Matterhorn Screamer! (PC) Playthrough
108A playthrough of Hi Tech Expressions' 1988 license-based game for DOS PCs, Matterhorn Screamer!
Matterhorn Screamer!, based around the Matterhorn rollercoaster at Disneyland in Anaheim, was one of the first games ever developed internally by Disney itself. In addition to the Dos version being played here, they also produced versions for the Apple II and the Commodore 64.
In this harrowing tale of man-dog versus nature in the Swiss Alps, Goofy has to "climb the treacherous slopes of the Matterhorn. To win the game, he must collect all the flags on the way to the top and claim the Mickey flag at the mountain's summit."
Carefully jumping from ledge to ledge, Goofy has to maneuver his way past yetis, goats, bobsleds, ski lift gondolas, and giant icicles as he snags flags, but if he misses a single one, he won't be able to claim summit for himself.
It's a simple arcade-style action game aimed at kids, and for its time and its platform, it's a pretty good one. The graphics are surprisingly solid for a game running in CGA mode - the characters are well defined and the default color palette doesn't make your eyes scream for mercy. The controls, though awkward at first, are fine once you become accustomed to carefully positioning Goofy to make a jump, and the difficulty is nicely tuned. It's a kid's game so it's pretty easy going overall, but it does pose some challenge at the higher difficulty levels.
I had this one as a kid, and I remember my sister and I spending many hours passing the Tandy joystick back and forth in our attempts to make it to the top of the mountain. It was fun, and there was something special about having the chance to play a game on "dad's computer" instead of the NES.
Matterhorn Screamer! has been long buried by history, but I wanted to take a moment to share it as a fond memory from a much simpler time. Did any of you guys play this one as kids?
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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