Mischief Makers

This article is about the video game. For the art activist collective, see The Mischief Makers.

Mischief Makers
Developer(s)	Treasure Co. Ltd
Publisher(s)	Nintendo Enix
Designer(s)	Hideyuki Suganami
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player

Mischief Makers, known in Japan as Yuke Yuke!! Trouble Makers (ゆけゆけ！！トラブルメーカーズ, lit. Go Go!! Trouble Makers), is a side-scrolling 2D platform/puzzle video game developed by Treasure, and published by Enix in Japan and by Nintendo in America and Europe for the Nintendo 64. It was released in 1997 as one of the first 2D side-scrollers on the Nintendo 64. The game's protagonist is the Ultra-Intergalactic-Cybot G Marina Liteyears (generally referred to as just Marina) who is a robotic maid of the absent-minded Professor Theo.

Story

While visiting the planet Clancer, Professor Theo, a self-proclaimed 'genius in robotics', is kidnapped by the Empire, acting upon orders from their evil emperor and estranged twin brother of Theo, who wishes to fill the world with hate and despair. Upon realizing Theo's abduction, his robotic maid Marina Liteyears sets out to rescue him.

She proceeds to travel through over 50 levels on Planet Clancer to find her creator. Every person, animal, and inanimate object on the planet (including the planet itself) has an identical "face", seemingly belonging to a species called 'Clancer'. Along the way Marina attempts to rescue the professor but she is repeatedly impeded by agents of the Empire, whom she must defeat to rescue the professor.

Characters

• Marina Liteyears/Marina Naget
• Professor Theo/Ganbell H. Jorb
• Teran/Chappy
• Chapiko
• Babuu
• Lunar/Stinger
• Tarus/Goliath
• Merco/Baron
• Nenko
• Kyaa
• Gonbell

The Beastector's Mechas

• Cerberus Alpha/Road Striker
• Sasquatch Beta/Grand Buster
• Phoenix Gamma/Sky Saber

Gameplay

Marina's main way of attacking is her grab move. She is able to take hold of enemies, objects, weapons and even some enemy projectiles or attacks, which can be thrown or shaken, depending on the object. When certain objects are shaken, items such as crystals might appear. When Marina shakes some other objects, a secondary effect may be activated.

Later on in the game, Teran is available to play in two levels. His moves includes a standard punch, upper punch, low kick and a block move. He also has the ability to hang from ceilings. His signature skill is the ability to jump up to three times consecutively.

Hidden within every stage is a gold gem. These gems are used in the final cutscene of the game with every gem adding one to three seconds to the ending. The extended ending adds character development to the villains, among various other things. The way the gold gem appears differs from stage to stage. For example, the gold gem will only appear on some boss stages if the boss is defeated without Marina being hit.

Development

Mischief Makers was the first game that publisher Enix produced with Treasure. Enix's decision to work with this developer company was motivated by the popularity of their action games. Masato Maegawa, president and chief executive officer of Treasure, accepted the offer as he had fond memories of Enix, having applied to them as a student. The game was one of Treasure's first titles not developed for the Sega Mega Drive or Sega Saturn, as they felt the hardware functionalities of the Nintendo 64 had become the best choice for their future projects. The developers originally had difficulty developing for the console due to the new interface and lack of finished development tools, and switching from the Saturn's CD-ROM-based development to cartridge-based development was challenging. While the switch to cartridge provided various conveniences for the game, such as data being loaded with no load times, the developers disliked the higher cost involved with it.

Several members of the game's development staff, including the main programmer and the character designer, had also worked on Treasure's shoot 'em up game Gunstar Heroes. Instead of following the same design as the previous title, the developers wanted to make Mischief Makers unique with a gameplay based on grabbing and catching, though it was harder for them to implement.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	73 of 100 (10 reviews)
Metacritic	70 of 100 (8 reviews)

Review scores

Publication	Score
AllGame
Electronic Gaming Monthly	8 of 10
GameSpot	6.7 of 10
IGN	6.2 of 10
Nintendo Power	6.9 of 10

The game drew mixed reviews. IGN said that the game "is a welcomed addition for fans of the genre, and certainly Treasure fanatics worldwide will love it," but heavily criticized the sound, giving a 6 out of 10 and stating that it is "Japan's last word on midi music. Not terrible, but a little boring." Similarly, GameSpot said, "For what it is, MM is a solid title, but the terseness of the game and the limited graphics and sound make evident that it could have been so much more, transcending the decent game it is now to become a truly excellent one on another medium."

External links

• Official Japanese website
• Template:GameFAQs
• Mischief Makers at MobyGames