Halloween VGM: Monster Party!
Today’s spooky soundtrack come from a game for the NES that wasn’t a huge hit when it came out, but I think over the years it’s gained a little bit of a bigger status by being available through emulators, and just how plain weird the game is. Monster Party starts off like a simple platformer, with simple happy music. Then you get about halfway through the first stage, and all hell breaks loose. Literally! Just look at those comparison shots! The blocks go from being happy smiley faces to skulls with blood oozing all out of them. The strange background shapes you didn’t give much though to suddenly are crazy scary faces! This was definitely one of the weirder games I remember playing as a kid, and this music helped drive it home, going from a kind of peppy action music to a dark, scary music. And this is the first level!
Looking back, I’m really surprised that no objections were raised over playing this game at my house or my friends because of how strangely horrific it was for an NES game. Like lots of other NES games of the time, it was pretty hard, and I never got through the game during the days I’d rent it. Have a listen to the creepy music that would play when you’d step into the nightmare version of the level, right below the happy level start screen!
