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Mayhem in Monsterland

Description official description

Mayhem is an unhappy dinosaur, as Monsterland is an unhappy place, due to an apprentice magic dinosaur who decided to practice some of his master's spells, after drinking too much cactus juice. Mayhem decides to change it back, with the help of Theo Saurus, the apprentice responsible for Monsterland being the gloomy place it is now.

The game is a side-scrolling platform game, where you play the part of Mayhem. You can kill enemies by jumping on them.

There are five levels in the game. Each one starts in unhappy mode, where Mayhem must collect enough bags of magic dust, from the enemies you face, then find your way to Theo's hidden cave. Theo then uses the dust to make the level happy again. This change is reflected in the more jazzy music, colourful landscape and even the monsters who look more friendly and cheerful.

Some of the magic, however, clumps together into magical stars, that Mayhem must collect, on the happy version of the level, to stop them falling into the wrong hands. There is a quota of stars that Mayhem must collect, before going over the finishing line.

In the happy version of the level there are more bonuses that can be collected, such as score multipliers, extra lives, extra time, etc. The most important is probably the ability to charge, allowing Mayhem to run very fast, killing any enemies in his way. Also, he stops with a skid, and extra points are awarded for a long skid over the finishing line.

Groups +

Screenshots

Credits (Commodore 64 version)

18 People (4 developers, 14 thanks)

Conceived, designed, and created by
  • Apex Computer Productions
Design and programming by
Design, graphics, music and SFX by
Additional design, code, and playtesting by
Ultra jumbo-sized shout-outs to
  • Tracy
  • Christina
  • Andy
  • Rob
  • Kerry
  • James
  • Guy
  • Tru and Phil
  • Ollie
  • Trenty
  • Clur
  • Hutch
  • Dave
Special thanks to
  • Mr and Mrs Rowlands

Reviews

Trivia

Reception

Mayhem in Monsterland became the first (and only) game to be given a score of 100% in one of the major Commodore 64 magazines, when reviewed by Commodore Format.

Awards

  • Commodore Format
    • March 1994 (Issue 42) Heaven – The Path to Righteousness: 20 Essential Games
    • November 1994 (Issue 50) – #1 The All-Time Top 50 C64 Games
    • October 1995 (Issue 61) – The Top Ten C64 Games of all Time
  • Retro Gamer
    • September 2004 (Issue #8) – #81 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)

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Related Sites +

  • Let's Make a Monster
    A monthly diary in Commodore Format on the making of the last great C64 game by the Rowland Brothers.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 16369

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Silverfish.

Wii added by gamewarrior.

Additional contributors: voidoid, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.

Last modified February 22nd, 2023.