Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (video game)
| Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Toho |
| Publisher(s) | Toho Bandai |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Family Computer (Japanese version) NES (North American version) |
| Release | [1] |
| Genre(s) | Side-scrolling action[2] |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (ジーキル博士の彷魔が刻, Jekyll Hakase no Hōma ga Toki) is a Template:Vgy side-scrolling action video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System loosely based on the novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.[2] Gameplay alternates between the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde based on the player's ability to either avoid or cause damage.[2]
Story
Dr. Jekyll is on his way to his wedding with the lovely Miss Millicent.[2] As he walks to the church with his cane in hand, several townspeople, animals, and other obstacles accost him, causing him to become angry. If his anger reaches a certain level, he transforms into Mr. Hyde and is taken to a nightmarish world of monsters. As Mr. Hyde kills these monsters, his anger abates and eventually he transforms back into Dr. Jekyll.
There are two endings to the game. The normal ending occurs when Dr. Jekyll reaches the church at the end of the sixth level. Dr. Jekyll weds Miss Millicent and 'END' is displayed with the wedding march playing in the background. The alternative ending occurs when Mr. Hyde reaches the church. In this case, a boss named Letule appears. After defeating the boss, Mr. Hyde transforms back into Dr. Jekyll. A more detailed scene of the wedding is shown with Dr. Jekyll kissing Miss Millicent. The screen fades with 'END' displayed, and lightning strikes a few moments later. A silhouette of what appears to be Mr. Hyde with a cross inserted into his back appears.
Gameplay
The game features six levels, but the levels differ between the Japanese and North American versions. The Japanese version follows this order: City, Park, Alley, Town, Cemetery, Street. However, the North American version replaces a few levels and follows this order: Town, City, Alley, Park, Cemetery, Street.
The player starts out controlling Dr. Jekyll on his way to the church, walking to the right. As he takes damage from the various enemies and obstacles, his Life Meter decreases and his Anger Meter increases. If his Life Meter is fully depleted, Dr. Jekyll dies and the game is over. If his Anger Meter completely fills, however, he transforms into Mr. Hyde. Day turns to night and monsters appear. At this point, the level is mirrored horizontally and Mr. Hyde walks from right to left with the screen autoscrolling. Mr. Hyde must kill as many brains as he can as fast as he can in order to turn back into Dr. Jekyll.
If at any point Mr. Hyde reaches Dr. Jekyll's location, a bolt of lightning strikes him, killing him instantly. Therefore, the objective of the game is to advance as far as possible as Dr. Jekyll and to transform back as soon as possible as Mr. Hyde.
Reception
The game was the first to be reviewed on the website Something Awful,[3] gaining a score of -37. Brett Alan Weiss of the website Allgame declared that the "music and graphics are tolerable, but the controls are sluggish and the action is exceedingly dull, rendering Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde almost unplayable."[4] IGN ranked the cover art the third scariest cover art in gaming.[5] Author Andy Slaven commented that the game was frustrating, criticizing its controls yet finding the visuals acceptable.[6] Internet Personality James Rolfe, also known as The Angry Video Game Nerd, has notably panned the game. In his Angry Video Game Nerd Review (two reviews exist, the original review and a revisited review) in particular, he heavily criticizes the harsh difficulty as the player is incapable of causing any enemies harm with their cane as Jekyll (with the exception of the bees in the game) while the enemies can cause extreme amounts of damage to the player. While Rolfe admits that the Mr. Hyde sections actually "feels like a game", he finds it baffling since the player is supposed to avoid becoming Hyde even though that section of the game is playable. He also heavily criticizes the music, graphics, and the lack of faithfulness to the source material. He also notably criticizes the lack of motivation for the townspeople as they do not attack Hyde, a criminal rapist and murder, and instead attack Jekyll, a relatively decent person in the book, relentlessly for no apparent reason.[7] Rolfe has repeatedly called the game the worst NES game he ever played, as well as the worst game ever made.[8]
References
- ^ "Release date". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
- ^ a b c d Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at MobyGames
- ^ "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde". Somethingawful.com. 2000-05-28. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
- ^ Michael, Christopher (2010-10-03). "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Overview". allgame. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
- ^ "Top 10 Tuesday: Scariest Box Art". IGN. 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ Slaven, Andy (2002-07-01). "Video Game Bible, 1985-2002". ISBN 9781553697312.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EjXn5qiM8Zw
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AAhp4LO07aY