The Tundra: Mischief Makers

Every once in a while, a truly original game gets made. Every once in a while, someone decides to try something amazingly different and ends up creating something new, charming, and most importantly, fun. Every once in a while, someone makes a new kind of game... and it gets ignored.

I could go into the "why?" and "no, seriously, why?" of this trend, but for now, I'll just talk about a great example of this: Mischief Makers, for the good old Nintendo 64. Summing up what kind of game Mischief Makers is is a difficult thing to do. It's a platformer... kinda. It's a brawler... kinda. It's a shooter... kinda. Really, it's all of these things, and this is why it's so great. But of course, that statement is gonna take a whooole lot of backing up. So let's start with the number one question of the day: Just what the hell IS Mischief Makers?

Mischief Makers is a little gem from the people over at Treasure, a company that does a wonderful job of making fantastic games that nobody has ever heard of. It stars a cast that could easily have come from any random Saturday Morning Anime: We have our heroine, Ultra-Intergalactic Cybot G, Marina Liteyears, who is a robot created by Professor Theo. The pair travel to the planet Clancer, where an evil empire is terrorizing the people, assisted by a group called the Beastector, a small band of mercenaries who are also part animal for some reason. The main trouble comes from the Prof. being constantly kidnapped, forcing Marina to rescue him so he can be all creepy and lecherous and, well, basically try to be an Old Anime Man and constantly try to grope Marina.

You know, for kids!

Gameplay revolves around Marina working her way through levels, solving basic puzzles and beating up all the dudes in her way. The game takes its first big turn here: Marina doesn't have a gun, or super kung-fu powers, or some kind of eye laser. No, she fights by grabbing things and throwing them the fuck across the screen. These things can be enemies, blocks, bombs, throwing stars, bullets,missiles, laser cannon blasts... You name it, she can grab it and throw it back in your face. Another big gameplay mechanic is shaking things. Marina just looooves to SHAKE SHAKE everything she gets her cold, unfeeling robot claws on. Doing this can reveal goodies, like life-replenishing gems or secret warp gates, or it can power up held missiles, or it can even change the function of any guns she may get a hold of.

A big part of what makes this game so fun is how every level introduces something different. You'll never find yourself doing the same thing twice here: Each level has its own feel and goals, making sure that gameplay is always varied and never stale. Here's a list of some of the things you'll be doing during your little quest:
Exploring an amusement park.
Exploring an "amusement park."
Running for cover from an erupting volcano.
Fighting your way through a battle field.
Riding a missile.
Playing dodgeball with a cat.
Navigating a maze.
Solving puzzles.
Riding a tricycle.
Racing a boulder, Indiana Jones style.

And that isn't even taking into account the boss fights. Each world (except the first one, which is largely a tutorial and Plot Setup Wizard) has a couple mini-bosses and one big boss, and even these fights are all different. One fight has you hurling a giant bee into a pool of lava, while another fight has you catching a giant's punches and throwing them back at him. These fights get even more diverse and interesting when you try to collect their Gold Gems, which I'll talk more about in a bit. But for now, I'll mention how one mini-boss requires you to Heimlich him until he coughs up the Gem.

The game is rather short, but it also has a lot of replay value. Each level is scored based on how fast you complete it, so even if you discover all of the game's secrets, you can always challenge yourself to see if you can get those hard to obtain A ranks, or even the coveted S ranks. Another thing is those Gold Gems I mentioned earlier. Each level and boss fight has one Gold Gem hidden somewhere inside of it. For most bosses, this just means beating it without getting hit, but a lot of them require some smart thinking, quick reflexes, trying out really weird and interesting things, shaking a certain person, or just plain searching every nook and cranny of a level. You even have good incentive to want these Gems. They're not just trophies; each Gem you find lets you watch a little bit more of the game's ending. So to watch all the way to the big secret ending, you need to get every last Gem!

I haven't talked much about the plot, setting, or characters, but that's because honestly, they're not that important. Mischief Makers is one of those games that's just fun to play, without taking itself seriously. It's completely silly and off the wall, to the point that near the end of the game, the characters themselves even seem to realize that things just need to happen the way they need to happen. The game itself even tells you silly things, like that you can wiggle the control stick to relieve stress. But I will say that the soundtrack is pretty damn decent. It's not incredibly epic and awe inspiring, nor is it deeply beautiful and touching. It's a very mellow affair that does an excellent job of setting the mood in a scene or level, without being too intrusive on the game itself. You'll eventually find yourself not even really noticing the music at all, and just taking for granted that it's a part of the scenery. But of course, there are also a couple over the top tracks to enhance the sillyness or overly-dramatic feel of some scenes.

So that's my big spiel on Mischief Makers. There's really not much else to say, aside from that it's just good, honest, slightly retro-styled fun. It's quirky and interesting, and I highly recommend it to anybody that is a fan of unique platforming games. Or brawling games. Or shooting games.