Color Dreams, a firm notorious for manufacturing unauthorized NES games, launched the game in 1990. Menace Beach, like many of Color Dreams' games, lacked an official Nintendo mark of approval and was not widely distributed. The game itself is a side-scrolling action game with bright visuals and a strange premise. Players take control of a man who battles a variety of beach-themed adversaries in order to save his sweetheart. While the game garnered mixed reviews upon its first release, its scarcity and position as an illegal NES game aided in its appeal among collectors. Finding a decent copy of Menace Beach can be difficult because the game was not widely released and was not created in big quantities. It is not, however, as rare or precious as some other NES games, and its collector's market price might vary depending on availability.