I want to PUMP your Blood! Let's Play Drac' Night Out

Wait! Whaaaat? Why is Dracula wearing Reebok Pumps? And what exactly is going on here?

I don't think I rightly know. The 90s were weird. It seems the idea was Reebok's, they wanted a video game featuring their new, also very 90s, shoe the Pump. They approached Parker Brothers and Parker Brothers approached Microsmiths. Who were already making a Dracula game it seems and took that sweet, sweet, advertising money and just inserted the Reebok Pump into their game.

The game was originally slated for 1991 but never came out. I really can't imagine why.

Despite never being released the game is complete and can be played from beginning to end. And is relatively easy to get your hands on the ROM.

Sources:
Video Game History Foundation
Hardcore Gaming 101
Wikipedia

Oh my god, I love everything about that ad-copy

Why does that "teenage" Dracula look a lot like a cartoon version of Grandpa Munster in a tracksuit?

He's 13-19 years into being a Dracula, but he was only Drac'd when he was Al Lewis' age.

Interestingly, it seems to be B2B advertisement. I guess that makes as much sense as anything for a game that never hit shelves.

That makes complete sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Glad I'm not the only one to notice the similarity. It's all in that pointy-out gray hair.

A lot of NES games with licensed stuff made some sort of sense, but there was a lot of crazy stuff, too. Uncle Fester had his quest two years before The Addams Family movie; Barker Bill's Trick Shooting may or may not be based loosely on the header for a long dead Terrytoons compilation show from the 50s; Capcom rebranded a game starring a ninja with a bird into a game starring an annoying Domino's Pizza claymation mascot.

Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if this cancelled Reebok shilling game had originally started out as a Munsters game they couldn't get the license for. I mean, Donkey Kong was originally intended to be a Popeye game, you can still see the Olive Oyl and Bluto in Pauline's and D.K.'s original 8-bit sprites.

I am looking forward to this LP! I've been looking forward to it for precisely 17 months when Falselogic and I huddled for warmth on a chilly October day in a Frank Cifaldi panel at PRGS where he was showing NES games that were never released and when he presented this game Falselogic turned to me, placed a finger on my lips, and whispered in my ear "I'm going to LP this game." But why did Frank never mention the Reebocks, FL, when that seems to be the most extremely notable thing?

Here I am. I'm here now. We can start this. Anytime. I'm ready.

I think you mean Grandpo.

Evidence.



I love how Dracula's hunt for Mina Murray to suck her blood seems to be 1920's style gentlemenly courting.

Super psyched for this.

Oh hey! Long time no see. Turns out I'm very busy with other parts of life!

And, this game is hard! You sometimes forget that when you only play games you memorized decades ago through hours of play. But, I will pervail! Eventually, I hope.

But, what is the point in Drac's Night Out, you ask? Why does Dracula need his Reebok Pumps? Let's find out!







There you go! Dracula needs to get to Mina before 6! And since he's gotta go fast he'll need the power of Reebok Pumps to make it in time! Goddess, I really wish someone had been able to write a manual for this game because I assure you it would have been A++ Good!

With that short introduction we are dumped into the game! Time to stalk the night!



That's us! And that's are Castle! And we've got to get to the bottom of it (or so I am told) in order to get to the town where we will find Mina!

But between us and that pale, sweet neck are about 1000 angry villagers! They're even in our castle! Mucking with our stuff, and touching our collectibles! Worse, they're not putting them back where they found them!

We'll show them!



We've got a few moves, though kicking ass isn't one of them. We can jump and mesmerize, as seen in the above pictures. Jumping can get us over short gaps and in a pinch if villagers get too close we can disable them for a time with our stare, though it will drain our lifebar (blood, whatever.) The better way to deal with the local yokels is to use the extensive trap system in the castle. If we can hit a villager with a trap, they'll be incapicated and Drac can feast upon them! Eliminating them and restoring some of the lifebar! Traps are triggered by pulling all the levers you see in the game either against the side walls or in the middle of the walls. Levers also open up gates:





In the above you can see that Drac pulled the lever on the right wall, opening the gate and activating Frankenbuddy who took out the villager. We could eat the poor fellow now if we wanted!



