Ghostly Manor (MSX2)

 

Ghostly Manor (MSX 2+) :

Trifle, this game's purple-haired princess protagonist, has only gone and got herself lost in a spooky old haunted mansion! Luckily, all of the spooks in this particular place are all friendly and don't want to actually hurt her, but they can't stop themselves straying into her path as they are confined to their wanderings, and so this scares poor Trifle and makes her lose her bravery. One too many scares and she won't be able to proceed....

She is able to produce blocks with magical power though, and these will help her reach the keys she needs to open the many doors barring her way. she can also crack any blocks she's below with her head too, which also helps. But these fragile blocks can also be broken by the spooks, so she'll have to keep an eye on what they're up to as well!

The cute graphics and jolly music helps this Solomon's Key / Spherical style puzzle-platformer from 9958 Crew feel a bit more upbeat than most spooky games, and once you get into the swing of it you'll be breezing through a lot of the levels, which almost lulls you into a false sense of security until you come up against a slightly trickier one again! It's an enjoyable little game though and is recommended if you're looking for some puzzley fun!

You can find it by clicking here........

Invasion Of The Zombie Monsters (ZX Spectrum / MSX / Amstrad)

Invasion Of The Zombie Monsters (ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC) :

If you've been away from the Spectrum scene for a few years, you may be unaware that it still has a healthy amount of games being released for it each year! The next game on my list was released in 2010, and although originally only available to buy, thanks to it's generous creators you can now play it for free...and play it you should!

Young Ned is indulging in a bit of smoochy-smoochy with his girlfriend in the back seat of his car, when it suddenly gets struck by lightning! But this is no ordinary storm, and the lightning brings with it an evil shadow creature...who kidnaps Ned's girlie and reveals plans to conquer the world with an army of zombies!! What the shadow doesn't know though, is that in times of great danger Ned receives the wondrous "Moonshine" power, gaining energy and power bolts from the moon's rays! Off he goes to stop this evil fiend and get back his lady....

Presentation in this game is excellent, and if you didn't know any better you'd really think you were playing a big-budget release from back in the day! A funky tune and cool intro sequence start things off, and when you start the game proper you can expect colourful graphics and some great gameplay too!

It owes a lot to Capcom's Ghosts 'n' Goblins series, but is no worse for that! You traverse the platforms and pitfalls, battling zombies, monsters and killer plants and at the end of each level you'll face a boss, which you'll need to beat to progress to the next groovy level! Your bolts of energy can be made more powerful by picking up power ups along the way, of course...

Do yourself a favour and go find and play this gem right now! It's also available for the MSX (which has slightly groovier graphics) and Amstrad CPC so if that's more your scene, go play it on that!!!

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ADDENDUM

I've only just discovered (actually after this re-post went live) that a sequel to this game was actually in development at Relevo!

According to a post on their Twitter account, the game would have featured Ned collecting candy and being able to use different costumes to solve puzzles!

Apparently they also toyed with the idea of making Linda the main character of the game, but it was ultimately discontinued...

A shame then that it's unlikely we'll see the sequel, but hopefully one day they might use some sort of dark necromancy to resurrect the idea and the franchise can live again!!

The Mon Mon Monster (MSX2)

The Mon Mon Monster (MSX2) :

This MSX2 game from 1989 sees you fill the not-very-small boots of that loveable bolt-brain, Frankenstein! Not having the manual, I have no idea what the actual plot is, but it would appear that Franky has taken it upon himself to rid the world of all the other monsters and spooks! Perhaps they stole his cup-a-soup or something?

Whatever the reason, you bash blocks and shoot electric bolts at all manner of monstrosities as you make your way through the levels, navigating moving platforms & finding shortcuts and secret power-ups to use against the end of level bosses!

The game isn't perfect. Sometimes enemies will hit you with a bullet and knock you back a screen, where another enemy instantly respawns and takes a bit of your precious health as you collide with it, for instance. And if you fall into water, instead of restarting where you die the game plonks you right back to the start of the level....and it's quite tricky! I've played a few games now and I've yet to beat level one! But I'm close, and I will be going back to try and get further. It's a fun little game y'see, and that bloody wolf-man or whatever he is isn't getting off that easily....

Haunted House (MSX)

A machine I know pretty much nothing about, the MSX has a huge amount of games I've never heard of or had the pleasure of playing. And so I decided to ask the guys over at MSX Resource Center if they had any recommendations for spooky games. Thanks to them, I'm now playing my way through a rather large list of freaky new finds, one of which we've already seen a few posts back...and now also including this wee gem!

Filling the boots of Joe Kowalski, you'll have to work out how to escape the spooky Haunted House! Various nasties are lurking around and you'll need to avoid them or work out what items to use to defeat them! Keys are required to open doors and switches can be flipped to drop walls or other such handy stuff.

Working out how to progress is great fun, and the superb spooky sound effects add a lot of atmosphere to the game. All the little animations are also charming, and again I suggest you download it and give it a bash! I will say that I've only got three screens in, having just started it, and I seem to be stuck...but I'm pretty sure I'll work out how to progress. Plus if you download it, you might know what to do and can tell me the answer in a comment!