Goosebumps: The Masked Mutant's Devastation

Have you ever read Goosebumps? If you have, you probably read it when you were a kid. You'd only really get enjoyment out of them when you're at the age where you think you're old enough for the "scary" stuff. Nowadays they're more or less just an infinitely massive amount of books that have more cheese in them than a Frenchman's house. But for someone like me, I can't help but have a sincere enjoyment for them.

I used to be obsessed with the series when I was a kid. My mom and dad would try to keep news of a new Goosebumps coming out away from me because I'd always whine at them to get it for me until they did. I never really read anything else either as I never considered myself a fan of books: I was a Goosebumps fan. And when the term is that broad, it means that I didn't just like the books. I loved everything about it.

Even when straying away from the original series when it went into Goosebumps 2000 or with the collection of CYOA books the series delved into, there was a lot for a young kid like me to get into. There was the TV series, which often got derided when compared to something more "high-class" like Are You Afraid of the Dark. Then there was the merchandise, (I slept in a Goosebumps bed for the better part of my entire school life) and finally, there were the video games.

But these games were the absolute limit for my parents. They could handle spending $3 on a book every now and then alongside the occasional piece of merchandise but they would never let me play the games. The two that came out when I was in my obsessive phase were Escape from Horrorland and Attack of the Mutant. Both of those games had to be played on PC and my parents had me be strictly a Nintendo player. I guess they were concerned about me using the PC to try and buy Goosebumps by myself.

But eventually, the fad faded away from me and I lost interest. I ended up putting focus onto merchandising myself and now I work at an advertising firm. The only reason I bring that up is because the job eventually got me interested in Goosebumps again. Recently the firm has been asked to represent the next film in the Goosebumps movie series. I was told to do some general research for it and from that, I spiraled back to a kid.

Now that I actually had some money to burn, I got to filling out the shelves with some old books along with all of the new ones I never got a chance to read. While the classics are obviously better, there's still some enjoyment to see R.L Stine somehow still writing for this series. And alongside those books, I thought I'd treat myself to the games I never got to play.

While I couldn't get deep into the point and click game that came out a few years ago, along with Goosebumps Horrorland only being available for consoles I didn't own, I ended up looking to get the games I originally wanted in the first place. I flipped a coin to see which I'd get first and thus, Attack of the Mutant was chosen. I decided to spend a little more money to get the big box version for it from eBay as I figured it'd look lovely matched up with the books.

It only took about a week before it finally came around. You wouldn't believe the excitement I had when I sat down to open the package. I was a kid all over again. Looking at the box itself, I felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me as I saw the classic logo for the series, entirely made out of green and black slime.

The art made for the cover was some classic cheese, showcasing the group of villains that would fight against me in the game, with a somewhat impressive version of the Masked Mutant standing right in the middle. Although when looking through the box art, I saw something that I don't believe was on the listing. It was a long sticker that covered the bottom half of the box with the text:

INCLUDES MUTANTMARE MODE: TRY IT, IF YOU CAN SURVIVE!

Obviously, the first question on my mind was what exactly a "Mutantmare" mode was even like. The next question was for whether or not it was on the eBay listing. I tried to look it up after spotting the sticker but the listing had been deleted. Since I couldn't remember the name of the seller, I just decided to let that go and look online for any differences between normal mode and Mutantmare mode.

And to my surprise, I saw nothing. Not even a single thing was known about Mutantmare mode, or if it even existed. I even ended up spoiling myself by watching through a whole playthrough of the game to see any mention of it and it just simply wasn't there. The only thing I learned was that the game seemed to play a lot like how something like Wolfenstein 3D or DOOM would play. It just removed all of the shooter elements and replaced them with puzzle elements...while still having shooter sections for some reason.

The general gist of the story was somewhat like it was in the book/show but with a greater focus on the League of Good Guys (the people that face off against the Masked Mutant) and the Masked Mutant's henchmen. You can skip this part if you want but I'll talk briefly on the synopsis for the Attack of the Masked Mutant story here:

There's this kid named Skipper that collects a bunch of comic books, with the one he loves the most being the Masked Mutant series. The Masked Mutant is an evil, gloriously hammy supervillain with the completely broken power of being able to shapeshift into anything he wants to. The guy loves laughing as much as he loves purple spandex. He reads them front to back all the time and was aiming to go to a comic book shop to add some more to his collection by the bus.

The book had it so that a girl called Libby distracted Skipper but for the game, he's just too busy reading the comic to notice he missed his stop. Heading off the bus, he suddenly realizes that he's come face to face with the headquarters of the Masked Mutant himself. From there, the three different takes on the story go into different directions.

