Mischief Makers
Encyclopedia
Mischief Makers, known in Japan as , is a side-scrolling 2D platform/puzzle video game developed by Treasure, and published by Enix
in Japan and by Nintendo
in America and Europe for the Nintendo 64
. It was released in 1997 as one of the first 2D side-scrollers on the Nintendo 64. The game's protagonist
is the Ultra-Intergalactic-Cybot G Marina Liteyears (generally referred to as just Marina) who is a robotic maid of the absent-minded Professor Theo.
The game sets through five stages on Planet Clancer, each one containing approximately 10 levels. The first stage that Marina will have to confront is full of theme parks, whacked deserts, and local gangsters. Here we meet King Aster (the leader of resistance against the Empire), Teran (a young boy attempting to get into the resistance) and other secondary characters, such as Calina, Marina's enemy and copycat.
Marina then manages to enter a world of volcanos and hot magma, where Migen kidnapped Professor Theo following the orders of his superiors. After defeating Migen Sr. and his son, Marina Liteyears goes to a cold world near a frozen mountain, where the local town is waiting for the Clancer Athletic Festival. Marina gets into a fight with Lunar (the first boss of the Beastector, a powerful evil trio), a robotic humanoid wolf with a machine gun in his arm, but eventually defeats him.
Marina participates in the Clancer Athletic Festival and wins the prize, Professor Theo. Suddenly a Clancer Kitten attempts to "fight" Marina but as he's too weak, he loses and as was stipulated, the Clancer Kitten takes Marina to the first boss shrine in the game: Cerberus Alpha, which is basically Lunar on a mechanical wolf. The Clancer Kitten helps Marina in this fight, and is later dismissed by her after defeating Cerverus and his wolf.
Again at home, Theo gets to be kidnapped again by Calina. So Marina has to save him again.
Meanwhile, the Empire is secretly watching Marina's steps, as she enters another world with huge mountains and rock slides. There, she will meet Taurus (later, Sasquatch Beta), a mechanical monkey-man with huge strength. Later in the game is beaten by Marina.
Marina saves Professor Theo and takes him home, just to be kidnapped by other Clancer minions.
The last level takes place inside the Empire. Marina must now defeat Merco, a handsome eagle-man with sword techniques. Merco later transforms to Phoenix Gamma and fights Marina in a flying level.
After the Beastector is beaten, Marina must destroy the Emperor Leo and later the final boss of the game, a giant robot which turns out to be a combination of the former Beastector.
The game ends showing the Clancers celebrating the end of the Empire. Teran attempts to escape, claiming that he's not a kid, but a hero that came from the sky. Two paths are opened here: one that shows Teran escaping after punching Marina, and another where Marina grabs Teran by his arm and tries to calm him down. In either one, Teran ends up shedding a tear next to his younger sister, who tells him that he always be part of the Clancer family.
The credits (or bonus), shows the human form of the Beastector (as long as all the Gold Gems were picked) and finally, the human form of Marina Liteyears.
Later on in the game, Teran is available to play in two levels. His moves includes a standard punch, upper punch, low kick, and a block move. He also has the ability to hang from ceilings. His signature skill is the ability to jump up to three times consecutively.
Hidden within every stage is a gold gem. These gems are used in the final cutscene
of the game with every gem adding one to three seconds to the ending. The extended ending adds character development to the villains, among various other things. The way the gold gem appears differs from stage to stage. For example, the gold gem will only appear on some boss stages if the boss is defeated without Marina being hit.
The four types of gems in this game are Red, Blue, Green, and Gold, all providing various amounts of health for Marina, red being the lowest, and Gold being the highest. Each stage follows a Super Mario World pattern (Such as 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, etc.). The Worlds follow various elements (World 1 is grasslands/desert, World 2 is fire, World 3 is snow, etc). Cutscenes occur from time to time before, or after a stage is complete. A glowing green/blue star is usually the exit of a level.
