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Midnight Mutants [Model CX7879]

Atari 7800 cart. published 34 years ago by Atari Corp.

Listed in MAME

Midnight Mutants [Model CX7879] screenshot

Midnight Mutants © 1990 Atari Corp.

On a strange & cold Halloween night of 1747, the Witchfinders escort one "Dr. Evil" to his death at the stake. Right before the fire is lit, the wicker warlock prophesies that the Witchfinder General, Johnathon Harkman, will pay dearly.

Fast forward to Halloween 1992. Jimmy is excited to be visiting his Grampa for the weekend. As the pair decorates the mansion for the holiday, an enormous pumpkin decoration explodes, and Dr. Evil returns in his dark glory. Before they can react, Dr. Evil proclaims that he is exacting vengeance on the Harkman's posterity, zapping Grampa with a blue fire in the chest. Grampa is then trapped within a plasmic pumpkin and Dr. Evil vanishes. Now Grampa's only hope is for Jimmy to destroy Dr. evil once and for all!

Your goal in Midnight Mutants is to explore the mansion grounds, collecting more powerful weapons, gems to increase your overall health, destroy zombies that infest every screen, eventually facing down enormous bosses and Dr. Evil himself.

Midnight Mutants fills in a gap within the Atari 7800 library of the Action RPG genre. It plays close to The Legend of Zelda, but with an isometric graphics view and certain scrolling portions. It can be thought of as The Legend of Zelda meets The Munsters.

TECHNICAL

GAME ID: CX7879

The cartridge did not feature any special hardware, such as a POKEY music chip or additional RAM. All of the music is handled by the TIA interface, the same sound chip used on the Atari 2600.

The bosses are the most impressive part of the game, with the giant sprites taking up 80% of the screen, while their shots are separate sprites, but there is no distracting flicker.

TRIVIA

Features the exact likeness of actor/comedian Al Lewis, who was famous for his role as Grandpa Munster in The Munsters TV series, but he is only referred to as "Grampa" on the instructions and within the game.

The only game developed by a company called Radioactive Software.

Midnight Mutants was the final game to be released by Atari for the system in the United States.

It is the only original 7800 game to feature an extensive story and in-game text. When you first encounter a boss, Grampa chimes in with a detailed backstory on what turned the boss you're about to face from a person into a hideous mutant creature.

Useful information as well as amusing puns are displayed at the top of the screen, changing with every screen.

TIPS AND TRICKS

If you're ever stuck, push the right button which will not only give you access to your equipment menu, but also you can get info from Grampa, who sometimes provides tips.

You start the game without any weapon, but can be harmed. You have two meters to monitor - the health bar and the "blood" level, which is indicative of your blood purity. If your health reaches zero, you die; if your blood purity is zero, you turn into a mutant. Either way it's game over.

Many screens will unveil a treasure (health restore, blood restore, or health increase) once you eliminate all of the zombies in the area.

The first order of business is to defend yourself. Head straight up until you reach the mansion, then take a left in the first room. Go into the dining hall and keep heading left, then up. You'll enter the kitchen, where you'll find the knife.

There are four weapons - the knife, the axe, the Blaster and then the Mega Blaster. While the knife is effective against minor enemies like bats and dogs, you'll want to go into the forest and get the axe as soon as you can, as it can take a few dozen hits to take out a single zombie with the knife.

Before getting the axe, you can find the crucifix in the Church, which when equipped, will protect you from bats (which can drain your health purity pretty fast). The church is just a screen over to right from where you start (the fountain), but you cannot access it until you have the knife. Once you have the knife, simply go back to the starting screen, go right and into the Church until the pulpit where the crucifix is.

The next item worth grabbing is the lantern. When you exit the church, go directly north down a forest path that after two screens, takes you to the pumpkin patch area. Keep going up three screens, then head left and you should find the lantern. Be careful though, as this is a "warp patch", so if you go too far, you can get caught up in a wrapping warp screen and get lost. If you do get lost in the patch, you'll need to keep looking for the two diagonal rows of pumpkins. Going between these will take you out of the patch and back into the regular area.

The Axe is located in the forest, in a cabin. Head to the starting screen (fountain) then head down four screens, where you'll find the cliffs. HEad right with your knife equipped and ready to hit the wolves that will come at you. When you can go up, go up four screens, then when you reach a wall of trees, head left until you come to a wall and a cabin. The well will restore health, while the cabin will lead you to the axe, a much more effective weapon and one you'll need to destroy the first boss.

After getting the axe, head back outside, then go one screen to the right; head up and go to the hole in the center. This is a portal that also has a health diamond.

At this point, you'll want to go and take out some groups of zombies in the mansion to uncover some of the health diamonds to increase your overall health. You'll also find the Crypt Key by clearing out the mansion rooms upstairs.

After destroying the first boss (the hideous mutant ram), and you get the key, you can get the The Blaster inside the mansion. Head to the first landing and go left, then down. You'll have to fight two wolf-head zombies. After they are dead (they can take a beating), go in the door then head to the extreme end of this room, avoiding the electrical coils, and you'll find the blaster on the table.

If you have the health and the bravery, you can go straight down and look for the final weapon in the caves, the Mega Blaster. Once you enter the caves, head left one screen, then keep heading down until you reach a dead end loaded with frog-head zombies. If you can kill them all and survive the Mega Blaster appears. This weapon will lay waste to most zombies pretty fast.

STAFF

Programmer: Peter Adams
Story: Tammy Moore
Sound & Music: Paul Webb
Misc. Support: Adam Clayton, Rich Robbins
Artwork: Les Pardue

SOURCES