You can be forgiven if you have never heard of Monster in my Pocket. Long before Pokemon dominated the world these little plastic figures enjoyed tremendous popularity with action figures, a comic book series, and trading cards and yes, even a video game. Personally I was completely oblivious to this mass media franchise but I know a good game when I see one. Konami were the proud parents of this action platformer that saw a late release in the system’s life and it showed their expertise at the genre. This is an excellent little gem that you should track down to see Konami at their best.
Aside from its name the Monster in my Pocket franchise held many similarities to Pokemon, so many in fact that they unsuccessfully tried to sue Nintendo. More than likely this is one of the reasons for the name change. Honestly you can’t really blame them; the concept of collecting cards and figures of monsters was a bit too similar however aside from their names both series were nothing alike.
Where Pokemon initially mostly focused on animals Monster in My Pocket drew inspiration from almost everything from religion to science fiction to fantasy. The over 200 monsters were broken up into categories like Dinosaurs, Space Aliens, etc. They were released in 11 series and graded on a scale of 1-30 in terms of rarity and value. Remember the fist fights that occurred over Pokemon cards and such, many I personally witnessed between grown adults? This was the precursor to that. Although Pokemon has definitely stolen its thunder in some ways it left the door open for MIMP to come back as the property has seen another revival as late as 2006.
Your choice of heroes are the Vampire or Frankenstein’s monster. It is purely cosmetic as both possess the same abilities. Your standard attack is pretty much your only weapon but luckily it is pretty powerful. Your swipe produces a trail that extends a little beyond your reach and will destroy anything it touches. The only other weapons you will find are the occasional key or similar item you can pick up and throw. These can be carried between sections although there appearance is a bit rare. Both characters can also double jump although platforming is not the main focus of the game.
It would be easy to call this Castlevania light considering the developer’s pedigree. With the dark tone of its monsters you could look at this as Castlevania if Simon weren’t a gimp. However this has more in common with Capcom’s Rescue Rangers. Both titles feature small characters in a much larger world, the same gameplay and even some of the same locations. The journey to stop Warlock begins in the Miles home and eventually spills out into the city streets, the sewers, up a construction site and weirdly enough an oriental garden before finally reaching Warlock’s lair. The level design is excellent as it makes good use of the premise of shrunken monsters in a big world to present everyday items such as stove tops and balls of yarn as legitimate threats.
With its excellent controls the game also moves at a brisk pace. If there is one criticism to lobby at the game it’s that the lack of any additional weapons or items beyond tossing keys grows old no matter how effective your regular attack is.
The rich well of monsters from the toy line do sort of make up for that however. The entire menagerie of monsters is drawn from the toy line. With two hundred or so beasts that is quite the list to pull from. Every level features a new set of enemies to keep things fresh with their differing attack patterns and characteristics. Obviously the entire catalog isn’t in the game but there is a substantial number considering new enemies are introduced right up until the game’s conclusion.
The only things holding this back from being a true classic are its length and easy difficulty. I won’t go so far as to say this was aimed at younger gamers but it sure feels like it. Your default attack is far too powerful and convenient which is why there are no power-ups aside from health. Since most enemies die in a single hit you can burn through the levels in record time. It isn’t until the final two stages out of six that the game shows a little backbone. But even then since you respawn after death you can brute force the roughest parts of the game, even the boss rush at the end. With one or two more levels and a little more teeth this could have been really special.
In Closing
Monster in my Pocket has a low profile and is a hidden gem in the NES library. As a late era release few have heard of it but that’s why I’m here to spread the good word. Action game fans will find plenty to love in this short but sweet adventure.
