Monster Slider

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Monster Slider
System(s): Sega Saturn
Publisher: Datt Japan
Developer: Datt Japan
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Sound driver: SCSP/CD-DA (68 tracks)
Genre: Action Puzzle, Puzzle
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1997-03-28 ¥5,800 (5,974)5,800e T-27302G

Monster Slider (モンスタースライダー) is a puzzle game by Datt Japan released first for the arcades, then ported to the Sega Saturn.

Story

Claudia (クローディア) has been kidnapped by Dracula (ドラキュラ). Her sister, Nina (ニーナ), armed with a Holy Cross (ホーリークロス), must battle a cast of frightful minions to rescue her.

Gameplay

The game is a competitive falling block puzzle game similar to Puyo Puyo. Pairs of differently colored blocks fall into a well. The player must arrange them so that three identically colored blocks are touching in order to eliminate them. The floor of the well is staggered such that a block can be touching two other blocks on each side (in addition to a block above and a block below). Additionally, the floor is tilted at an angle. Blocks are affected by gravity and slide off of each other in the direction of the tilt after they are placed. The player can change the tilt of the floor at any time, which causes the blocks to shift around. A block also falls when placed over an empty space or when the block below it is eliminated. Players can use the effect of gravity to create chain reactions where one set of eliminated blocks causes another set to be eliminated, and the ability to change the tilt of the floor can be used to induce reactions by shifting falling blocks before they land.

Chain reactions send skull blocks to the opposing player, which cannot be matched and can only be eliminated by eliminating adjacent blocks. Longer chain reactions send more skulls to the other player. The goal of the game is to prevent the other player from being able to place more blocks. A player is defeated when his or her well is filled with blocks. The game includes a cast of playable characters, each with special abilities that can be used against opponents, such as raising the floor of the other player's well or placing blocks that cannot be eliminated. Special abilities are performed by eliminating the S blocks that occasionally appear instead of colored blocks. Similar to skulls, these blocks can only be eliminated by eliminating adjacent blocks.

The player moves the pairs of blocks with and and drops them faster with . The blocks are rotated clockwise with or counterclockwise with . The tilt of the floor is set with or or switched with .

There is a single-player story mode (ストーリー・モード), where the player plays as Nina and faces Dracula and his minions in order of increasing difficulty. There is a two-player mode where players can choose any character and set individual difficulty levels (which affects how quickly the blocks drop). Finally, there is a single-player endless mode where the player can choose any character and difficulty level and play without an opponent.

Characters

	ニーナ (Nina)
	Special Ability: ホーリープレアー (Holy Prayer)
	Nina is the main character and the player character in the story mode. Her special ability is dropping a crucifix in the opposing well that acts like a skull but is not affected by gravity.
	ガイコツ (Skeleton)
	Special Ability: スケルトンダンス (Skeleton Dance)
	His special ability is forcing the opposing well to tilt repeatedly.
	狼男 (Wolf Man)
	Special Ability: ムーンストライク (Moon Strike)
	His special ability is sending wolves that drop extra blocks to the opposing well.
	半魚人 (Half-Fish Man)
	Special Ability: タイダルウェープー (Tidal Wave)
	His special ability is temporarily raising the floor of the opposing well.
	魔女 (Witch)
	Special Ability: バインドスペル (Bind Spell)
	Her special ability is temporarily disabling her opponent's ability to move pieces horizontally.
	ゴーレム (Golem)
	Special Ability: クレイジーロック (Crazy Rock)
	His special ability is dropping boulders into the opposing well that shake and obscure the view for a duration.
	雪男 (Yeti)
	Special Ability: ブリザードコフィン (Blizzard Coffin)
	His special ability is temporarily freezing the blocks in the opposing well so they cannot be eliminated and do not slide when tilted.
	ゴーストナイト (Ghost Knight)
	Special Ability: ナイトメア (Nightmare)
	His special ability is negating incoming skulls.
	メデューサ (Medusa)
	Special Ability: ストーンカース (Stone Curse)
	Her special ability is affixing her gaze and turning half of her opponent's placed blocks to stone, which act like skulls.
	フランケン (Franken)
	Special Ability: ギガボルト (Gigavolt)
	His special ability is temporarily darkening the opposing well so that the player cannot see the color of the blocks (except during intermittent lightning strikes).
	ファラオ (Pharoah)
	Special Ability: マリオネット (Marionette)
	His special ability is controlling the tilt of the opposing well (and preventing the player from controlling it).
	ドラキュラ (Dracula)
	Special Ability: イビルバット (Evil Bat)
	His special ability is sending a bat into the opposing well, which turns any blocks it touches into skulls.
	クローディア (Claudia)
	Claudia is the final character faced in the story mode and the only character who is not playable in any mode. Her special ability is dropping roses into the opposing well, which raise the floor or lower the ceiling until eliminated.

Stages

ガイコツ (Skeleton)

狼男 (Wolf Man)

半魚人 (Half-Fish Man)

魔女 (Witch)

ゴーレム (Golem)

雪男 (Yeti)

ゴーストナイト (Ghost Knight)

メデューサ (Medusa)

フランケン (Franken)

ファラオ (Pharoah)

ドラキュラ (Dracula)

クローディア (Claudia)

Production credits

• エグゼクティブプロデューサー: 竹田政司
• プロデューサー: 小出谷悌郎
• ディレクター: 城近尚登
• プログラマー: 城近尚登, 福井眞一
• グラフィックデザイナー: 三戸政史
• シナリオライター: 阿部隆
• 企画原案: 城近尚登
• アドバイザー: 工藤和宏
• 音楽監督: 冨井昭次
• 作曲: 五十嵐真理, 遠藤稔, 八幡浩暢, 船橋譲, 冨井昭次
• 効果音: 福岡博美
• 声の出演: 上田なおみ, くどうみき, 岡田雅夫, 福岡博美, 冨井昭次, 横山学, 横山達夫, 五十嵐真理
• 方言指導: 船橋譲
• スペシャルサンクス: 竹内一雄, 田澤朝之, 鈴木鈴々, 木村拓庵, 山口誉人, 玉沢真由美, 小澤美津穂, 大場淳子, 長澤潤子, 阿部暁史, 村田拓, 高橋輝

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Monster Slider/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) #1997-08: "1997-08 (1997-03-21)" (1997-03-07)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 60 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 60 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 57 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 81

	64
Based on 4 reviews

Monster Slider

Saturn, JP
Cover
Disc

Technical information

Main article: Monster Slider/Technical information.

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	481,108,656	1997-02-15	CD-ROM (JP)	T-27302G V1.002