Minky Monkey Review – Technos’ First Game Is a Weird Puzzle Platformer Hybrid!

Technos Japan is widely regarded for its Double Dragon series and myriad of Kunio-kun titles that were released in Japan. Oddly enough, their first title was a single-screen Puzzle Platformer where you do certain things on the stage according to text prompts?

Gameplay

These prompts are slowly written out on the top of the screen, and all the while Minky Monkey goes around trying to keep you from following such instructions. When she isn’t trying to stop you from succeeding, she chases after you and throws stuff in your direction.

The actions you do to progress usually involve moving fruit up or down on either side of the screen according to the aforementioned text prompts. As I shared earlier, these commands are slowly written out at the top of the screen. If you’re lucky, or skilled enough, you’ll be able to fulfill such instructions before Minky ruins your fun.

Thankfully, you don’t lose a life immediately when she messes you up. It actually takes 5 failures before Minky’s actions cause you to lose a life. Likewise, you need to complete five commands to finish a level. Unfortunately, if you are touched by her, or what she throws hits you, then you lose a life.

That’s really frustrating, and looking at other reviews online, something that many people can’t stand about the game. With the slow text speed up top, and how she is always trying to foil your plans or chase after you, the game can get irritating quickly.

However, it’s not all bad.

For instance, you can pick up fruit before the command up top is finished. You can even pick up two fruits at the same time. Doing both of those increases your chances of doing what the prompt says.

Additionally, there’s a bottle of sauce that you can grab that stuns Minky when she touches you. And again, you don’t have to complete 5 instructions in a row to complete a level. In fact, your number of correct actions stays the same between continues. As such, you can finish an instruction on one credit, do two more with another, and then finish the level with the third quarter.

All of this adds up to an experience that isn’t as frustrating as it could be. I expect that some people can get into the game and enjoy making it to later stages.

Graphics

Since this is an early 1980’s platformer, the graphics are typical of the time period. Some of the characters, like the dragon that flies around, remind me of what one may find in Nintendo’s Donkey Kong (review) or Donkey Kong Jr. (review).

The game is cute and charming enough. I particularly like how the main character looks when he jumps, although the large size of his mouth is distracting at times. Some of the animations can be funny, though. Such as how he looks when he is touched by Minky.

Music and Sound Effects

Surprisingly, I actually like the music and sound effects quite a bit!

While watching footage of my gameplay for this review I enjoyed the repeating tune that plays during regular gameplay. It isn’t very long, but I still enjoyed listening to it. Additionally, the music that plays when starting the game was fun.

As one would expect, Minky Monkey also has sound effects for walking, jumping, picking up fruit, and more. These work fine.

The main part of the sound that was irritating was when I lost a life. The effect for that was louder than the rest. The sound balance could have been better at that point.

Final Thoughts

Minky Monkey is a title that modern reviewers tend to dislike. Obviously, I think this stems from the irritating monkey that is the game’s namesake. There are a few things that make her particularly aggravating:

• After the first two levels she usually moves faster than you do.
• Since the monkey who is writing up above is so slow, she knows what he is writing before you do. Because of this, she can react to the instructions before you even know what they are.
• At the times when there are no clear instructions Minky just makes a bee line to you to take you out.

These challenges are complicated starting on stage 3 where there are big gaps in the poles that you climb. It is easy to jump to the left or right a couple of times and then mistime the third and crash down to the ground and lose a life repeatedly. Furthermore, many of the commands involve fruits on both sides of the screen, and Minky always appears on one side or the other after a few seconds. As such, the only objectives you can realistically complete on stage 3 are ones that involve just 1 of the 2 fruits.

This means that while the first two stages are fun and show promise for the game’s design, after that you will hit the large difficulty spike of stage 3. I expect that It will require multiple credits to complete the first time for most players.

I was eventually able to complete that painful section of the game, and some later stages were fun again, but still… Many play sessions may also be very irritating due to the reasons listed above.

While playing Minky Monkey I reflected on the game a lot. I’ve considered giving it a wide range of ratings, anywhere between negative and positive. However, my thoughts on the title can be summed up in a couple of statements. I think Minky Monkey is innovative and has some original gameplay. The implementation of it is just really flawed.

After all is said and done I think the game deserves a Mixed rated. Of course, many people will hate it, but I like the animation, the music is fun at times, and it has some original ideas that work well occasionally.

I just wish Minky wasn’t so punishing!

Title: Minky Monkey
Genre: Puzzle Platformer
Year Released: 1982 in the arcade, and 2021 on Evercade
Developer: Technos Japan
Available On: On the Technos Super Pocket by Hyper Mega Tech. It was previously available on Technos Arcade Collection 1 for the Evercade as well, but that cartridge is no longer being produced.
Price Paid: $3.73, or $55.99 for a Technos Super Pocket

Remember, we can have different opinions about the games we play. If you like something more (or less) than I do, both of our perspectives are valid.