#0041 Mr. Do!

Kase Iemochi paced the dull, sterile boardroom. A blank whiteboard at his back, he scowled intensely at his partners as they met his gaze like a cow might stare at an oncoming train. He tapped a marker impatiently on the table.

“So we have nothing? Kazutoshi Ueda is going to walk through those doors any minute expecting the next big arcade hit and we have nothing to give him! We have been here all day! Just give me something!”

“Space Invaders!” Mitzusaka Katai blurted out, shifting his eyes nervously down to his hands as if he knew this was a stupid answer. “Different space invaders. It'll be in color and the enemies will fly down and attack you”

“No, we've been through this a million times. It's been done, It's all been done. Space Invaders, Pong, Pac-Man, everything.” Iemochi replied rubbing his eyes with aggravation.

“There's nothing left! Video games have reached their limit! Everything that can be thought of has already been thought of!” Katai wheezed through panicked breaths.

“You can't think like that.” Tsutomu Yoshimochi said finally speaking up to reassure his comrade.

“C'mon guys work with me here! Okay who's the protagonist?” Iemochi said marching over to the whiteboard.

“A blue hedgehog!” Katai blurted out again, fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat.

“Shut up Katai” Iemochi snapped not even bothering to look at him.

“How about a clown?” Yoshimochi asked.

An awkward pause filled the room as every man looked to one another, trying to judge whether or not the idea was a serious one.

“Really? A clown?” Iemochi procured, a look of uncertainty on his face.

“Um, yeah.”

“Okay! Clowns are creepy but we got nothing else!” Iemochi proclaimed scribbling the idea down on the whiteboard. “Okay, he's a clown, what do clowns do?”

“They eat things” Yoshimochi replied, almost too quickly.

“Really?” Katai started “Is that what clowns are known for? I've never heard of that bef-”

“Alright alright, we'll have him dig for them” Yoshimochi interrupted

“I love it.” Iemochi stated. His hand flying across the whiteboard.

Katai glanced at the whiteboard, a look of bewilderment on his face,“I'm not sure I'm following your logi-”

“Hey don't worry.” Yoshimochi interrupted again “There'll be weird dragon like creatures to balance it out.”

“You have a gift my friend.” Iemochi gushed giving Yoshimochi intense eye contact.

“I'm sorry” Katai chuckled “But this is actually starting to sound like another game, has anyone played Dig Dug?”

“Katai I swear to god if you don't shut up. This is nothing like Dig Dug, it's about a clown. Now if you're not going take this seriously-” Iemochi hissed through gritted teeth.

“What if we make a game about an Italian Plumber” Katai's nervousness cracked in his voice “And he need to save the princess from a giant spiky turtle?”

“Katai you're fired get the hell out of my sight! Now, let's put it all together. We have a clown, he digs through tunnels for food and must avoid dragon like creatures. What do we call it? It must be something catchy, something to do with the fact that he digs, or is a clown. Something...”

“I got it!” Yoshimochi suddenly sprang from his chair so fast that it fell behind him “We'll call it... Mr. Do.”

Yeah, that's is how I imagine the idea for this game came up. Today we're looking at Mr. Do, a strange arcade made in 1982 by Universal, and winner of the “Weirdest Idea for a Game So Far” award.

Mr. Do is about a clown, who must dig through the ground to collect cherries while avoiding being attacked by weird dragon like creatures. You must either collect all the cherries, kill all the bad guys, or spell “EXTRA” by killing the alphabet monsters or whatever they're called in order to advance. You can kill monsters by either dropping apples on their heads, or throwing a ball at them. When you throw your ball, however, you can't throw it again until it either hits a monster, or you catch it again. Once per level, a monster with a letter will appear, either E, X, T, R or A. If you collect them all and spell extra, you instantly advance to the next level and earn an extra life.

At first glance this really does look like Dig Dug's ugly cousin. I mean, you dig through the ground, you kill bad guys, and... Drop things? Honestly, once you actually start getting into the game, you start to realize that this game resembles Pac-Man more than it does Dig Dug.

In Dig Dug, your goal is to kill the enemies, period. You have a reliable weapon that is useful for doing this. In Mr. Do, your ball is more of a last resort type weapon as when you use it, you don't always get it back. Most of the time you're trying to run from the bad guys, digging mazes that confuse them, and eating in order to advance to the next level. Sound familiar?

The game is polished fairly well. The concept, while bizarre, works to create a hybrid of several games that together create a very unique maze experience. It's like playing Pac-Man, except you create the maze rather than just navigating it. It adds another level to a very solid concept and the game is stronger for it. The music is catchy and the colors are bright without being obnoxious.

If I had to find a flaw, it would definitely be with the ball weapon. I know it's to make the game balanced so it's not just a Dig Dug clone, but when you're cornered the ball is nearly worthless. Also, I would have liked more variety in the level design. Changing colors just doesn't give me enough variation to want to keep playing. Maybe adding different features to each new level or new enemies would definitely make the game much better.

Overall, it's not bad. You really have to get past the whole Dig Dug thing and just appreciate it for what it is, no matter how weird it might be. Honestly, I say give it a shot and at the very least play a game that you might not have even heard about.

Up Next: Q*Bert