Monster Bash isn’t one of the most famous or well known games by the Apogee/ID Software duo, like Commander Keen or Wolfenstein. But honestly, it still managed to deliver a pretty solid console like experience for its time. The controls were excellent, the animation was mostly smooth, and the level design was both wellcrafted and, let’s admit, quite challenging.
Oh, and one more thing: while the game had you rescuing innocent looking cats and dogs from their cages, Monster Bash was actually pretty grotesque when it came to violence. Not quite on the level of Dave 2 (those death animations still haunt me sometimes…), but let’s just say it’s a good thing there wasn’t an age rating system for PC games back then.
Monster Bash HD isn’t the first Apogee game to get the HD treatment. Both Crystal Caves and Secret Agent got remastered versions with a slight bump in resolution and added colors. However, since their graphics were already pretty blocky, the difference wasn’t exactly night and day.
With Monster Bash HD, things are a bit different. The graphics and sound have stayed almost exactly the same (barring minor tweaks like the health bar and some slightly adjusted colors), so calling it “HD” is a stretch. Even if the resolution technically hits 1920×1080, every pixel remains basically untouched. The only real change here is widescreen support.
So, what’s actually new in Monster Bash HD?
- No more fiddling with DOSBox settings – The original DOSBox version sold online had issues like stuttering and stretched visuals. Sure, you could tweak a different version of DOSBox and adjust the settings yourself, but honestly, what’s the point of paying for a game you could grab from an Abandonware site if not for convenience?
- Smoother animations – The original game ran pretty smoothly, but the jumping animations were frustrating and slowed the entire game down, even though the frame rate was consistent. In this version, they fixed that, so the game moves at a steady, more satisfying pace.
- Level editor – You can now edit levels and share them with friends. The editor itself isn’t overly complicated, and if you’ve used other 2D game editors before, you should be able to pick it up quickly.
- Secret levels – A few secret levels have been added, though they don’t make up a full new episode (the original game had three episodes).
- Nightmare difficulty – As someone who struggled with this game even on Easy, maybe they should’ve added a Casual mode instead…
What’s missing from Monster Bash HD?
We can debate whether the game needed true HD visuals or more than 16 colors, but one of the first things I noticed was the lack of customizable buttons for “aim lock.”
In Monster Bash, if you want to aim without moving (which you’ll need to do constantly), you have to hold the up arrow along with either the left or right arrow, depending on the direction you’re shooting diagonally. Otherwise, Johnny keeps moving while firing.
This works fine on a keyboard with three fingers, and the game was clearly designed for that. But if you’re trying to play with an analog stick, it gets pretty frustrating. In games like Super Metroid, they solved this with dedicated L and R buttons, so I’m not sure why they couldn’t add two simple diagonal shoot buttons here.
Sure, you could use a D-Pad, but most modern controllers’ D-Pads aren’t great for pressing multiple directions at once (though the Series X/S controllers are better in this regard).
As for the sound, there’s no remastered soundtrack. That’s understandable, given that the original game only supported Sound Blaster and not General MIDI or Roland, but it would’ve been nice to have something that felt a bit fresher without losing its authenticity.
Should you buy it?
If you already own the original game and are happy with how it runs on emulation or even on a vintage PC, there’s no strong reason to buy the HD version. The level editor is a nice addition, but let’s be real—Monster Bash isn’t Mario, and there’s only one Mario Maker.
On the other hand, if you want to avoid technical headaches, the $10 (or $5 on sale) price is pretty reasonable for the work they’ve done here.
