Mayhem in Monsterland

Mayhem in Monsterland, released in 1993, was for many people the swan song game produced for the Commodore 64 home computer. Its titular hero, "Mayhem", was a yellow triceratops blessed with the gift of speed. In basic appearance, he resembled Sonic the Hedgehog. His goal was to return his world from sad to happy, ridding the world of monsters along the way. The game featured effects not previously thought possible on eight-bit computers, and was the first C64 title to have a real feeling of speed, a "console-esque" feature the developers wanted.

There are five levels in the game. Each one starts in unhappy mode, where Mayhem must collect enough bags of magic dust, from the enemies you face, then find your way to Theo's hidden cave. Theo then uses the dust to make the level happy again. This change is reflected in the more jazzy music, colourful landscape and even the monsters who look more friendly and cheerful.

Some of the magic, however, clumps together into magical stars, that Mayhem must collect, on the happy version of the level, to stop them falling into the wrong hands. There is a quota of stars that Mayhem must collect, before going over the finishing line.

In the happy version of the level there are more bonuses that can be collected, such as score multipliers, extra lives, extra time, etc. The most important is probably the ability to charge, allowing Mayhem to run very fast, killing any enemies in his way. Also, he stops with a skid, and extra points are awarded for a long skid over the finishing line.