Chickaroo Reviews - SkullMonkeys (PS1)

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Chickaroo Reviews - SkullMonkeys (PS1)

Post by chickaroo1 »

Quite the strange sequel we got here! This is the sequel to the sleeper hit, The Neverhood, but on a different platform and different gameplay style! Will this drastic change go over well?Game: SkullMonkeys / Klayman Klayman 2
Systems: PlayStation
Release Dates: 1/31/98 (NA), 2/20/98 (EU) 8/13/98 (JP)
Developers: The Neverhood, Inc.
A Bad Man Fell From The Sky…
Story: After Klogg, the main villain from the first game, The Neverhood, gets blasted and banished out of the Neverhood, he is seen falling to a planet. That planet being Idznak, home of the Skullmonkey specimen. Klogg then takes advantage of these creatures and makes them his slave for a machine he wants to make called “Evil Engine No. 9.” But one Skullmonkey named Jerry-O, whom is very smart, doesn't fall for Kloggs’ plan and sends out a machine to find a hero to save them. The machine ends up back in the Neverhood and snatches up Klayman, the hero of the first game. He is then sent to Idznak to help save the Skullmonkeys from Klogg’s doom.
And You Thought Donkey Kong Country Was Hard!
Gameplay: So get this, the game is a side-scrolling platformer, which not the same as a point and click adventure game. But that’s okay, because this game is pretty good. And by pretty good, I mean pretty damn hard.
So the goal of each stage is pretty simple, just get from point A to point B. Typical for this era of platformers. But as Klayman, he can only get hit once. And there are a lot of enemies in your way, especially in the later levels.
Now Klayman can do quite a bit. He can run, jump, bounce off enemies with his butt (you heard me right). Bouncing off enemies is the only way to kill them. And by god if you don not bounce off of them or run into them, you will die, A LOT. I will say this right now people, you will NEED the 100 lives cheat code. I’m being serious on that one. This game is brutally difficult. Now granted, yes, you can get little power-up throughout the levels - the few that there are. Klayman can get a little halo that can grant him an extra hit, life's, little clay balls as collectibles (collect 100, you get a life), and so on. But some unique ones come into play. There’s one that look like swirly q’s and collecting all 3 can get you into a bonus room at the end of a level, little 1970’s icons that can get you into another groovy type of bonus room, getting a bunch of collectibles.
The bosses in the game are honestly pretty easy. Just figure out their pattern, butt stomp them and off they go. And honestly this game is pretty lengthy, so saving on a memory card is necessary right? Yeah well, for a game released in 1998, this games does not use a memory card to save. You have to use the old-school password system. Now granted, other games at the time used both methods if you didn’t have a memory card. But this is ridiculous. Other than that, this game is actually pretty cool.
Into the World of Clay
Graphics: So this game has a very unique look to it - it’s all made of clay! From the wonderful stop-motion cutscenes, to the flow of the gameplay. It has a creepy but wonderful look to it. It really truly stands out from any game really. So much effort went into the graphics and for good reasons.
One Unforgettable Soundtrack
Music: The music to this game is truly unique. It’s on its own level of obscure, weird, catchy and memorable. From the little creepy bonus room theme, the Beans song and more. Look it up, you’ll love its weirdness. It stands out from almost anything else.
Music is composed by Terry Scott Taylor.
Is This Game Worth the Find?
Overall: SkullMonkeys is a weird, obscure platformer. From the wacky story, touch as balls gameplay, weird soundtrack and more. It’s a hard game to find nowadays (and a bit expensive too!) But despite all of this, I really do recommend this game. It’s just insane and great for 1998, the year I was born!
5 / 5
See my past reviews here! The Chickaroo Reviews Archive List is here!

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Spawn of Jack
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Post by Spawn of Jack »

I don't remember what ever convinced me to get rid of my copy as a kid. It really boggles me because I loved the ever living crap out of that game. I need to hunt down a copy and get my childhood back.
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