Mr. Do!

Mr. Do! is a fixed-screen maze game in which the player guides a circus clown through orchards filled with cherries, apples, and pursuing monsters. Mr. Do can follow the existing tunnels or dig new paths through the surrounding soil. Each stage can be completed in several ways: collecting every cherry, eliminating all of the regular monsters, spelling the word EXTRA, or finding a rare diamond.

Mr. Do is armed with a single Power Ball that bounces through the tunnels and destroys the first enemy it strikes. Afterward, it takes time to regenerate before it can be thrown again. A ball that becomes trapped in an inaccessible passage must instead be retrieved, leaving Mr. Do temporarily unable to attack.

Large apples provide another means of defense. Digging beneath one causes it to fall, while an apple resting in a tunnel can be pushed toward a drop. Falling apples can crush several monsters at once for increasing bonuses, but they are equally dangerous to Mr. Do. An apple that falls too far without hitting anything breaks apart and disappears, occasionally revealing a diamond.

The ordinary monsters emerge from a central enclosure and pursue Mr. Do through the tunnels. Although they normally follow existing paths, some can transform into slower digging forms and burrow directly through the soil toward him. Contact with any active monster or a falling apple costs one life. As the stages progress, the enemies move faster, become more aggressive, and begin digging more frequently.

After all of the regular monsters have entered the playfield, their central enclosure changes into a bonus treat. Collecting it temporarily freezes the remaining enemies and releases an Alphamonster accompanied by three apple-eating Munchers. Each Alphamonster represents one letter in EXTRA. Destroying it earns that letter and turns its remaining escorts into apples; completing the entire word awards another life and immediately advances to the next stage.

Cherries are arranged in groups, and collecting an entire group consecutively awards a bonus. Points are also earned for bonus treats, Power Ball attacks, and crushing one or more monsters with an apple. A stage may end immediately if every regular monster is destroyed, all cherries are collected, EXTRA is completed, or a diamond is found. The arcade game cycles through ten principal layouts before repeating them with faster and more dangerous opposition, and one or two players can participate, with two players alternating turns.

The arcade release is the original version. The Game Boy version uses a scrolling view and provides a map to compensate for the handheld’s smaller display. The SNES edition more closely reproduces the arcade presentation and adds a competitive two-player mode. The J2ME release includes both a version based on the original game and an enhanced mode with redrawn graphics, new stages, and power-ups. The Wii Virtual Console Arcade and Antstream releases present the arcade version through their respective digital services.