If you've been following the ongoing Kickstarter campaign for the ZX Spectrum Next, you may have spotted the recent stretch goal that's just been added for a new Monty Mole game.
But what you might not know is that this isn't the only Monty Mole-related project currently in development, with the retro publisher Midnight Brew Games also revealing its own "Monty adventures" for the ZX Spectrum, based on the character that was popular in the UK and Europe throughout the 1980s.
Midnight Brew Games is a company that started back in 2022, and is publisher of physical media, as well as a "a loose collective of talented coders, artists and musicians" that work together to create and publish 'professional' homebrew games.
For the last few years, it has published physical box sets containing collections of ZX Spectrum games from their friends and collaborators, but over a year ago, started to publish what they called 'Midnight Brew Specials', which are smaller collections focused on a particular character or author where they remix or remake classic titles.
Midnight Brew Games' Allan Turvey originally shared the Monty news on Facebook on Thursday, August 7th, revealing that he had reached an agreement with Gremlin co-founder Ian Stewart's current studio Urbanscan (the current Monty Mole rights holders) earlier this year to create the brand new releases.
As part of this announcement, he also revealed that the first release produced as part of this agreement will be "Enter the Montyverse", a collection that will see Monty retrace his steps and will include enhanced versions of 1984's Wanted: Monty Mole and 1985's Monty on the Run.
These will be built using a new game engine, and will include "restored artwork, updated graphics, AY music and sound effects, ULAplus support and more". In addition to this, Turvey also states that the original Monty Mole Spectrum coder Peter Harrap has also given the project his blessing, claiming Harrap has promised "to set the crushers on us if a single whisker is out of place".
Speaking to Time Extension, Turvey said about the new versions "I think it's something that the Spectrum community we are part of really wanted to see. He's a much loved character that kind of lost his way a little, so really we just wanted to bring the little guy home to the family!"
"'Enter the Montyverse' is the title of the first physical box set, which will feature remakes of Monty's first two adventures, as well as the original games. However, as the name suggests, they are actually part remake, part sequel, because in these new games, Monty has gone back in time to retrace his steps because his 'original' self has mysteriously disappeared from the timeline, and he has to put things right. Hence there will be some differences..."
We reached out to Harrap to hear his hopes for the new project and he told us, "What I’d like is for them to have fixed a couple of niggles I have with it, now I’m older and a little less 'evil'. It means a lot to me that Monty is so fondly remembered after all these (40+) years, so I’m looking forward to seeing him in action again."
The physical release, according to Turvey, will be available next year as part of a cassette box set with reversible covers that also includes the originals, as well as restored Gremlin badges and a new hand-drawn mini comic, which is being drawn by 2000AD artist and fellow Monty fan Dominic Reardon.
In addition to this, there will also be a digital release via midnightbrewgames.com, which will be free to those who buy the box, or support Turvey on Patreon.