“DJ Boy” is certainly a “special” game to say the least. It’s one of those arcade games that was relatively popular in Japan, but never caught on with Western audiences. It just kind of…well, existed, before fading into obscurity after being overshadowed by more popular games from better-known developers. The game then remains in the shadows of the past for about 15 years until someone happens to stumble upon it years later and then tells the Internet all about it. Coming from Japan, it’s no great surprise that “DJ Boy” as offbeat as it is, which is probably why it never caught on outside Glorious Nippon. Released in 1989 by Kaneko, “DJ Boy” tries combines everything that was supposedly popular in American cities at the time, such as roller skating, fluorescent clothing, poofy hair, hip-hop, breakdancing, child abuse, and juvenile delinquency. In this review, I will break my tradition of reviewing everything in categories (graphics, sound, addictiveness, etc.), and instead just tell you all about it straight up.

            So what’s the plot? Well, your character(s)’ boom box is stolen and you must get it back. The two playable characters, Bob and Tom, work together in this co-op beat-‘em-up to get it back. Doing this involves travelling on roller skates while beating up other children on roller skates; some of them appear to be older than you and have an uncanny school-bully look to them, while others appear to be 4-year-olds dressed up like 1950s teenagers. At the end of each stage you’ll fight bosses such as a homeless man that turns into a male stripper, a 1980s hair metal band, policemen dressed in questionable attire, and - I’m not kidding here – an overweight, stereotypical African-American woman who farts a lot. “Eeek! How racially insensitive!” some of you are thinking. To that I reply, “It’s not racist. It’s Japanese”. Besides, I highly doubt racism was their intention.

            The gameplay isn’t the greatest, but it’s definitely playable. Hit detection can be slightly off at times, and you character’s slow movements can make things a little difficult. I understand the fact that he’s on roller skates, but so is 98% of the people you fight in this game, and they have no trouble moving around on skates at all. Your attacks utilize a punch, kick, and jump button, and pressing either the punch or kick button over and over again can result in some combos. There is no health bar here; falling down twice results in the loss of a life. When you fall down once, the head near your life counter will flash, indicating that another tumble will bring you one step closer to a Game Over. As the game progresses, enemies become much harder to kill, so you’ll find yourself getting a Game Over pretty often if you’re not an experienced player. Lucky for you, though, there are orange cats in some stages that grant you an extra life once they’re obtained. Also, if you want to make it easier for yourself, don’t try to plow past everyone to get to the end of the level. If you do, you’ll find yourself facing 8 guys who all gang up on you at once.

            The graphics are OK at best. They look a little too pixelated for my taste. At least they have a 16-bit look to them. The sound is fairly decent; the music and sound effects are reminiscent of the Sega Genesis. Speaking of the Genesis, the home port of “DJ Boy” is regarded as one of the worst arcade-to-home ports ever made, and one of the worst Genesis games ever made. The only redeeming quality of the Genesis version is the slightly improved graphics, while the rest of the game suffers from the always classic “hard-as-heck-plus-one-life-and-no-continues-lol” syndrome, not to mention if feels like a poorly made Flash version of the arcade game. Anyhoo, the soundtrack seems to stray a little too far from the hip-hop feel that the game presents. The music IS upbeat and catchy, and it goes so far as to add humor to some situations (the boss battle music is one of the goofiest things I’ve ever heard in my life). You’ll also hear occasional commentary from the late disc jockey Wolfman Jack (or Japanese musician and entertainer Demon Kogure, depending on which version you play).

            Strangely enough, as weird and sometimes frustrating as this game is, I find myself playing it quite often. It’s unlike anything I have ever played, and let me tell you, I’ve played some crazy stuff. I never thought I would play a beat-‘em-up that focused on roller skating and a colorful cast of strange characters. I am sorry to say that I beat this game in less than a half-hour, so it’s not very long. However, its difficulty make up for that, so I’d say it’s a decent balance. So in conclusion, “DJ Boy” is definitely worth a try. Its ridiculousness has made me come back for more again and again, and it’s sure to do the same for others. 

