If you’re currently scratching your head and wondering who Monty Mole is, it’s likely you didn’t grow up in the UK during the ‘80s. Monty was an 8-bit platformer mascot, usually found adorning the pages of ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 magazines alongside Dizzy and Jet Set Willy.
This new collection for Switch brings together Wanted! Monty Mole, Monty on the Run, Auf Wiedersehen Monty, and two bonus games – Moley Christmas (originally a Your Sinclair cover tape game) and 1985’s Sam Stoat: Safebreaker.
Yes, these are very old games. Both the ZX Spectrum and C64 versions are included where applicable though, which is always pleasing to see.
Modern features include difficulty modes, CRT filters, save states (four per game,) and a ten second rewind tool.
The £6.99 price tag seems more than reasonable. American gamers can already jump in; Europe has only until 8th January to wait.
Peculiarly, Monty Mole did manage to make the leap stateside – Impossamole, the sixth game in the series, received an unlikely TurboGrafx-16 conversion. This didn’t do much to thrust Monty into the limelight though; today they’re pretty obscure as platforming mascots go. Consider this collection a history lesson of sorts.