Creature Feature: Repugians

Hello happy Hallowe'eners! Samhain season is upon us and there is no better way to prepare for your night of celebration than running the Hallowe'en simulation game Costume Quest! Beware though, because just like the real-life Devil's Night, some houses you run across may be overrun by the candy-stealing capers of monsters from Repugia. These beastly baddies bogart your potential loot and must be defeated to send them running back to ol' Big Bones. Don't go into battle blind though; SHELPSHOT has you covered for a synopsis of these sneaks so you can get back to your Hallowe'en apples!

Grubbin
This grabby-Daniels acts as the forerunner of Repugia's sugar heist, invading your neighbourhood to pull classic snatch-and-run shenanigans. Hold tight to your loot-bag lest you knock on a door and wind up losing candy! A flashy costume is a pretty good defence.

Trowbog
Bigger and meaner, Trowbogs are harder to take down than your run-of-the-mill monster. They've been laying siege to suppliers of candy, cutting them off at the source (and skimming more than a little off the top). They have an insatiable appetite and have even been known to eat unsuspecting kids! Smack 'em with your candy pail to get the jump on them! They move slowly but hit deliberately.

Crestwailer
The bird-brains of the hallowe'en invasion operation, Crestwailers are overseers of sorts. They handle the things on outskirts of town, coordinating from the countryside. They're fierce and intelligent and but have a weak fortitude when it comes to working long hours without a break.

Are these all of the baddies waiting out in the world for you? Surely not! Try to seek your soul cake in groups, to be best prepared when you are least prepared. And remember: it never hurts to have a backup costume (or ten!)

Creature Feature: The Cave of Monsters

On the surface, Bubble Bobble may seem like a cute game, but never forget that you are guiding prince brothers Bub and Bob through the Cave of Monsters! The two royal heroes have been turned into bubble breathing dragons and they find themselves in a mysterious cave labyrinth. The creatures they encounter there seem like friendly kittens, until Bub and Bob get close...

Fortunately, our Licensed Professional Video Game Counsellors, The Dentist Brothers have uncovered secret information about these abominations. If you hope to survive the Cave of Monsters and have a happy end, study the chart above, then learn about your foes below.

From the top left corner:

Clank-Clank - An automaton whose clockwork brain gives it dangerously benign orders to walk and dance forever.

Whale Head - A disembodied whale's head that searches in vain for its body. Legend has it that YOU have it, or so say the whisperings of your enemies!

Ghost Grab - A dark wizard who lurches forward in the darkness to tighten his magical grip on our heroes. Stop him before he stops you!

Hat - A flying, cursed hat.

Light Bulb - An enchanted lightbulb that uses its plug as a sort of spring. If he touches you, you're in for a nasty shock. Got any bright ideas?

Alien - It is possible that there are an infinite number of universes, inhabited by an infinite number of variations on the creatures we know. Alien is a Clank-Clank from a technologically superiour parallel dimension, so watch out for his laser beams. See to it that he never gets back through the inter-dimensional vortex!

Grungie - First discovered by Dentist Brother Jonah, little is known about the Grungie except that he lurks just out of the corner of your eye. Don't look!

Drunk - One of the most dangerous enemies in the game. He throws bottles of ketchup at you. Good thing he isn't bigger!

Moby Dick - an albino sperm whale that is obsessively pursued by Captain Ahab. Captain Ahab wants revenge on Moby Dick for taking his leg-- help him be avenged!

Creature Feature: The Face of Drancon

Wonder Boy has gone on many island adventures over the years, but one of the most severe circumstances he has ever faced must be in the Revenge of Drancon for your Sega's Game Gear. Having thwarted the over-reaching nobel Drancon in a previous journey, Wonder Boy is amazed to find that your efforts were for naught!

The evil giant Drancon is revealed to be a shapeshifter and is able to adeptly don to visage of his fallen foes! There are many powerful heroes who have fallen to this cunning facewalker, and whose abilities now serve the evil they sought to surmount. As Wonder Boy attempts a coup against the ruined holdings of fallen empires, Drancon reveals that stronger and stronger warrior beasts have had their faces stolen by his magic. Will the true form of Drancon ever be revealed, or is he in fact faceless? It is up to you and Wonder Boy to find the answer! 

Study close these faces, Islander, and dwell on their old masters' defeat, lest your own face be counted among their numbers!

Creature Feature: Punkers and New Wavers

The futuristic post-collapse world of Wasteland is full of mutants and cyborgs and automatons that provide an ultimate challenge for even the most experienced squad of Desert Rangers and conscripts. But this Creature Feature is not about challenge!

Punkers and New Wavers run rampent in the irradiated deserts of Nevada, but there is little to fear from theses fashion-conscious foes. More concerned with posturing and pumping their old-world jams than putting up a good fight, these punkers pack a pretty pitiful punch! Behind these meshed-muscle-flexing meatheads is little in the way of challenge for fully trained Desert Rangers. 

Punkers and New Wavers talk big and brandish butterfly blades, but this is a front to hide the fact that they are wasteland wanderers like the rest of the survivors in the world. If you were to remove their sweet shades you would be met by a weary stare and see the same sad-eyed gaze of a powerless person, adrift but not yet drowned in an ocean of happenstance. What events conspired to force them to be born into a world already claimed and destroyed by the overreaching greed of others who came before, now long dead? What choice do they have to lash out and attempt to claim the little that luck had left them? How many of their raider ilk perish while trying simply to make a living?

It almost makes you feel bad for blasting them to oblivion with your lasguns and meson canons.

Creature Feature: Weird Woods

Many strange beings roam the role-playing world of Lunar: the Silver Star, and in this Creature Feature we're looking at one of the strangest grungies in all of Sega's CD System! Read on, brave adventurer!

The Weird Woods east of the village of Burg are... well, weird! This is because a witch once worked her Weirding wishes upon the blue waters that run through it, transforming nature itself into an ill force that is able to present an ultimate challenge early in an adventurer's journey! Actually, it was one of the labours of the soon-to-be-Dragonmaster Dyne to defeat the devious villain of the woods, though the magics of the Weirding Witch couldn't be fully undone. This zone stands as a boss-less dungeon best steered clear of until achieving higher mastery of your arts. And this is the reason why:

Yikes! This frightening baddie is Xombi Mud, made of a lost soul magically enchanted by dirt and waters, of which the Weird Woods have an unlimited supply. Be careful--this dirt-y dissenter can't be reasoned with and cares only for its next meal! Xombi Mud packs a powerful punch, and is able to climb out of any patch of mud at a whim making it efficient in the chase. Because it used to be a human body, it is followed by mutant flies expecting a meal of their own. Is it even possible for Alex of Burg overcome this mysterious foe? Or does defeat seem certain in the face of this Weirdest wanderer? Let us know if you've escaped from this mighty challenge!