Graphics: 7

Sound: 8

Addictiveness: 7

Story: 3

Depth: 5

Difficulty: 7

Overall (NOT AVERAGE): 8

If you are a true gamer, you have at least asked yourself this question once: “Why is it that some classic video games have some of the most obscure sequels?” Let’s take the American version of “Super Mario Bros. 2” for example.  It may seem similar in gameplay at first, yet it’s completely different from the original game. As a matter of fact, it IS a completely different game; it’s “Doki Doki Panic!” with swapped sprites and slightly different music. The original “Super Mario Bros. 2” from Japan was deemed too hard for Western audiences, so Nintendo decided to give us something completely different. Now, let us turn our attention to Universal (the video game manufacturer, not the movie studio) gave us a similar experience 30 years ago with “Mr. Do’s Castle”.

First, a little history: Universal, the creator of the first Mr. Do game, was working on a game called “Knights vs. Unicorns”, which was pretty much an updated version of their 1980 video game “Space Panic”. However, Universal’s American branch approached their Japanese counterpart and told them to change “Knights vs. Unicorns” into a Mr. Do game, due to the success of the first game. Thus, “Mr. Do’s Castle” was born.

“Mr. Do’s Castle” was released in 1983, one year after its predecessor, “Mr. Do!”, was released. Like its predecessor, it became quite popular, receiving more than a dozen home ports throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Unlike the first game, where you dig around underground collecting cherries and through a magic ball at monsters, you must instead guard your castle from an army of fuzzy “unicorns” by using a magic hammer to drop blocks on their heads.

Graphics: 9

“Mr. Do’s Castle” is definitely a step up from its predecessor in the graphics department. Mr. Do is still sporting his red-and-white-spotted clown suit, while the so-called “unicorns” look more like fuzzy orange narwhals with green Mohawks and goofy smiles. The foreground graphics are slightly more detailed and colorful than its predecessor, but I do want to point out the backgrounds. The brick structures that make up the castle are present, rather than just a plain black background. Bold greens, purples, and oranges help make the pastel-colored characters and light-brown platforms stand out very well, and they aren’t hard on the eyes. The only change in the graphics that wasn’t made were the letters in the word “EXTRA”, which look and move exactly like they did in the previous game. I’m not complaining, though.

Sound: 8

I don’t know about you, but there’s only so much of the Can-Can that I can take. “Mr. Do!”, like many early arcade games, used music from the Public Domain for its background music. “Mr. Do’s Castle”, on the other hand, has its own original background music, and the main theme very, very, VERY catchy. I’m such a dork; I took the time to explore as many of the home ports as I could just to listen to the different musical arrangements on each system. There are two main themes in the game, the one being what I just discussed, and the other main theme, which is also the “EXTRA” letters’ theme, which can be achieved when the three Key Blocks are knocked down and the Cross at the very top of the castle is obtained, turning all the unicorns on the field into random letters from the word “EXTRA”.

The game’s sound overall is very reminiscent of its predecessor. Rather than use actual “sounds”, the game instead uses its music to emulate sounds, from mashing a bunch of note together when a block falls on a unicorn and smashes it, to the loud DING which is heard when Mr. Do hits a block with his hammer.

Addictiveness: 8

“Mr. Do’s Castle” is just as addicting as the first game. Trying to explain why a game is addicting for these reviews is the hardest thing for me to do, because for me, the game is addicting because…well, it just IS. The simple controls, catchy music, colorful graphics, and gameplay just make it a lot of fun to play. I’ll definitely be playing it more often in the future.

Story: none

Again, no storyline here. Just endless wave after endless wave of unicorns.

Depth: 6

There are 8 castle layouts in “Mr. Do’s Castle”; once you get through all of them, you’ll start with the first layout again and work your way through all of them. The unicorns become faster, smarter, and more aggressive as you go on, until the game becomes nearly impossible to beat.