And we do!

Traps also include releasing ghosts, dropping boulders, throwing swords, etc! Though the traps can also hurt Drac which seems unfair...



If we prey upon five villagers you'll turn into a bat that is invincible and be able to move more quickly through the castle. You can also often find Pumps!



And when you do you're rate of speed and ability to jump increase dramatically!

Now, if you'll please excuse me? I've still got to find some way to get through this damn castle!

You have no idea how humiliating it is to get up to pee in the middle of the night and turn on the bathroom light only for frankenstein to jump out of your closet and tackle you. I put these traps in myself! I should know better!

First off; Dracula killing and eating human beings is a vital component of an NES game and that is wild.

Second: Parker Brothers owns the rights to Count Dracula?

Third: Dracula has a pet Frankenstein, and that is beautiful!

Count Dracula video game equipment

Feels like getting hurt by your own ghost that you apparently have trapped is fair. feels like they should be upset about that.

I'm a little surprised that a game about basketball shoes is more interested in traps so far, rather than jumping and dunking.

But I do appreciate the bold choice to have your character designed to show off your shoes is a stone cold murderer who feasts on the living.

Oh hey! I bet you thought I forgot about this, didn't you? Well, I didn't! It's been making me feel guilty for months now!

But, I'm back and this is back! Also, turns out some NES games are quite difficult! Even moreso when there isn't a manual for them that would help you figure things out! I was beginning to worry that I'd never be able to show you this game, even if I abused save states and such. Luckily, through the magic of spending hours slowly grinding at this game and getting better at it (and Nestopia's rewind function) I was able to complete it!

And now I'm here to share it with you. So, please enjoy.

Where did we leave off? Oh, yeah I was just explaining the basics of the game. We've got to get to Mina, in order to do so we have to get out of our castle, which is teeming with humans, and through the city, which is also teeming with the humans. And, most importantly, the magic of Reebok's Pump shoes are here to help!

First things first, through the castle. Drac has 36 floors to get through! I found that stunning as many people as possible while blazing down is the best bet, until you get some Reebok Pumps. Then, your best bet is to mesmerize them and jump through them, if you have pumps this will stun them and then you can feast upon the red confetti inside!

(ignore the round 2 I just wanted you to see the # of floors)

Here are some highlights:



Drac had just dropped a chandelier on this fellow. The guy below him was struck by a sword. The switch to the right activated both traps?!


here you can see Drac as a bat. You get this when you drain five peasants in fairly quick succession.


Slowly getting closer to the ground floor.


There's a lot going on here. The switch above actived the skelly man, who can't actually reach anyone. But see that door on the level right below Drac? We can go through it and it takes us to another section of the castle. Which is the same as this side but green:



I'm not sure what the difference is here? I didn't notice any new traps or humans in it. I did note that it had a 'bottom' level that wasn't the ground floor and so I had to go back to the yellow side and down a few more floors before reaching the bottom:


The door on the bottom left? That's going to take us out of the castle and into the next section of the game!


(You'll recognize this scene from the introduction of the game.)

And now for the second, much more difficult part of the game:



We're now in a top-down view of the game. And, as far as I could figure out. We've lost our mesmerize powers. There are items we have to collect (keys, lamps, and clovers) and we've got a time limit. Drac has to find Mina before 6AM or the rising of the sun will end the game.

Where is she you're asking? Oh just somewhere here:



This monstrously large city?! We start, I think just past the half way point from the bottom of the map on the left hand side. A few blocks down from the cemetary.

What do we have to do here? Just what the game said to do, "Find Mina." How do we do that? By waylaying lone villagers, attacking them, and picking up the items they drop. Then using those items (keys to open doors into houses, clovers to open gates, and lamps to use the trapdoors randomly sprinkled across the map.)

That'd be easy enough except there are large mobs of people wandering across the map who, if they catch you, will end your search right there. And, don't forget the time limit and the dwindling life bar.

