Play Monster Party Online

Summary

Walking home from a baseball game, Mark is suddenly thrust into a bizarre quest where his trusty bat becomes both weapon and shield. The game lets you swing the bat to smash foes and bounce enemy projectiles back at bosses, while occasional pills turn you into Bert—a flying alter‑ego that shoots short‑range beams, making the fight a little easier.

Each of the eight stages is a side‑scrolling maze peppered with doorways; some hide bosses, others are empty, but every door drops a mystery "?" item that can restore health, boost your score, or trigger the Bert transformation. Passwords let you hop straight to any level, sparing you the grind of replaying earlier stages.

What makes Monster Party stand out is its hidden past. Early Japanese prototypes show a far grimmer vision: blood‑splattered title screens, a sunset‑lit mountain backdrop, and a plant boss equipped with a microphone and speaker—clear nods to Little Shop of Horrors. Those elements were blacked out for the U.S. release, leaving behind ghostly silhouettes that only show up when you dig into the cartridge code.

A fan‑driven restoration effort in 2013 peeled back those layers, revealing that many bosses were once copyrighted characters—an ape from *Planet of the Apes*, a Gremlin‑like cat, and even a Xenomorph‑inspired reaper. The project not only resurrected deleted sprites but also cemented Monster Party’s reputation as a quirky, horror‑loving oddity in the NES library.

Storyline

In Monster Party, a kid named Mark is heading home from a baseball game when a griffin‑like alien called Bert appears and begs for help against the "evil monsters" of the Dark World. Bert fuses with Mark, granting him the ability to turn into the alien for a short time and promising that Mark’s baseball bat will serve as a weapon.

The game’s stages are packed with horror staples—mummies, giant spiders, zombies, Medusa, a dragon and the Grim Reaper—alongside Japanese folklore such as the haunted well from Banchō Sarayashiki and the human‑faced dog Jinmenken. It also throws in oddball foes like a talking caterpillar, walking pants, a massive cat that launches kittens, and a bouncing piece of fried shrimp.

After battling through the Dark World and a heavenly realm, Mark defeats the Dark World Master. Bert sends him home with a mysterious box; a beautiful princess emerges, then morphs into a monster that melts Mark’s flesh. He awakens in his bed, assumes it was a dream, but Bert reappears at the door with his bat, asking if he’s ready to go again, and the game ends.