There are four ways to beat each level: knocking out all of the cherry blocks, collecting all of the letters in the word “EXTRA”, eliminating all unicorns, and finding a hidden diamond, which grants you a free game (which is very rare; it only happened to me once). This game isn’t too “deep”, but it does offer alternate layouts and different ways to complete the game.

Difficulty: 7

For first-time players, I’d be very surprised if you make it past the third level on one credit. The game starts out moderately easy, but the difficulty quickly climbs after each level. Watch out for those blue unicorns; they’re fast, and they also multiply without warning.

Overall (NOT AVERAGE): 8.3

“Mr. Do’s Castle” is very good overall, though I did like the original slightly better. However, this game is definitely worth checking out. I have yet to check out the games “Mr. Do’s Wild Ride” and “Do! Run Run”, though I have bad feeling they will NOT hold up as well as the first to Mr. Do!” games have.

...maybe it's pronounced "D'OH!", but who cares. It's "Mr. Do!", a little clown with a magic ball that gathers cherries and digs around underground while avoiding monsters, falling Yellow Delicious apples, and evil letters that spell the word "EXTRA". "Mr. Do!" was released in December of 1982, a few months after Namco's "Dig Dug" came out. Although this game looks remarkably similar to "Dig Dug", it has its differences. It was very popular upon its release, receiving several home ports, reboots, and even 3 arcade sequels, although each sequel was less successful than the last.

Graphics: 8

Definitely on the higher-end when comparing this game to others that were out at the time. I'd say the graphics are comparable to "Donkey Kong Jr.". The gameplay graphics are bold and colorful. Mr. Do wears a red clown outfit with white polka-dots and blue shoes.  The monsters you must face look more cute than they should, but don’t sell them short. The main enemy of the game appears to be some sort of red dinosaur-dragon thing that chases you and digs around trying to reach you (I have no idea what they are, so I’ll just call the dragon-dinosaur things). Two other enemies you must deal with are walking letters from the word “EXTRA”, and purple ghosts that spawn when the special food item at the center of the maze is obtained. The ghosts in particular look like the offspring of Pac-Man and Pinky the ghost, with bulging eyes and big mouths that eat the apples scattered around the maze.

The “dirt” in the maze is no ordinary dirt. It’s quite colorful, actually, with designs ranging from green bricks to blue-and purple stripes. The tunnels you leave as you dig around are black, which contrast great with the dirt so you can easily see where you have already been and also backtrack in necessary (hint: you move faster through the already-made tunnels than you do when you dig around).

The game has mini-cutscenes, and graphically, they are a disappointment. Every three levels, you are greeted by a screen that shows you how long it took to complete each level, and how you completed the level. At the bottom, a letter from “EXTRA”, a dragon-dinosaur thing, and Mr. Do march across the screen. What I don’t get is why Mr. Do is now wearing a bright yellow clown suit with white-polka dots, and green shoes with green hair. The dragon-dinosaur thing is green as well, not red. This persists with the extra life screen. When all letters in the word “EXTRA” are caught, you are shown a cutscene with Mr. Do throwing a ball at a dinosaur. The whole thing looks like something a 6-grader made in Paint and tried to animate it in Adobe Flash. Granted this has nothing to do with gameplay, ad it is an early ‘80s arcade game, but I do find it a little distracting.

Sound: 8

I hope you like the Can-Can, because you’ll never hear the end of the song’s refrain. The Can-Can is the game’s main background music, with original ditties for the intermissions and when the “EXTRA” letters enter the playfield. It’s hard to describe the sound effects in the game; if you were hoping for those bleeps, blorps, and kambooms that you hear in early arcade games, you will be disappointed. As a matter of fact, the sound effects are pretty unique. If you put this game in a room with various arcade games, you would definitely be able to point out where “Mr. Do!” is.