By far the most difficult part of the game is avoiding the mobs. If you can do that and waylay a few villagers it gets easier. Collect a few keys, open doors and ask the men inside for a hint (they'll be vague things like 'you're far away from the girl.' Slightly more useful things such as showing you the closest lamp post, barrel, or haystack on the map nearest Mina, or conditionally useful information such as the location of gates, bridges, or trapdoors.)


One of the mobs Drac has to avoid. You also see the long villager behind them (in red) who you can drain, and the villager pushing the cart who just tells you a map exists (If there is a way to look at the map, outside of talking to an old man in a house, I never figured it out.)


Not a good spot to be...


There's a clover dropped by a villager Drac just feasted upon.


A key (these open up the houses)


At times you randomly transform into a wolf and in that state the mobs will flee from you but you can not hurt them.


Drac will get warned every hour that he is on a schedule.


Using a key Dracula has entered a house and will ask the old man for info. Also note that the room has a back door. You can enter some residences from one side and exit on the other. This helps get you on the right street or to ditch chasing mobs


That could be useful...


An opened gate. It takes a clover to do that.

Where is that woman?!


One of the larger mobs of villagers that will chase you.


If you can find an alley like this, only one tile wide, you can avoid them as they march past you.


Thanks for nothing gramps!




That's more useful!


One of the lamps dropped by a villager.


Things can get a bit hairy... I had to run around this house a few times and then through it to ditch these guys.




Sometimes you don't find old men, sometimes you find young ladies, just not your young lady. You turn them into vamps and then they'll walk you toward Mina's house for a bit. They don't seem to understand turns very well though...

If you get lucky with the clues, avoiding the mobs, and do it before 6am you'll eventually:





With that the game resets to the castle except it's now Round 2:


And the decor is a little different. As is the castle layout. Everything else is the same though, The town doesn't change either, Mina's location will though!

I hope you enjoyed reading! I enjoyed playing this. Thanks for your patience as well.

Holy shit, I didn't expect this game to suddenly go full TMNT/Fester's Quest.

I love the mob sprite.

The Let's Player's curse.

The green side is what's left of the Reverse Castle after that unfortunate incident in 1798.

If I were to make a guess as to why we never got this, I'd assume it's not because the duct taped-on shoe license fell through, but because Nintendo of America would never have approved a game where you play as a vampire running around drinking people's blood and turning women into his undead thralls way back in 1991.

But that said, the Nintendo Seal of Quality was right there on the box in the ad, so Nintendo must have approved it. Probably was other factors, like money.

Anyway, I really feel that a vampire busting into people's houses and drinking their blood could make for a pretty cool sneaky sandbox game. Or maybe one of those multiplayer horror games where one player plays as the monster while everybody else plays as people trying not to get killed by the monster.

I can definitely see the bones of something great in this.

I love this. First, he's going to murder that girl. This game establishes this character is a killer who feasts on human blood.

But also it feels like Felix the Cat shilling for Crystal Pepsi.

Dracula's little dagwood whiskers are everything. Thanks for finishing this, false.

I also like how they varied up the decor in the houses.



There's something weirdly creepy about the portrait on the left side of this one!

"How do you like my painting of three sets of twins?"

There some interesting ideas here, definitely. I especially like the chance to duck through houses to avoid mobs.

Seriously--it's two games inexplicably stapled together!

And I just noticed that Dracula is not even wearing his Reeboks during his top-down hunt through the city for Mina.



You had one job, cancelled sneaker-shilling vampire game. ONE JOB.

Unless the white ones are for wearing at home, like for doing yard work and such, and he has a black pair for going out.

Also, and I believe this is an important thing to question that hasn’t been raised yet; why is Dracula the spokesman for these sneakers?

Powerful Theme aside, very little of Dracula ties in very organically to air-cushioned soles.

Oh I'm sure Reebok would want The Pump to stand out in the dozen or so 8-bit pixels dedicated to Dracula's in-game footwear. Black on black just makes them look like part of his pants.

The dude's wearing his dress shoes out on the hunt. Probably doesn't want to wear out his Reeboks from walking across town so much, those shoes are frickin' expensive.