Monster Cise

Controls: why it does not really play here

Monstercise was written for the Kid’s Controller, the keypad controller Atari used for its Sesame Street cartridges. Despite the name, it does not use an exercise mat, and it is not a joystick game. The emulator on this site only emulates joysticks and paddles, not keypad controllers, so you can start the prototype and look at its screens, but you cannot control it the way it was designed. Don’t expect the arrow keys or the Space bar to do anything useful.

What the prototype does

The screen shows a group of monsters exercising. At the bottom stands a blue figure holding a spotlight, which is assumed to be Cookie Monster. On a real keypad, the # and * buttons move him left and right to pick a monster, and other keys make that monster move its head, arms or legs. Each body part has two different actions. There is no real goal, scoring or ending; it is closer to an interactive toy than a finished game.

Why it was never released

The prototype carries a 1984 copyright date and the part number CX-26131. By then the video game market was collapsing, and there was little demand left for children’s titles. AtariProtos also suggests that it may have been dropped because it played too much like Grover’s Music Maker, another Sesame Street game that was never released. The programmer is unknown.