Addictiveness: 8

This game is surprisingly more addictive than I thought it would be. Running around and killing monsters is just fun, plain and simple. One factor is the many ways you can complete each level. You can do so by collecting all the cherries on the playfield, defeating all the monsters in the level, completing the word “EXTRA”, and finding a diamond, although the latter is quite rare. Trying to beat a high score is also a factor, and with the many ways to rack up points that are at your disposal, you’ll be more inclined to play this game again and again in order to make the high score table.

Story: none

Games like this one never really have a story, just a simple objective, and that is to get as many points as possible.

Depth: 6

Nothing too spectacular in terms of depth here. There are 10 levels in all, but they begin to repeat themselves and they become more and more difficult. As I mentioned before, you have several ways to complete each level, so you can spice up your game any way you want.

Difficulty: 6

The game starts out pretty easy, and become more and more difficult as you progress. If this is your first time playing, I’d say you shouldn’t have any problems getting to the third level on one credit. Kids and beginning games can pick up this game pretty easily and get better at it as they practice. However, your reflexes and wits will be tested from time to time, and you’ll occasionally have to plan ahead if you want to beat the level as fast as possible.

Overall (NOT AVERAGE): 8.5

“Mr. Do!” is a great game, and should be an excellent addition to your arcade, if you have one. Although it’s not the best arcade game out there, its bright colors, addicting gameplay, and replay value are sure to bring you back again and again. Do the Do!

Oh dear, it's very difficult writing this review while trying to refrain from making as many bad rock and dinosaur puns as possible. But I can't help it if "Caveman Ninja" is perfect pun fuel. It's also a blast; one of the best platform-genre arcade games I've EVER played. Don't even bother wasting your time with the home ports. The SNES version is much different compared to the arcade version, and the Sega Genesis version is watered down in all departments except for overall game play (for the most part, anyways). The arcade version, on the other hand, is bright, colorful, and packed with action that put your reflexes to the test. But I'm getting ahead of myself here, so let's start at the beginning:

"Caveman Ninja" is a 1991 arcade game released by Data East. The game proved to be quite successful, causing it to receive a worldwide release, home ports, and even 2 different bootleg arcade copies.? Two players can play at the same time via co-op style, controlling Joe, a caveman with green hair, and Mac, a caveman with blue hair. These two most excellent cave dudes must rescue some bodacious babes who were captured by a group of most heinous cave dudes. They must journey on a radical adventure fighting off prehistoric creatures and battling army upon army of bad cave dudes in order to save the babes and receive their kiss.

Graphics: 9
One word: Beautiful. Data East really put a lot of time and detail into making this game look great. Wonderful shades of greens, browns, blues, and a variety of colorful vegetation give the game a prehistoric tropical feel. The prehistoric setting isn’t common in video games, so the environment is a nice change of pace, and the game looks beautiful for that reason. Sometimes I feel like I’m playing out a cartoon rather than a video game. It’s THAT good.

Every sprite is greatly detailed to the point where they look like they belong on the Game Boy Advance (keep in mind that arcade games at the time were usually 1 step ahead of common home video game consoles in the graphics department). As I said before, I feel like I’m playing a cartoon; for example, if Joe and Mac are approached by a T-Rex, they scream as their eyes pop out of their heads. If they’re crushed by a falling rock, they are flattened, yet they can still move around, which I found hilarious. One of the items in the game gives you temporary invincibility, and comes in the form of either a hot pepper or a bottle of Tabasco Sauce. This causes you to turn red and breathe fire as you march around stiffly. Things like that are what makes this game as much of a blast to watch as it is to actually play.

The enemies are designed well, with the bad cavemen having a generic cartoon-bad-guy look to them, and wild animals such as mini-T-Rexes and Pterodactyls have a sinister look to them as well. The bosses are HUGE creatures, taking up nearly half of the screen. Of course, being much larger, the bosses have more detail to them than smaller enemies, but it’s not to the point where the smaller enemies look terrible compared to the bosses.

