...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!