1986 · Simon Pick · Action

Mad Nurse

In Mad Nurse you take on the role of a midwife in a maternity hospital. In this hospital the babies run amok, leaving their cots to stick their fingers into electrical sockets, drink whatever medications they can get their hands on, fall down lift shafts and engage in other fatal activities. This makes it difficult for a trainee nurse such as yourself to bring them under control and it's your job to keep them alive.

Released: 1986
Platforms: Commodore 64 Commodore C64/128/MAX ZX Spectrum
Genres: Action
Developers: Simon Pick
Publishers: Firebird
Modes: Single-player
Themes: Action
Country: United Kingdom

About

Mad Nurse is a video game programmed by Simon Pick and published by Firebird Software Ltd. for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum in 1984.

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player controls a nurse overseeing three floors of a children's ward, moving between them via a lift to pick up babies who crawl out of their cots and return them before they can drink medicine, touch power points, or fall down lift shafts; the player manages three trainee nurses who can each sustain three mishaps, uses stun‑gas to subdue unruly children, and navigates rooms whose furniture layouts change each game.

Development

Mad Nurse had a budget of £650. Firebird initially refused to publish the game, because dying babies were too controversial, but changed their minds when their post of head of development changed hands. Some outlets also refused to sell the game. Firebird released a package that included Mad Nurse and Olli & Lissa in fall 1987.

The music in the game is adopted from Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt (the friska in the second section) and Brahms' Lullaby by Johannes Brahms.