If Marina grabs hold of a Clancer ball, she can "throw herself" off of it, and aim towards another ball. Clancer pots can store items inside it, if you have the right items, you can create some very interesting items.
produced with Treasure. Enix's decision to work with this developer company was motivated by the popularity of their action game
s. Masato Maegawa, president and chief executive officer
of Treasure, accepted the offer as he had fond memories of Enix, having applied to them as a student. The game was one of Treasure's first titles not developed for the Sega Mega Drive
or Sega Saturn
, as they felt the hardware functionalities of the Nintendo 64
had become the best choice for their future projects. The developers originally had difficulty developing for the console due to the new interface and lack of finished development tools, and switching from the Saturn's CD-ROM
-based development to cartridge
-based development was challenging. While the switch to cartridge provided various conveniences for the game, such as data being loaded with no load times, the developers disliked the higher cost involved with it.
Several members of the game's development staff, including the main programmer and the character designer, had also worked on Treasure's shoot 'em up
game Gunstar Heroes
. Instead of following the same design as the previous title, the developers wanted to make Mischief Makers unique with a gameplay based on grabbing and catching, though it was harder for them to implement.
said that the game "is a welcomed addition for fans of the genre, and certainly Treasure fanatics worldwide will love it," but heavily criticized the sound, giving a 6 out of 10 and stating that it is "Japan's last word on midi music. Not terrible, but a little boring." Similarly, GameSpot
said, "For what it is, MM is a solid title, but the terseness of the game and the limited graphics and sound make evident that it could have been so much more, transcending the decent game it is now to become a truly excellent one on another medium."
Enix
The was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
in Japan and by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
in America and Europe for the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
. It was released in 1997 as one of the first 2D side-scrollers on the Nintendo 64. The game's protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
is the Ultra-Intergalactic-Cybot G Marina Liteyears (generally referred to as just Marina) who is a robotic maid of the absent-minded Professor Theo.
Story
While visiting the planet Clancer, Professor Theo, a self-proclaimed 'genius in robotics', is kidnapped by the Empire, acting upon orders from their evil emperor and estranged twin brother of Theo, who wishes to fill the world with hate and despair. Upon realizing Theo's abduction, his robotic maid Marina Liteyears sets out to rescue him. Every person, animal and inanimate object on the planet (including the planet itself) has an identical "face", seemingly belonging to a species called 'Clancer'.The game sets through five stages on Planet Clancer, each one containing approximately 10 levels. The first stage that Marina will have to confront is full of theme parks, whacked deserts, and local gangsters. Here we meet King Aster (the leader of resistance against the Empire), Teran (a young boy attempting to get into the resistance) and other secondary characters, such as Calina, Marina's enemy and copycat.
Marina then manages to enter a world of volcanos and hot magma, where Migen kidnapped Professor Theo following the orders of his superiors. After defeating Migen Sr. and his son, Marina Liteyears goes to a cold world near a frozen mountain, where the local town is waiting for the Clancer Athletic Festival. Marina gets into a fight with Lunar (the first boss of the Beastector, a powerful evil trio), a robotic humanoid wolf with a machine gun in his arm, but eventually defeats him.
Marina participates in the Clancer Athletic Festival and wins the prize, Professor Theo. Suddenly a Clancer Kitten attempts to "fight" Marina but as he's too weak, he loses and as was stipulated, the Clancer Kitten takes Marina to the first boss shrine in the game: Cerberus Alpha, which is basically Lunar on a mechanical wolf. The Clancer Kitten helps Marina in this fight, and is later dismissed by her after defeating Cerverus and his wolf.
Again at home, Theo gets to be kidnapped again by Calina. So Marina has to save him again.
Meanwhile, the Empire is secretly watching Marina's steps, as she enters another world with huge mountains and rock slides. There, she will meet Taurus (later, Sasquatch Beta), a mechanical monkey-man with huge strength. Later in the game is beaten by Marina.
Marina saves Professor Theo and takes him home, just to be kidnapped by other Clancer minions.
The last level takes place inside the Empire. Marina must now defeat Merco, a handsome eagle-man with sword techniques. Merco later transforms to Phoenix Gamma and fights Marina in a flying level.
After the Beastector is beaten, Marina must destroy the Emperor Leo and later the final boss of the game, a giant robot which turns out to be a combination of the former Beastector.
The game ends showing the Clancers celebrating the end of the Empire. Teran attempts to escape, claiming that he's not a kid, but a hero that came from the sky. Two paths are opened here: one that shows Teran escaping after punching Marina, and another where Marina grabs Teran by his arm and tries to calm him down. In either one, Teran ends up shedding a tear next to his younger sister, who tells him that he always be part of the Clancer family.
