Dancing Monster

Dancing Monster

Commodore 64 - UK - Cassette - 1st edition.

Developer Commodore Business Machines Ltd. Publisher Commodore Business Machines Ltd. Published 1983-??-?? Platforms Commodore 64 Genres Action Themes Fantasy, Surreal Distribution Commercial

Dancing Monster is a bizarre action video game developed and published by Commodore Business Machines Ltd. for the Commodore 64 in 1983.

In the game's story, a wicked wizard has cast a spell on a beautiful princess and changed her into a hideous monster and forced her to dance forever. You must use your magic ray to remove the monster from her piece by piece in a specific order. If you take to long to shoot, you will lose, but, if you miss too much, parts you've already shot off will grow back.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes. Fast speed, 1:46.
Finished	2023-12-04.

I saw this game reviewed on a YouTube video and thought it looked terrifying, so I decided to try it out myself. I first played it on slow to get the feel of it. After I beat it, I jumped the difficulty all the way up to very fast speed and beat that too with a time of 1:46.

Review

3	2	3	3	2

Best Version: Commodore 64

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The monster looks pretty creepy and becomes even creepier as it loses it appendages.
• The cover art is pretty good.

Bad

• The sound effects are annoying and the music is just a public domain rendition of Hall of the Mountain King.
• The hit boxes on the lower extremities, especially the tail and legs, are poorly defined. "Toes" would have been a much better description, since that's really what you have to shoot.

Ugly

• The game is highly repetitive and not very fun. All you're doing is shooting at targets that move to a pattern, you don't do anything else, and the only real goal you can set id to hit the targets as fast as possible.
• The game isn't very challenging. Even at the fastest speed, it can be finished by an amateur in a couple minutes. Losing is effectively impossible as long you you shoot regularly, and, even if you miss too many times, you just have to shoot the parts that grow back.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The cover shows a princess locked up in a dungeon with the evil wizard performing a ritual behind her.

Documentation

• 

  Manual.

Screenshots

• 

  Title screen.

• 

  The dancing monster.

• 

  Shot off some limbs.

• 

  I've saved the princess!

Videos

Review - Nostalgia Nerd.

Longplay - Slow.

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	The sole woman is a damsel in distress.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There is only one woman.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	The only character is white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Credits

Role	Staff
By	Peter Dekany, Denes Baan

Links

     

• c64online.com/c64-games/dancing-monster - Play Online.