Midnight Mutants

• Title — Midnight Mutants • Developer — Radioactive Software • Publisher — Atari Corporation • Designer — Peter Adams • Programmer — Peter Adams • Writer — Tammy Moore • Artist — Les Pardew • Composer — Paul Webb. • Genre — Action-adventure • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Atari 7800

On Halloween night in 1992 young Jimmy Harkman's grandfather (known as "Grampa") has been imprisoned inside of a pumpkin by a resurrected villain named Dr. Evil, who is taking revenge for being burned at the stake as a witch by their ancestor Johnathon Harkman on Halloween night in 1747. Jimmy then heads on a Halloween quest to free his grandfather. With Doctor Evil on the loose, Jimmy finds the countryside has become inhabited by scary creatures such as zombies and werewolves that can injure him physically and also make his blood impure. Fortunately, even though Grampa is trapped in pumpkin form, he is available to give Jimmy advice on occasion with the push of a button. Along the way, Jimmy can collect weapons and items that will help him in his quest to defeat evil creatures, giant bosses and ultimately Dr. Evil himself.

• Illustration — Confronting the undead at the graveyard Midnight Mutants is a scrolling action-adventure game with a horror theme. It is displayed from a pseudo-isometric viewpoint and features a completely free-roaming world design. In his quest to save Grampa, Jimmy travels across the countryside, exploring an old haunted mansion, a secret laboratory, caverns, a haunted forest, a pumpkin patch, a haunted graveyard, an old shipwreck, among other locations. Initially, Jimmy is powerless to fight the evil that faces him and must rely on his wits and grandpa's advice in order to stay alive. Contact with the creatures roaming about will either cause him physical injury or make his blood lose its purity, both of which will prove fatal if he's not careful. As the game progresses, he locates various weapons of increasing power, health power-ups and other useful items that make it possible to defeat the minions of evil. Key parts of the game culminate in battles against giant boss creatures that take up most of the screen.

Midnight Mutants was developed by Radioactive Software, a team consisting of programmer and designer Peter Adams; writer Tammy Moore; artist Les Pardew; and composer Paul Webb. Former Atari programmer Chuck Peavey told Retro Gamer that while he worked an unreleased 7800 adaptation of the 1984 film Missing in Action, his boss, Adams, was working on another game titled Grandpa's Attic, centered around Grandpa Munster from the sitcom The Munsters. Peavey alleged it was cancelled due to poor quality. The cover for Midnight Mutants, as well as its in-game graphics, feature actor Al Lewis as this character, whom he portrayed in the show. Neither the actor nor the show are credited or mentioned within the game or within its packaging. According to the Game Developers Research Institute, both this cover and that of the 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System game Fester's Quest were done by Michael Mendheim. Hidden in the code for Midnight Mutants is a secret, misspelled message stating, "IT'S A WONDER PETER EVER GOT THIS PROGRAM BEDUGGED!"

• Digital Press - Classic Video Games • The Video Game Critic