Software:Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena

From HandWiki
Short description: 2002 video game
Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena
North American box art
Developer(s)Radical Entertainment
Publisher(s)THQ
Director(s)Tom Legal
Producer(s)Cam Weber
Designer(s)Pete Low
Programmer(s)Scott Andrews
Artist(s)Jeremy McCarron
Composer(s)Marc Baril
Platform(s)GameCube
Release
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena is a 2002 sports video game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by THQ for the GameCube. The game is based on the 2001 film Monsters, Inc. and was released in North America on September 19, 2002, and in Europe on April 11, 2003.

Plot

The game begins after the events of the film, with a cutscene where several monsters are trying to make a child laugh. When they fail, another monster has a ball thrown at them causing an uproar of laughter, causing their laugh power meter to increase. This sparks an idea to start a dodgeball war to keep the power running throughout the monster world.[3]

Gameplay

The gameplay consists of basic dodgeball matches, with simplistic controls aimed at a young audience.[3] The game contains both a single-player mode and multi-player mode for up to four players. In both modes, the winner is the first monster to knock off the opponents.[4] Each player's goal is to throw "laugh balls" at competing players, while doing this each monster will react differently upon contact. The ultimate goal is to knock off your opponent and fill the laughter canister with children's laughter first. The game contains thirteen playable monsters, seven arenas, bonus stages, and unlockable mini-games. Playable monsters and stages are unlocked throughout the game's single-player mode. Each arena is based on a scene from the movie and has five different objectives, like obtaining the most points from pure hits, hitting targets, holding on a special ball longest, and more. "Laugh balls" have different traits and abilities, such as being fast, slow, sticky and explosive.[3]

The game contains a variety of modes and rulesets, including:

  • Whoever gets hit the fewest times wins the round.
  • Hit the targets that appear in the room the most to win.
  • The player who is able to hold the special ball the longest before another player knocks it out of their hands wins.
  • The team who has the fewest balls on their side of the room wins.[3]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic39/100[4]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Game Informer5/10[5]
IGN2.5/10[3]
Jeuxvideo.com10/20[6]
Nintendo Power3.2/5[7]

The game received "unfavorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[4] Game Informer rated it a 5 out of 10, stating that it had "little else to it other than chucking balls at opponents in various settings." Game Informer noted that the game "replicates the movie's charm wonderfully, but its lack of variety hardly qualifies it even as a game."[5] Fran Mirabella III of IGN, who rated it a 2.5 out of 10, called the game "nothing more than basic dodgeball -- the kind you used to play in the schoolyard -- in a shiny Disney/Pixar package."[3] Mirabella noted the game's young target audience and simplistic gameplay, calling it "mind-numbingly and laughably boring."[3] Mirabella did praise the game's soundtrack as "splendid".[3] Four out of five reviewers in Nintendo Power rated the game three-and-a-half out of five whereas the remaining reviewer rated it two out of five.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "THQ Ships Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena". NintendoWorldReport.com (Press release). Calabasas Hills, California. September 18, 2002. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  2. ↑ "THQ Ships Disney/Pixar's Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena for Nintendo® Gamecube™ Videogame Hits Store Shelves Concurrent With Movie DVD and Home Video". GameZone.com (Press release). Calabasas Hills, California. Archived from the original on November 7, 2005. Retrieved July 14, 2024.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Mirabella III, Fran (September 25, 2002). "Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/09/25/monsters-inc-scream-arena. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena for GameCube Reviews". Fandom. https://www.metacritic.com/game/disney-pixar-monsters-inc-scream-arena/critic-reviews/?platform=gamecube. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena". Game Informer (FuncoLand) (116): 130. December 2002. https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-116-december-2002/page/130/mode/2up. 
  6. ↑ Romendil (April 23, 2003). "Test: Monstres & Cie : Crazy Balls" (in fr). Webedia. https://www.jeuxvideo.com/articles/0000/00003051_test.htm. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena". Nintendo Power (Nintendo of America) 162: 224. November 2002. https://archive.org/details/nintendo-power-issue-162-november-2002/page/224/mode/2up. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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