The credits (or bonus), shows the human form of the Beastector (as long as all the Gold Gems were picked) and finally, the human form of Marina Liteyears.
Characters
- Marina Liteyears/Marina Naget
- Professor Theo/Ganbell H. Jorb
- Teran/Chappy
- Chapiko
- King Aster/Babuu
- Lunar/Stinger
- Taurus/Goliath
- Merco/Baron
- Calina/Nenko
- Kyar
- Emperor Leo/Gonbell
The Beastector's Mechas
- Cerberus Alpha/Road Striker
- Sasquatch Beta/Grand Buster
- Phoenix Gamma/Sky Saber
Gameplay
Marina's main way of attacking is her grab move. She is able to take hold of enemies, objects, weapons, and even some enemy projectiles or attacks, which can be thrown or shaken, depending on the object. When certain objects are shaken, items such as crystals might appear. When Marina shakes some other objects, a secondary effect may be activated.Later on in the game, Teran is available to play in two levels. His moves includes a standard punch, upper punch, low kick, and a block move. He also has the ability to hang from ceilings. His signature skill is the ability to jump up to three times consecutively.
Hidden within every stage is a gold gem. These gems are used in the final cutscene
Cutscene
A cutscene is a sequence in a video game over which the player has no or only limited control, breaking up the gameplay and used to advance the plot, strengthen the main character's development, introduces enemy characters, and provide background information, atmosphere, dialogue, and clues...
of the game with every gem adding one to three seconds to the ending. The extended ending adds character development to the villains, among various other things. The way the gold gem appears differs from stage to stage. For example, the gold gem will only appear on some boss stages if the boss is defeated without Marina being hit.
The four types of gems in this game are Red, Blue, Green, and Gold, all providing various amounts of health for Marina, red being the lowest, and Gold being the highest. Each stage follows a Super Mario World pattern (Such as 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, etc.). The Worlds follow various elements (World 1 is grasslands/desert, World 2 is fire, World 3 is snow, etc). Cutscenes occur from time to time before, or after a stage is complete. A glowing green/blue star is usually the exit of a level.
If Marina grabs hold of a Clancer ball, she can "throw herself" off of it, and aim towards another ball. Clancer pots can store items inside it, if you have the right items, you can create some very interesting items.
Development
Mischief Makers was the first game that publisher EnixEnix
The was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
produced with Treasure. Enix's decision to work with this developer company was motivated by the popularity of their action game
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
s. Masato Maegawa, president and chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of Treasure, accepted the offer as he had fond memories of Enix, having applied to them as a student. The game was one of Treasure's first titles not developed for the Sega Mega Drive
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
or Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
, as they felt the hardware functionalities of the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
had become the best choice for their future projects. The developers originally had difficulty developing for the console due to the new interface and lack of finished development tools, and switching from the Saturn's CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
-based development to cartridge
ROM cartridge
A ROM cartridge, sometimes referred to as a cart, is a removable enclosure containing read-only memory devices designed to be connected to a computer or games console....
-based development was challenging. While the switch to cartridge provided various conveniences for the game, such as data being loaded with no load times, the developers disliked the higher cost involved with it.
Several members of the game's development staff, including the main programmer and the character designer, had also worked on Treasure's shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
game Gunstar Heroes
Gunstar Heroes
is a run and gun video game developed by Treasure and published by Sega.Treasure's debut game was originally released on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in late 1993, and later on, ported to the Game Gear by M2. On February 23, 2006, Gunstar Heroes was released as part of the Gunstar Heroes: Treasure...
. Instead of following the same design as the previous title, the developers wanted to make Mischief Makers unique with a gameplay based on grabbing and catching, though it was harder for them to implement.
Reception
The game drew mixed reviews. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
said that the game "is a welcomed addition for fans of the genre, and certainly Treasure fanatics worldwide will love it," but heavily criticized the sound, giving a 6 out of 10 and stating that it is "Japan's last word on midi music. Not terrible, but a little boring." Similarly, GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
said, "For what it is, MM is a solid title, but the terseness of the game and the limited graphics and sound make evident that it could have been so much more, transcending the decent game it is now to become a truly excellent one on another medium."