Mayhem in Monsterland

Imagine the year 1993, when the world has long been looking at sixteen-bit consoles and the Super Nintendo with the Mega Drive, and suddenly on the ageing Commodore 64 a platformer appears that looks as if it violates the laws of physics of the machine. That title is Mayhem in Monsterland — a game that reviewers of the day rated with unprecedented scores and which to this day counts as one of the most stunning technical achievements of the entire C64 era.

In essence it is a fast, colourful platformer in which you control a little dinosaur named Mayhem. The goal is to run through brisk levels, collect items and return to Monsterland its lost cheerfulness. The gameplay builds on the speed and fluidity of movement, which were absolutely exceptional on eight-bit hardware — the game runs smoothly, the character accelerates and the whole world bursts with colours that by general opinion "weren't supposed to be possible".

Behind this miracle stand the brothers John and Steve Rowland under the Apex label, and publishing-wise Psygnosis. The same pair that stood behind the Creatures series took their knowledge of the hardware here to an absolute peak. Using ingenious programming tricks they managed to get far more colours on screen than was generally considered possible, while keeping the speed that players knew rather from consoles.

The reaction of the press of the day was enthusiastic and Mayhem in Monsterland immediately ranked among the highest-rated games for the Commodore 64 ever. The magazine Commodore Format gave it an extraordinary rating and the game constantly appears at the top of rankings of the best C64 titles. For many it represents the swan song of the platform — proof that even at the end of its life cycle something exceptional could be squeezed out of eight-bit.

Culturally it is a symbol of what a dedicated and technically brilliant developer community was capable of. Mayhem in Monsterland is not just a good game, it is a demonstration of the hidden power of a machine that the world was already slowly writing off. That is precisely why retro enthusiasts still recall it today with respect and admiration.

Why play: It is the most technically advanced platformer for the C64 — a brisk, colourful and still entertaining showcase of what brilliant programmers could extract from eight-bit.