Since the game doesn't have Libby, there isn't the twist of the original story/show that had Libby reveal herself as the Masked Mutant in disguise. And going on from there, the game turns the story from a kid trying to survive the evil acts of the Masked Mutant into trying to stop him with the help from the League of Good Guys.

He's got an evil scheme going on where he has a "Green Beam machine" that brings pieces of the real world into the comic book world. If he isn't stopped, he's going to take over the planet, and to stop him you gotta go through his lackeys and rescue the League.

While the general art style for gameplay is fine, the cutscenes can obviously do some work. They look like Toy Story if it was made on a $5000 budget. I certainly didn't expect to be disappointed to see the game but to some degree, I was. But then it hit me. Even in the high likelihood of the sticker being fake, there was a chance that I could play something new with this game. Something that hadn't been documented before. I could play Mutantmare mode.

So I clicked off from the video I was watching of the game and got to slotting the game into the disk drive. While the game quickly installed itself, I took a brief look at the back of the box to see if there was anything else of interest. I took note of another sticker that was plastered all over a screencap of the game that would show the main character holding a hammer. On this sticker, it said:

MUTANTMARE MODE: NO ONE ELSE WILL BE AROUND TO SAVE YOU. IT'S ONLY YOU VS THE MONSTEROUS MASKED MUTANT. THE ULTIMATE TEST FOR ANY GOOSEBUMPS FAN!

Already getting a general idea for what would be in store, I got back to the game when the set-up for its installation had finished. Once the panel came up, I clicked to play the game and finally got started. The Dreamworks Interactive/Goosebumps logos appeared and just before the next cutscene could be played, the screen immediately changed to a mini menu. It seemed relatively rushed, just being a black screen with some green text on top with the Goosebumps font. All that was said on it were:

ORIGINAL MODE OR MUTANTMARE MODE? ORIGINAL MUTANTMARE

Since I already saw what "Original" mode had to offer, I began the game with Mutantmare mode. As the game would normally go, there'd be an intro cutscene that shows off the League of Good Guys having a meeting on how to beat the Masked Mutant. Then after that, the Masked Mutant would hold his own meeting with his henchman. But this is different in Mutantmare mode. Instead of being introduced to the League, the very first page of the comic is the Masked Mutant himself.

He sits on his throne behind his desk, both garishly painted in ugly yellows and purples. While in the original cutscene the camera would zoom into his face and introduce the rest of the characters, this time it lingers on him as he stares straight ahead. The only other thing that can be seen in this scene is the night sky and the moon behind him. He clasps his fingers together and then starts to speak.

So, you're my new nemesis? I expected much more than some snot-nosed brat but...everyone else is gone. They could not hold a candle to the might of the Masked Mutant! I truly don't think you have what it takes to defeat me. But...I'm certainly open to removing one less idiotic child from this world. Come to my headquarters. We have much to discuss...and dismember!

The last few seconds dedicated to that comic are of the Masked Mutant laughing. Once that's done, the game goes as normal with the kid going off the bus after missing his stop. Once he's out, he finds out that just across from him is the headquarters for the Masked Mutant himself. Once you're able to play the game, there's not much choice you have aside from entering the building yourself.

Ordinarily, a cutscene would play with one of the heroes roller-skating to the player before giving an info dump about everything I've just talked about. But instead you get nothing. You just walk inside the building and then have to go inside an open elevator to progress. As a general note, any and all cutscenes or gameplay segments that featured other characters are gone, alongside the collectible costume parts. They're either replaced with the Masked Mutant or cut entirely from the game. It well and truly is just you vs the Masked Mutant.

Any normal mook or boss that the player uses is replaced with the Masked Mutant. He will always be chasing after you throughout the game, taunting and mocking you. He usually laughs at you. If he's not laughing at you, he's mocking your "untimely demise". Also mentioned previously, certain puzzles will be changed to have the Masked Mutant be responsible for actions.

As an example, there's an early section of the game where you're supposed to walk into a quicksand trap by the guy with pencils and rubbers for fingers. You'd go through a door that's got a sign on it referring to the finger guy, Pinky Flamingo. Instead of that, the sign simply denounces the place as storage.

You take one step through there and a short cutscene plays where there appears to be a map on the table. The main character grabs it and a purple arm reaches out and swipes at your own, with the Masked Mutant coming out from it. It's one of the few times you'll hear him speak something that isn't just what he usually says in a chase. As he rises from the map and his arm reaches for your neck, he says the following:

Worthless child! Do you truly think you're worthy to be my nemesis? I should crack open your neck and see the cowardice spill out from you. Or...I can make you squirm even more for me. The chase becomes much more thrilling when I know you fear me. Let's see how fast your legs can take you before I break them!

And then you're brought back into an immediate chase with him. You're only reprieve from him is when you're able to go into an elevator for a moment's rest. But even then, you need to be ready to run as soon as possible as he's able to quickly catch up with you. The only place he's unable to chase you around is the red area section of the game.

