Can't tell if it's pronounced "dew" or "doe"...

...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!

  Graphics 8   Sound 8   Addictive 8   Depth 6   Difficulty 6

Mr. Do! © 1983 Universal.

Mr. Do! is a colourful and addictive maze game in which the player takes on the role of the eponymous Mr. Do, a circus clown, who must clear each level of either cherries or monsters. The game's single screen levels are made up of tunnels surrounded by a colourful, soil-like substance. This soil can be dug through to create new tunnels, allowing Mr. Do to escape his enemies and to reach the many cherries that litter the levels. A number of apples are also scattered around each level, and Mr. Do can push them along tunnels (to block and/or kill monsters) or can tunnel beneath them to drop them onto the heads of any pursuing enemies. Mr. Do himself can also be killed by a falling apple.

Mr. Do is armed with a 'Powerball' that can be fired down a tunnel, it will then bounce around the tunnels until it either returns to Mr. Do, or comes into contact with, and kills, one of the level's monsters. The Powerball regenerates immediately the first time you use it, but takes longer each time it is used to return to your hands. As each level progresses, the monsters themselves start to dig tunnels of their own in their pursuit of Mr. Do. Monsters can also push the apples.

Each screen has a doorway through which the monsters enter the level. Once all of the monsters have appeared, the doorway will turn into a 'prize', (ice cream, biscuits, etc.). If Mr. Do collects the prize, the 'Alphamonster' and his three 'Muncher' henchmen will appear. The Alphamonster may be in the EXTRA box at the top of the screen or be moving around the screen. The Alphamonster and the Munchers cannot be easily crushed under apples because they tend to eat them. They can be killed individually with the Powerball or by killing the Alphamonster itself, at which point any remaining Munchers will turn into apples.

After every three levels, there is a brief intermission in which a tune is played and a large, animated Mr. Do appears, together with some of the game's monsters. The time to complete each level and the preferred method (monsters, cherries, Alphamonsters, or Diamond) is shown. The paths in the first level resemble a 'D', after this each level's tunnels resemble a digit, ('2', '3', '4' etc.) up to '0' for level 10.

A level can be completed any one of several different ways : either by collecting all of the on-screen cherries; by killing all of the monsters, by completing the EXTRA box, or by collecting the diamond. The latter appears only very occasionally ('Special' awards an extra credit).

-TRIVIA-

Mr. Do! was released in December 1982. It was also licensed to Taito.

Mr. Do! was inspired by "Dig Dug" and was the first in a series of four Mr. Do! games. Mr. Do! was one of video-gaming's biggest arcade successes. Unfortunately for Universal, none of their other games could match it in commercial terms.

It is the game responsible for launching the kit game craze in the U.S. video game industry.

David Breckon holds the official record for this game with 26030050 points.

A bootleg of this game is known as "Mr. Lo!" and another is called "Mr. Du!".

There are several well-known hacks of Mr Do! which are as follows :
* Mr. DigDo! - graphics changed to make them look more like those of Namco's "Dig Dug".
* Mr. Jong - Changes the clown into an old Chinese man, the monsters into clowns and the apples into mahjong blocks.
* Yankee Do! - Changes the graphics to make them more American patriotic.

-UPDATES-

On the Prototype version (which is a Japanese hack) :
* You are a 'Yukidaruma' (a snowman) with green arms instead of the famous clown.
* You dig with a rake in your hands.
* There is a mean expression when you push an apple.
* The screen does not change colour when you grab cookies, cake, etc...

-SERIES-

1. Mr. Do! (1982)
2. Mr. Do's Castle (1983)
3. Mr. Do's Wild Ride (1984)
4. Do! Run Run (1984)
5. Neo Mr. Do! (1996)

Overall 9.2    Graphics 8    Sound 8    Addictive 8    Depth 6    Difficulty 6

Can't tell if it's pronounced "dew" or "doe"...   pollyisagoodbird
...maybe it's pronounced "D'OH!", but who cares. It's "Mr. Do!", a little clown with a magic ball th...
  Graphics 8   Sound 8   Addictive 8   Depth 6   Difficulty 6
      Review Rating: 3.8/5     Submitted: 03-25-13     Review Replies: 3

-SCORING-

Eating a cherry : 50 points.
Eating a series of 8 cherries in a row : 500 points bonus.
Killing a monster with your snowball : 500 points.
Killing one monster with one apple : 1000 points.
Killing two monsters with one apple : 2000 points.
Killing three monsters with one apple : 4000 points.
Killing four monsters with one apple : 6000 points.
Killing five or more monsters with one apple : 8000 points.
Collecting special (free credit) diamond : 8000 points.
Collecting bonus treat from empty monster home: 1000 points on level one, increasing incrementally up to a maximum of 8000 points on level 22 onwards.

-TIPS AND TRICKS-

* 255 Lives Tricks : It's possible to win 255 lives on the first screen, but only if an apple appears in the top two rows of the playfield.
1) Begin by digging a tunnel directly from the bottom of the screen to just below the apple, but leave enough dirt under it that it doesn't fall.
2) Next, kill all of the enemies but one, then lose all of your extra lives. As soon as you're on your last life, go right under the apple and wait.
3) Eventually, the remaining enemy will come after you. Allow the apple to drop, but, in the interval before you're squashed, kill the enemy with the powerball. If all has gone well, you'll be carried to the bottom of the screen, the music will go haywire for a moment, and you'll be awarded 255 extra lives.
4) Note that you should always lose a life before spelling 'EXTRA', or you'll roll back to zero lives, so, to be safe, immediately kill yourself at the start of level two.
5) IMPORTANT : This trick will only work with the Taito version of Mr. Do!.

* Here's A Neat Trick : You can divide the screen into a grid. The cherries, apples, and tunnel corners are all centered on a grid element. If you are being chased by the normal badguys (not ghosts) you can dig and stop between grid elements. The badguy will think it needs to turn into a digger to get you. While he's changing forms, you can escape.

* An Alphamonster will appear every time your score reaches a multiple of 5000.

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Ferdinand 01-10-15 - 09:06 PM
 Do the Do. Mr. Do! is one of my favorite games off all-time. So addicting.