Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1988 side-scrolling action video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System loosely based on the novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Gameplay alternates between the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde based on the player's ability to either avoid or cause damage.
Video Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (video game)
Plot
Dr. Jekyll is on his way to his wedding with the lovely Miss Millicent. As he walks to the church with his cane in hand, several townspeople, animals, and other obstacles obstruct his path, 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. The game's ending depends on which character, Jekyll or Hyde, reaches the church first.
Maps Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (video game)
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, Cemetery, Town, Park, Cemetery, Street. The North American version also removed certain sprites and segments from the original Japanese version.
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 vertically and Mr. Hyde walks from right to left with the screen autoscrolling. Mr. Hyde must kill monsters as fast as he can in order to turn back into Dr. Jekyll, with Shepp monsters generally giving the largest refill to his Meter, though killing other monsters may refill the Meter a small amount.
If at any point Mr. Hyde reaches Dr. Jekyll's location (except in the final segment), a bolt of lightning strikes him, which kills 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. However the more detailed alternate ending of the game requires the player to strategically reach the Church with Mr. Hyde but making sure Dr Jekyll stays ahead of Mr. Hyde until the final level.
Reception
The game was the first to be reviewed on the website Something Awful, gaining a score of -37, where -50 is the worst possible score. 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." IGN ranked the cover art the third scariest cover art in gaming.
Angry Video Game Nerd
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, together with Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, were the target of James Rolfe's first two mock reviews as the Angry Video Game Nerd. The joke relied upon the distress caused to an obsessive gamer by titles that were more than twenty years old.
References
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Footnotes
Source of article : Wikipedia
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