Krazy Kreatures

On the recommendation of the guys over at Cinemassacre I decided to take the unlicensed NES game Krazy Kreatures for a spin. I find spelling creatures with a "k" decidedly difficult. The cover looks like it should be for a horror film starring the cheshire cat. I've also found the reputation of most unlicensed NES games to be sub par, with the exception of the venerable Tengen version of Tetris, which is arguably better than the official version. But it looked like a well designed game despite everything.


The game is a puzzle style game in the same vein as Tetris, puyo-puyo, Dr Mario, Magical Drop and their ilk. The game drops blocks with different animals, faces, and colors on them periodically on the screen, while you try to move them around into sets of 3+ depending on the type of block. It's a game you end up being completely engaged in because it keeps dropping stuff on you constantly, and unlike many of the games I mentioned above, the blocks don't come from above, but drop in random open spaces on the screen, which adds to the difficulty of anticipating what is happening. We laughed, we yelled at the screen, and at each other when we spoiled each other's plans. My playing partner and I would start badgering each other, forgetting that the game is cooperative. The game is charming, fully engaging, and hilarious. Every time we played we were impressed with the quality of the gameplay.

There are these tips in gives you at the bottom of the screen before each level that range from legitimate to silly, but which you hardly have time to read before the insanity begins. One tip reads that there are three endings. I assume one each for the easy, medium, and hard settings. The whole attitude and set up of the game makes me laugh

I first played it with my wife and got through the first few levels before becoming overwhelmed. Then played it through with a friend, beating all 32 levels on the easy setting. The ending wasn't what I was expecting, but I didn't really expect anything because Tetris has no ending. If you like classic puzzle style games you'll find this a must have. It is easy to pick up, engaging, and overall fun. This is a little known gem, which is rare for NES titles these days since we've had three decades to sort through them all now.

Anyway, go enjoy it! And I'm still looking forward to Krazy Kreatures II!

Update 7/11/17:

My friend and I tried hard mode and only got six levels in. Much faster! So I still have quite a bit of replay value to master this game and get all three endings!