Crush, Crumble and Chomp! – The Monster Movie Brought to Life on the Apple II
During the golden era of computer gaming in the early 1980s, developers experimented with blending cinema-inspired ideas into interactive experiences. One standout from that period is Crush, Crumble and Chomp!, a strategy-action game released in 1981 by Epyx (then known as Automated Simulations). Designed for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80, and Commodore 64, this game offered something unique: letting players step into the role of a gigantic monster terrorizing a city, straight out of a Saturday night creature feature.
Gameplay Overview
The player controls a massive monster—creatures inspired by Godzilla, King Kong, and other kaiju classics—whose sole purpose is to rampage across a major city, destroying buildings, eating civilians, and fending off military resistance.
Key gameplay features include:
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Monster Selection: Choose from different beasts like Goshilla (giant reptile), Arachnis (mutant spider), or Octo-Man (giant octopus, as seen in the screenshot). Each monster has unique abilities and weaknesses.
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City Maps: Famous cities such as New York, San Francisco, or Washington, D.C. become your playground for destruction.
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Survival Elements: Your monster has hunger levels, health, and fatigue to manage, making rampaging a balancing act between destruction and endurance.
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Opposition: Military forces respond with tanks, helicopters, and even advanced weapons as you wreak havoc.
Technical Aspects
On the Apple II, the game’s visuals are simple but effective, using blocky graphics and color-coded terrain to represent cities, rivers, and armies. The right-hand side of the screen provides essential statistics—health, hunger, direction, and time—while the playfield displays your monster and enemies. The limited graphics left much to the player’s imagination, much like the monster movies it was inspired by.
Why It Stood Out
What made Crush, Crumble and Chomp! notable was its mix of simulation and creativity. It wasn’t just a button-masher—players needed strategy to survive long enough to maximize destruction. The game also captured the spirit of B-movie monster flicks, giving fans the chance to role-play their favorite rampaging beasts.
Its cult following today comes from how ahead of its time it was—laying the groundwork for later kaiju-inspired games like Rampage (1986).
Legacy
While not as widely remembered as other Epyx titles, Crush, Crumble and Chomp! remains a fascinating relic of early gaming, especially for monster-movie enthusiasts. Its concept of letting players become the villain, rather than the hero, was unusual for its time. Today, it’s appreciated both as a piece of gaming history and as a quirky, charming simulation of destruction on the Apple II.
👉 If you enjoy vintage games or monster movie nostalgia, Crush, Crumble and Chomp! is worth revisiting—an early gem where pixels and imagination combined to bring kaiju chaos to your home computer.
Be sure to give it a shot and click on the download button to get a copy of it!
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