Name:
Mayhem in Monsterland
Developer:
Apex Computer Productions
Publisher:
Apex Computer Productions
Year:
1993
Platform:
Commodore 64
Genre:
Platformer
Players: One Player
Rarity: Difficult to find second-hand
A
computer game created and published by
Apex Computer Productions in
1993 for the
Commodore 64. Mayhem in Monsterland is probably the most
technically advanced C64 game ever released, as well as being one of the last major
commercial games developed for the format.
Created by the famous
Rowlands brothers,
Steve Rowlands and
John Rowlands (Of
Thalamus fame), with the help of
Andy Roberts, this game is *the* greatest
platformer released on the system, maybe even on any system, coming from the
heritage of Thalamus' other classic platform titles, such as
Creatures and
Creatures 2.
The Story
Mayhem didn't enjoy living in
Monsterland; it was always
cold, it was always
windy, and it rained every Sunday. It was clearly no place for a
cute baby dinosaur.
However, rumour has it that Monsterland has not always been such an
unpleasant place to live. The sun used to shine onto green fields with luscious vegetation and scenic mountains... until an
apprentice magic dinosaur had too much
cactus juice and decided to practice a few of his master's spells. The next morning, when all the
monsters awoke, Monsterland had been transformed into
a very dark and unhappy place. Mayhem wants to
change Monsterland back, but has no
magic powers to do this, so he enlists the help of his friend
Theo Saurus, the dinosaur responsible for Monsterland's ghastly state. Theo lives below Monsterland in a
hidden cave to avoid the wrath of the monsters - here he waits for Mayhem to collect magic dust. With this in his possession, he flies across Monsterland sprinkling the
magic dust in order to
transform it back to a
happy place.
However, because Theo is only a
trainee, his
magic doesn't always work as well as he'd like it to. Some of the magic dust that he spreads over Monsterland is a little
excessive, and clumps together to form
magic stars. This magic could be
dangerous in the wrong hands, so Mayhem must collect any
magic stars he finds to prevent any further
disasters.
Gameplay
Aim:
Mayhem is a small yellow
dinosaur character, who exists in a
horizontally scrolling world. There are five main levels in the game, Jellyland, Pipeland, Spottyland, Cherryland, and Rockland; each featuring a
Happy and
Sad area. When you begin the level, it is in it's Sad state - everything is
dark,
dismal and
miserable. You have to collect bags of
magic dust, that, when given to
Theo, will allow the level to be converted back to it's happy state again. Each level has a different
quota of magic dust bags to collect.
Once the land has been converted, it's your task to
collect a designated amount of
magic stars - if you collect more that the quota amount, you will earn
bonus points The faster a star is rotating, the more points it is worth. Once you have collected the star quota, you need to find the
finish line - an area surrounded by black and white
checkers. If you
skid over the line (which will be described in detail a bit later), you will earn bonus points.
Control:
Mayhem is a very
fast game, meaning he has to be very
controllable. He can go into
charge mode when he is running at his fastest - he can destroy
enemies charging like this. When you're charging, you can also
skid to a halt, by pushing the
joystick in the opposite direction of the charge. As well as charging at enemies, he can also
jump on their heads, just like in the
Mario and
Sonic the Hedgehog games.
Bonuses:
There are a number of bonuses to collect. As well as the
magic dust bags, and
magic stars, there are also
score multipliers shaped like
rabbits, a
shield signified by a
shooting star,
extra time through an
alarm clock, a
half life obtainable by collecting a
blue heart, an
extra life by a
red heart, and a
continue by collecting a
rainbow heart.
Interesting Facts
Mayhem in Monsterland was the only game to be given a
perfect score of 100% by
Commodore Format (probably because the game was exclusively
distributed through
mail order by the magazine).
Mayhem in Monsterland originally started to be developed under the name of
Theo Saurus, who's story involved
revenge against
merciless villagers in
medieval times, who had killed his parents. Theo would progress through villages crushing
castles, torching
knights and generally dishing out
justice, apparently in quite sizable proportions.
Beginning in Issue 26,
Commodore Format featured a
developer's diary of Mayhem in Monsterland called 'The Birth of Mayhem in Monsterland', written by Steve and John
Rowlands.
The
title screen music is very closely based on the theme of the
Tiny Toons cartoon.
The game is based in the
Mesozoic era.