Mr. Do! (Arcade)

Mr. Do! is best described as a mix between Pac-Man and Dig Dug (and there are many heated debates between whether it is better or worse than the latter). It was very successful in arcades, spawning numerous sequels and spin-offs throughout the 80s.

Revisional Differences#

Four distinct versions are present in MAME: the original Japanese version where the protagonist is a Yukidaruma (Japanese snowman) instead of a clown, the International version which changes the protagonist with the iconic clown, a revised Japanese version published by Taito which retains the clown character and another revised Japanese version which fixes a bug that was previously fixed in the International version.

Oddly, MAME refers to the original Japanese verion as a "prototype", but other sources claim it was properly released in Japan and a US flyer exists depicting the Yukidaruma character, making its exact release status a mystery.

To differentiate the versions, the original Japanese release will henceforth be referred as the "Yukidaruma version", while the subsequent releases as the "Clown version".

Title Screen#

Japan (Original) Yukidaruma ver.	US/Europe Clown ver.	Japan (Revisions) Clown ver.

The original Japanese version shows only the game's logo and the coin instructions, whereas the International version moves the coin instruction a bit upwards to include the Universal logo and the revised Japanese versions moves the coin instructions even more upwards and the Universal's logo a bit downwards to include the "TAITO CORP." string.

Graphics#

Yukidaruma ver.	Clown ver.

All of Mr. Do's graphics are completely different.

Yukidaruma ver.	Clown ver.

The death animation seems to be playing a bit off of Dig Dug in the Yukidaruma version, and was simplified in the Clown version.

Yukidaruma ver.	Clown ver.

The graphics for the intermission cutscenes were also altered to match in the Clown version.

Yukidaruma ver.	Clown ver.

The extra life cutscene graphics were also altered, and Mr. Do's powerball became a more reddish shade of orange in order to fit palette constraints.

Interestingly, the "credit" icon still depicts the Yukidaruma design throughout all revisions of the game.

Gameplay#

Yukidaruma ver.	Clown ver.

In the Clown version, eating the treat in the center of the screen will cause the background's color turn red, and a bunch of Munchers to rush in from the Alphamonster, freezing all enemies on-screen. In the Yukidaruma version, the Munchers never appear, the background color doesn't change, and the enemies only freeze for a few seconds. The Yukidaruma version has no data for the Munchers in its coding; their graphics replaced the Yukidaruma's death animation and a few blank tiles.

Music#

The main theme and death sound is completely different between versions. Interestingly, renditions of the Yukidaruma version's music were used in the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision ports of Mr. Do!, despite those releases using the clown character.

The main theme in the Yukidaruma version was a considerably longer, seemingly original theme. In the Clown version, this was replaced with a far shorter loop of the Can-Can; however, unlike the music in the Yukidaruma version, the music will also speed up in order to indicate impending danger.

The intermission theme was changed from a rendition of the Japanese children's song Omocha no Machi (The Toy March) to a version of Ludwig van Beethoven's Turkish March.

As previously mentioned, in the Yukidaruma version, there are no Munchers; collecting the bonus item only makes the on-screen enemies freeze for a couple of seconds and spawns an Alphamonster, along with a short jingle. In the Clown version, this is replaced with a short loop to accompany the Munchers.

The Yukidaruma version has a simpler, peppier death jingle.

255 Lives Underflow Bug#

Present only in the original (Yukidaruma) and first revision of the Japanese version is a bug in which on your last life, killing the last Mini-Dino with the powerball just before being crushed by an apple on the first or second row of the playfield will result in the lives counter underflowing and giving the player 255 lives. This was fixed in the International and second revision of the Japanese version.

References#