | DOS |
Release | April 9, 1993 |
Genre(s) | Platform |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Monster Bash (called Graveyard during development) [2] is a side-scrolling platform game developed and published by Apogee Software on 9 April 1993 for DOS. The game features 16-color EGA graphics and IMF AdLib compatible music. It was developed by Frank Maddin and Gerald Lindsly.
The game is divided into three episodes. 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 and reminders of the benefits of purchasing the games from the first episode and enables cheat code functionality.
The game was re-released in 2014 on GOG.com with support for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
In 2021, a remaster of the game developed by Emberheart Games titled 'Monster Bash HD' was released on Steam and GOG.com. [3]
The player controls Johnny Dash, whose pet dog Tex was captured by the game's main villain, Count Chuck. Aided by the friendly Bed Monster and Frank Lloyd Rat, Johnny enters the Underworld armed with a slingshot and an infinite supply of rocks to slay Count Chuck and his minions and rescue his beloved Tex, as well as many more captured pets.
Johnny must work his way through a total of 28 horror-themed levels. Throughout the levels, Johnny can collect candy for points, interact with objects and pickup various powerups. The three difficulty modes determine how many health points Johnny has. Any monster, enemy projectile or hazard that Johnny touches will deduct a health point from him. Health is replenished by collecting a heart. Certain hazards and deadly terrain will instantly kill Johnny and take a life away. Up to five lives can be regained by collecting a voodoo doll or earning 20,000 points. If all lives are lost, the game is over.
In each level the player has to release all pets from their cages, before making it to the exit to proceed to the next level. When entering a new level, all powerups are removed and Johnny's health is fully replenished. 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, deployable ladders and flying broomsticks. At one point in each episode, Johnny will face his "Nemesis", a doppelganger of himself as a minor boss. At the end of an episode, the player must defeat a boss monster.
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. As well as killing enemies, the player can also use the slingshot to position objects. The player can collect powerups for the slingshot that allow Johnny to shoot a limited quantity of more powerful projectiles, including larger rocks, missiles, and fireballs.
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. Some enemies take more hits to die than others, and a couple are invincible. [4]
Monster Bash was the first shareware game Apogee developed to take up a megabyte of disk space. [5] To cater for users with slower modems and better commercialize the game, Apogee created a cut down version titled "Monster Bash Lite".
Monster Bash's three episodes were reviewed in 1993 in Dragon #200 by Sandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the game 3 out of 5 stars. [6]
Rise of the Triad: Dark War is a first-person shooter video game, developed and published by Apogee Software in 1995. The player can choose one of five different characters to play as, each bearing unique attributes such as height, speed, and endurance. The game's story follows these five characters who have been sent to investigate a deadly cult, and soon become aware of a deadly plot to destroy a nearby city. Its remake was designed by Interceptor Entertainment and released by Apogee Games in 2013. The shareware version of the game is titled Rise of the Triad: The HUNT Begins.
Commander Keen is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final game were released for MS-DOS in 1990 and 1991, while the 2001 Commander Keen was released for the Game Boy Color. The series follows the eponymous Commander Keen, the secret identity of the eight-year-old genius Billy Blaze, as he defends the Earth and the galaxy from alien threats with his homemade spaceship, rayguns, and pogo stick. The first three episodes were developed by Ideas from the Deep, the precursor to id, and published by Apogee Software as the shareware title Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons; the "lost" episode 3.5 Commander Keen in Keen Dreams was developed by id and published as a retail title by Softdisk; episodes four and five were released by Apogee as the shareware Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy; and the simultaneously developed episode six was published in retail by FormGen as Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter. Ten years later, an homage and sequel to the series was developed by David A. Palmer Productions and published by Activision as Commander Keen. Another game was announced in 2019 as under development by ZeniMax Online Studios, but was not released.
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Duke Nukem is a 1991 platform game developed and published by Apogee Software for MS-DOS. The 2D, multidirectional scrolling game follows the adventures of fictional character Duke Nukem across three episodes of ten levels each. The game's first episode was distributed as shareware. The name was briefly changed to Duke Nukum to avoid trademark issues.
Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a vertically scrolling shooter developed by Cygnus Studios and published by Apogee Software. Its working title was "Mercenary 2029". It was released on April 1, 1994 for MS-DOS compatible systems. The first episode of the game, "Bravo Sector", was distributed as shareware. The other two episodes were sold commercially.
Kroz is a series of Roguelike video games created by Scott Miller for IBM PC compatibles. The first episode in the series, Kingdom of Kroz, was released in 1987 as Apogee Software's first game. It was also published on Big Blue Disk #20. Kroz introduced the scheme of the first episode being free and charging money for additional episodes, a technique which defined the business model for Apogee and was adopted by other MS-DOS shareware publishers.
Xargon: The Mystery of the Blue Builders is a video game trilogy produced by Epic MegaGames for DOS. The game is a side-scrolling platform game. The main character, Malvineous Havershim, must journey through strange landscapes as he seeks to destroy the evil Xargon.
Paganitzu is a puzzle video game created by Keith Schuler and published by Apogee Software for IBM PC compatibles in 1991. It is the sequel to Chagunitzu. The player controls Alabama "Al" Smith, who works his way through an ancient Aztec pyramid while solving Sokoban-like puzzles.
Duke Nukem II is a 1993 platform game developed and published by Apogee Software. The game consists of four episodes, the first available as shareware. It is the follow-up to 1991's Duke Nukem, and followed by Duke Nukem 3D in 1996. Todd Replogle was the primary designer of all three games.
Bio Menace is a 1993 game developed and published by Apogee Software for MS-DOS. A 2D multidirectional scrolling platform game, it was built on a licensed version of id Software's Commander Keen game engine. Apart from the engine and music, all in-game content was created by the game's designer, Jim Norwood. In 2014, the game was re-released on Steam, and in 2015 on GOG.com with support for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Major Stryker is a 2D vertically scrolling shooter video game written for DOS by Apogee Software. Its working title was "Strike Force" and was released in January 1993. It consists of three episodes, with the first episode distributed as shareware, and the rest available commercially. The three episodes are set on a Lava Planet, an Arctic Planet and a Desert Planet. The game was re-released as freeware on March 14, 2006, and on Steam with support for Microsoft Windows and macOS in 2014.
Pharaoh's Tomb is an MS-DOS platform game created by George Broussard and published by Apogee Software.
Realms of Chaos is a platform game written for DOS, published by Apogee Software as shareware in November 1995, with the full version released later that month. The game was authored by Keith Schuler, who had previously designed Paganitzu, and was originally to be a sequel entitled Alabama Smith and the Bloodfire Pendant. It is still sold by Apogee. Like previous platform Apogee games, this one utilized the FAST engine. The game was re-released in 2013 on GOG.com with support for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Heartlight is a puzzle video game originally developed by Janusz Pelc for the Atari 8-bit family in 1990. In 1994, an MS-DOS port was published by Epic MegaGames along with two other games by Janusz Pelc in the Epic Puzzle Pack. The shareware version has 20 levels and the full version has 70 levels. In 2006, Maciej Miąsik, co-author of the MS-DOS version, released it under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.5 license as freeware. The source code became available too. In 2020, a web browser remake was released with updated graphics.
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