Sound: 7

The game’s soundtrack fits the prehistoric-tropical setting pretty well. I was expecting the music to sound something along the lines of what I would hear in an episode of “The Flintstones”, but actually it reminds me of the game “Zuma”, with pounding drums and the like. All it really needs is a few tribal chants thrown in and it’d be gold.

The sound effects are pretty decent. Joe and Mac, as well as many of the enemies, have voices, but they don’t say any words (Joe and Mac say things like “Kaw!” when throwing a charged-up weapon, and “Ow!” when hit by an enemy, while enemy cavemen shout “No!” when defeated). You’ll also hear roaring dinosaurs, buzzing bees, spitting plants, and other stuff like that, but it isn’t distracting at all; actually, it greatly adds to the experience.

If you happen to play the two bootleg versions of the game that are available on this site under the names “Caveman Ninja (Bootleg)” and “Stone Age (Bootleg of Caveman Ninja)” , you will notice that the music is completely different. To tell you the truth, I actually like the music from the bootleg versions, especially the boss theme. However, the music does not fit the game at all. I can only assume the bootleg was made on different hardware, possibly the hardware of a different game. If anyone knows which game that would be, let me know.

Addictiveness: 9

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve played this game. It has an excellent replay value. The game has different level routes you can take, which can lead to a slightly different ending. ?The 2-player co-op mode is an excellent addition, where you and a friend can compete for the most points and try to see who can get kissed by the girls you rescue at the end of each boss fight. I definitely will play this game in the future, and I do hope Vizzed adds Netplay to MAME so I can co-op with someone. In the meantime, I’ll have to crowd around my laptop with my brother in order to play co-op.

Story: 4

Nothing really special here in terms of the story. It’s just your classic boy-saves-girl-from-monster scenario. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s pretty much been done to death, so there nothing I can really say about it. I’m not complaining, though. This game is awesome.

Depth: 7

As I’ve mentioned before, the game has different routes you can take when proceeding from one level to the next. For example, level three is a choice between climbing up to the top of a huge tree, and making you way up a mountainside. Depending on the route you take depends on what ending you get, although each ending is a slight variation from the next. The 2 player co-op adds to the depth; at the end of each boss fight, whoever delivered the finishing blow will get the girl’s kiss, encouraging some friendly competition.

Difficulty: 8

This is as fun as it is difficult. I’ve gotten good enough where I can make it to level 3 on just one credit, but that’s when I get pulverized. The very first level is not forgiving at all; it throws at least 10 cavemen at you at once as you make you way past a sleeping T-Rex.

Different weapons can be found in eggs on the ground or being carried by enemies, but most of the time, I keep getting flints, which is the most useless weapon in my opinion. If you can, try to get stone wheels (which knock enemies out as they roll away) or “other self”, where you shoot out clones of yourself. Get your hands on either of those items, and you won’t have too much trouble getting through some of the game. If you get stuck with a flit, however, you’re gonna have a bad time.

Weapons can be fired left, right, and up. Holding down the shooting button can charge your weapon and make it more powerful, which can come in handy when dealing with bosses and huge waves of enemies. I found out through trial-and-error that you can also jump on enemies Mario-style. Speaking of jumping, hold “up” and press jump to perform a super jump, and hold “down” and press jump to hop down to a lower level of ground.

Your health bar decreases over time, and taking hits from enemies can lower it even more. In the spirit of “Wonder Boy” and its NES counterpart “Adventure Island”, you can get food to boost your health. If you charge your weapon for too long, you will become fatigued and your character must stop to catch his breath, and your health will go down. During boss battles, your health will NOT go down naturally over time, but you will have no access to food for health.

Overall (NOT AVERAGE SCORE): 9

In a nutshell, “Caveman Ninja” is a true classic. Its colorful atmosphere, fun premise, rockin’ music, and exciting action will definitely bring me back for more. Eat your heart out, Fred Flintstone.