A playthrough of Konami's 1992 license-based platformer for the NES, Monster in My Pocket.
If you were a kid in the late eighties, you might remember the Monster in My Pocket franchise. There was a series of trading cards, a short lived comic, and a popular toy line that was comprised of small monster figurines made of cheap, soft plastic (just like the MUSCLE toys from a few years earlier).
Konami had secured the rights to produce a video game adaptation that they published in January of 1992, right alongside the release of another NES game based on a popular IP, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project ( • Teenage Mutant Ninja T... ).
Monster in My Pocket wasn't nearly as successful as TMNT 3, but in this case, the sales figures aren't a fair indicator of the game's quality. It's not quite as good as the Turtles game, but it is a damned fine platformer that stands head and shoulders above the majority of NES titles that hit store shelves in 1992.
The story begins with Vampire and The Monster chillin' in front of the boob tube. Warlock interrupts the station's regularly scheduled programming to inform the pair that he has amassed a large army to hunt them down. To win the game, Vampire and Monster have to escape the house, make their way to Monster Mountain, and throw down with Warlock. That's a mighty tall order for a couple of guys small enough to fit in one's pocket.
The game is a straightforward platforming affair that can be played alone or with a friend in its co-op two-player mode. In the single-player mode you can choose to play as either Vampire or The Monster, though they only differ in appearance.
To fight the hordes, they can project a short-range burst of energy from their hands, and they can throw objects they find at their enemies to wipe out several at a time. They also have a double jump at their disposal, which is a real necessity in navigating the human-scale environments.
The level designs are the best part of Monster in My Pocket. Since our heroes are only a couple of inches tall, the world channels similar vibes to what we saw in Tom & Jerry ( • Tom & Jerry (NES) Play... )
and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers ( • Chip 'n Dale: Rescue R... ). They wield keys and screws as weapons, gather speed while running down stair rails in order to bowl through waves enemies and to make huge leaps, and hop around on everyday objects like apples and cups as they dodge enemy attacks.
The action is fast and fluid, and though the adventure is a bit too easy and short-lived, it's a lot of fun to work your way through.
Like with most of Konami's games, the presentation is a real show of what the NES hardware is capable of in the right hands. Though there's a lot of flicker, the sprites are big, the backgrounds are loaded with color, and scanline interrupts are constantly leveraged to create impressive parallax effects. The soundtrack is classic Konami as well, loaded with high-energy tracks that compliment the action nicely.
Monster in My Pocket isn't deep, but it succeeds in giving fans of the franchise an enjoyably flashy, action-filled romp through the eyes of their favorite pint-sized action figures, going so far as to even include an exclusive MiMP figure in the game's box. (Good luck finding that figure if you want a complete copy of the game, though! It's a rarity sought by NES and Monster in My Pocket collectors alike, and the money it goes for tends to reflect that.)
It's a fun game that might not have had enough substance to warrant a purchase back in 1992, but it certainly satisfied as a weekend rental.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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