Saturday 9 November 2013

Monkey Doo's Fruit Salad

By Retromad

Genre: Arcade: Fruit flinch


This ace BASIC game features Monkey Doo, remember?  Everyone’s favourite t-shirted manky, mange ridden Monkey puppet from the 80’s?  No, well maybe that’s because Retromad failed to keep copies of his earlier C15 tapes, or one of the big software houses failed to spot a smash hit when it dropped on the doormat.  No matter, as Monkey Doo is now available again for the ZX-Spectrum, and this time it’s the full package – game, inlay and hit single, yes, I said hit single.


Monkey Doo’s Fruit Salad gets off to a great start as it is supplied as a z80 file on which you have to type RUN to start.  Then follows a loonnnnnggg intro with piccies, beeps, references to the Grattan catalogue, and some instructions along the way.  The aim of the game is to make Monkey Doo 8 fruit salads, not just any old fruit salad mind – it has to be composed of an apple and a orange and a banana and a cherry (different to the one on the inlay which appears to be festooned with Monkey stools, or perhaps blackberries).  There must be no fruplicates (that’s shorthand for fruit duplicates in order to save time) and you have to think quick – if you don’t press the right key in time the game is over and all the fruit salads are lost.  1 fruit salad is manageable but each time it speeds up.  Press A for Apple, B for Banana, C for Cherry and O for Orange, when a fruplicate appears press D to discard.

Sounds complicated?  Don’t worry if so, because Retromad has supplied a catchy hit single to help you remember what to do.
MDFS is both crap and brilliant.  It encapsulates a lot of emotions, it looks and sounds like an early 80’s bit of homebrew but there are no bugs and it’s addictive to play.  I found myself wanting to get to the next level, but mind and body don’t always seem to collaborate fast enough, each time I read the words “HERE COMES THE FRUIT” I was genuinely nervous about completing the level.


So far I can only make a pathetic 5 fruit salads (poor Monkey Doo), but for the person who completes the game there is a prize – just jot down the London phone number and give the code.  Yes I’ve peeked at the program to see that, and yes I was tempted to ring the (probably made up) number and give the code.  I could of course be wrong and there is actually an amazing prize – but there’s only one way to find out – GET PLAYING!

Thankyou Retromad!

Download game here.
Download Inlay here.
Download ‘hit’ single here.

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