It's a very quiet place, with the only sound being played is of the wind whistling. The whole place is given a red look, with the world around it pure black. You'd originally only need to go there to pick up superhero costume parts for the good ending in the original mode. But since they're not around, you get something else.

After jumping through the red towers, you end up in a room with some words inscribed on the wall where the belt would be. It's really hard to read what's said there due to the text being dark red. The only other thing inside the room is a skull on the other side.

The rest of the game is more or less the same as it was before the red area, with the Masked Mutant chasing after you. A couple of sections for the game have actually been cut out due to the characters that were directly responsible for taking you there being removed. It's a fairly shorter mode than the original if you know what you're doing. It doesn't make the game any less hard though.

Eventually however, the end of the game becomes a mad dash to the top of the tower while the Masked Mutant chases you down. The platforming challenges the end game presents become rather difficult when you've got him laughing and running after you. But once you're at the top, the final boss battle is the same as the original where you're shooting the Masked Mutant while he fires green beams at you. When the Masked Mutant is defeated however, the ending cutscene changes. While he's being turned into green slime, he has this to say:

No, I refuse to let this end here! To be beaten by some worthless brat, I will not accept that! This is only the beginning, you punk. I'll haunt your dreams, break them into nightmares. Watch your step, think twice before you approach every corner you see from now on. And then...when you're at your most vulnerable... I will claim my victory!

He laughs as he turns into the green slime. And since the League of Good Guys isn't in this mode, the game just ends there. It cuts from there to the desktop. Now if this was going to be some normal story about how I found a cool game mode in a semi-classic game, that's where it'd end. Just a brief, simple breakdown of this new mode, along with a download link for it for you to try yourself. But something's gone wrong here.

To my end, the game corrupted itself. I was aiming to get a second playthrough and get some screenshots to share here but I can't find any way of playing the game again. Nor can I find a way to delete it. The thing is just stuck on there now. And it's causing problems.

First and foremost, there must've been some malware on that thing. It's either that or it's some kind of glitch with old technology but for some godforsaken reason, I can hear his laughter. I know it's coming from the computer.

Other people have heard it too, I get complaints from my neighbors when the noise gets too loud. I can't wear headphones anymore, even when the laugh is sometimes quiet. There's always the high chance that the laugh is loud enough to be heard from my hallway.

That's another thing, it's not letting me turn my PC off. It's somehow gotten that thing to always be on so that it can always laugh whenever it feels like it. I don't even know if "feels" is the right word, maybe it's just random chance. It's getting really hard to tell when I've had repair guys over to try and fix the thing and they can't find any way to get rid of it.

It doesn't just laugh as well. It’s making a text file. It's constantly updating it whenever I'm not looking. It's called "Goosebumps: The Masked Mutant's Devastation." And I don't understand how or why it's doing this, but it's telling the story about me. Except I'm not me as I am right now, it's me as a kid. And I'm playing Attack of the Mutant, trying out a secret mode that I'd never seen before called Mutantmare. It's using my name and things it must know from the computer itself.

It's currently in the red area of the game. It's telling the story of how my character stands with a room entirely made out of red bricks after jumping through platforms that tower over black nothingness. My character looks at the skull at first and then looks at the text on the wall. He's somehow able to see what it says despite it being written in dried blood. Quoting it verbatim from the text file, it reads:

SAVE YOURSELF QUIT THE GAME BEFORE ITS TOO LATE YOU LOSE WHEN YOU WIN YOU WILL ALWAYS LOSE WHEN YOU BEAT HIM

And my character doesn't take heed of the warning. He jumps off from those towers and continues playing the game. Like I did. The further along the story I go, the more the Masked Mutant laughs. He laughs for a couple of minutes now.

He wakes me up when I'm asleep so I can't rest anymore. Even when I'm away from my house and I'm meant to be working, I can still hear him. I don't know if he's found a way to be in my phone or in my head but I can't get it out of my mind.

I don't know if I'm at my most vulnerable yet. That's what I'm most scared of. He's messing with me, his arch-nemesis. I've tried to look up anything I could possibly do to save myself from him but I have nothing. There is nothing for me. I can't even trust myself to just throw this PC away and get a new one, I can't work to earn a paycheck anymore. I'm going to lose my job soon because I haven't visited the office in weeks. Then I'll be stuck in the house.

And then he'll always be laughing. I'll be reading the story he's making until it ends. Maybe he'll come for me then. Maybe he'll wait until I snap from tedium. I don't know. This is my last resort for help. Please, if any of you know what to do just tell me. Give me anything, I don't want this anymore. I want to go back to normal again. I want my life to be normal.

Please. I beg you.