Monster Bash

Monster Bash was a sidescrolling platformer released by Apogee Software for the PC in 1993. The game stars 10-year-old Johnny Dash (Probably no relation to Johnny Cash) on a quest to rescue his puppy, Tex, from the evil Count Chuck, who plans to turn all the pets of the Day World into monsters. Armed with only a slingshot and an endless supply of rocks, Johnny must travel through 28 levels of undead horrors.

The first episode of the game can be downloaded for free at Apogee's official website.

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This work contains examples of:

• All There in the Manual: The plot can be read from the title screen. Episodes 2 and 3 update it with summaries of the previous episodes.
• Asteroids Monster: The green sludge monsters.
• Attack Its Weak Point: The Cyclops boss takes more damage when shot in the eye, and Igor can only be hurt by shooting his head.
• Attack of the Monster Appendage: The knife-tossing hands.
• Badass Adorable: Johnny Dash himself.
  • He's very cute, although he hates being called that.
• Blessed with Suck: If a Medusa attacks you just as you die, a glitch will occur that causes you to respawn with no health as a "ghost". You can't touch anything as a ghost, so enemies and obstacles can't hurt you. Unfortunately, you can't pass through the exit either.
• Bottomless Magazines: Acknowledged in the plot summary. It's specifically stated by the Bed Monster that Johnny's pocket would never go empty once he put the rock in it.
• Brats with Slingshots
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Literally. See "Camera Abuse" below.
• Camera Abuse: During Johnny's Idle Animation, he fires a rock at the camera, cracking the lens.
• Captain Ersatz: Count Chuck obviously takes several elements from both Dracula and Count Orlok. Igor is pretty much directly lifted from the title character in the 1958 version of The Fly.
• Deadly Rotary Fan: There are spinning ceiling fans which you have to shoot the motors of in order to stop them from hurting/killing you.
• Dem Bones: Skeletons are among the more common mooks in the first episode. They make a return toward the end of the final episode.
• Did You Just Gib Cthulhu with a Slingshot?
• Easy Mode Mockery: On the difficulty selection screen, there is an icon of Johnny flexing his muscles next to each choice, with bigger muscles on harder difficulties. The icon for Easy mode has him Flexing Those Non-Biceps.
• Everything's Deader with Zombies: The most common mook in the game. They appear in almost every level except for a couple of boss battles.
• Evil Twin: Johnny's Nemesis, who appears once an episode.
• Fire and Brimstone Hell: The first several stages of the second episode.
• Flying Broomstick: You get to fly a broomstick in one level. There are also moving platforms in the form of broomsticks.
• Gorn: It's a toss-up as to whether this or Rise of the Triad has more blood.
• Green Aesop: The "sawmill" stages have signs on the walls that read, "Down with rainforests!", "No recycling", and "Please litter!"
• Hard Levels Easy Bosses: The main stages could be considered Nintendo Hard, but most, if not all, of the bosses are pretty easy.
• Helpful Mook: There are certain areas in the castle stage that can only be reached by getting a boost from the Ogres' Ground Pound attack. More common throughout the game are living boots that kick you across the stage. Sometimes they're meant to knock you into spikes, but other times they'll help you across gaps.
• Homage: One of the mooks in episode 3 is clearly an homage to the Xenomorph.
• Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: In the fourth stage, there is a sleeping dragon who will One-Hit Kill you unless you crawl past it. Just one dragon. In the middle of a horror setting.
• Invisibility: Invisible men appear as mooks toward the end of the first episode. You can thankfully see them because they wear boots, gloves and a hat... but no clothes...
• The Jimmy Hart Version: Several. The title screen sounds similar to "The Monster Mash", the first stage contains the intro to "Toccata and Fugue in D minor", the penultimate stage of episode 2 has a small snippet from "In the Hall of the Mountain King", and the fight music against Igor bears similarity to "Flight of the Bumblebee".
• Laughably Evil: Count Chuck. From the first mention of his name to the final showdown with him, you'll have something to laugh about while you void yourself in terror.
• Meaningless Lives: There's an extremely simple Cheat Code in the registered version to max out your lives literally any time you want, with no penalty whatsoever.
• Mirror Boss: Once an Episode, Johnny's "nemesis" appears to challenge him.
• Monster Mash: Duh.
• Name's the Same: Apart from the horror theme, bears no resemblance to the coin-op or pinball machine of the same name.
• Nintendo Hard: The first episode, not so much. But the next two... let's just say there's a reason why the registered version lets you gain extra lives whenever you want.
• Pun-Based Title: The pun being on "Monster Mash."
• Punny Name: The rat who occasionally appears to indicate which way to go and who authors the final level's hint message is named Frank Lloyd Rat.
• Puzzle Boss: Count Chuck. Rather than just shooting him until he dies as you do with the rest of the bosses, you're supposed to destroy the talismans on his wings, and then aim for his feet.
• Save the Princess: Subverted near the end of the second episode. The princess is a witch in disguise who tries to kill you when you reach her.
• Shareware
• Sophisticated As Hell: During Count Chuck's first appearance, he belittles Johnny, his insults becoming more and more crude until one is actually censored.
• Taken for Granite: There are Medusa-like creatures in the second episode who can temporarily turn Johnny to stone.
• Take That: Johnny mentions living down the street from Jill of the Jungle, and instantly suspects her of the pet kidnappings when he finds out about it.
• Unique Enemy: The dragon in the fourth stage.
• Video Game Settings:
  • Abandoned Laboratory: Levels 2-8 and 2-9.
  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Level 1-10 and the last section of 3-5.
  • Big Boo's Haunt: Levels 1-7, 1-8, 1-9, and 3-5.
  • Big Fancy Castle: Levels 2-6 and 2-7.
  • Boss Only Level: Levels 1-10, 2-3, and 2-9. Surprisingly, the final level isn't one.
  • Bubbly Clouds: Level 3-8.
  • Bubblegloop Swamp/Swamps Are Evil: Levels 3-3 and 3-4.
  • Derelict Graveyard: Levels 1-1 and 1-2.
  • Fire and Brimstone Hell/Planet Heck: Levels 2-1, 2-2, and 2-3.
  • Floating Continent: Level 3-8.
  • Gimmick Level: Level 3-8 again, the gimmick being that you can fly on a broom.
  • The Lost Woods: Levels 1-3 and 3-2.
  • Marathon Level: Level 1-9. To put things in perspective, most levels have a par time of somewhere between 2-7 minutes, and 1-9 has a par time of 30 minutes.
  • Underground Level: Levels 1-4, 1-5, 2-5, 3-6, 3-7, and 3-9 (which is somehow accessed from a fortress in the sky).
• Wall Master: The hands that throw knives.