1999 · Port · Planet Interactive · Platformer

Mr. Nutz

Port

1994 video game

Released: 1 December 1999
Platforms: Game Boy Game Boy Advance Game Boy Color SNES Sega Genesis
Genres: Platformer
Developers: Planet Interactive
Publishers: Infogrames
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Age ratings: ESRB E

About

Mr. Nutz is a 2D side-scrolling platform game published by Ocean Software. It was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in late 1993 in Europe and in North America and Japan in 1994. In 1994, it was released for the Mega Drive as Ocean's first Sega game, and on the Game Boy. It was also released on the Sega Channel in 1995, the Game Boy Color in 1999, and remade for the Game Boy Advance in 2001.

The player controls the one player character, Mr. Nutz, an anthropomorphic red squirrel through six themed levels. The end goal is to stop Mr. Blizzard, a yeti, who is trying to take over the world by using his magic powers to turn it into a mass of ice. Ammunition, in the form of nuts, can be collected and thrown at enemies.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Mr. Nutz can run, jump, swim in some levels and collect items. The character can jump on most enemies, strike them with his tail, or throw nuts he has collected at them to defeat them. Apart from bosses, most enemies can be killed with one strike.

As with many games, contact with hazards and enemies that does not sufficiently defeat them results in losing one unit of health followed by a few seconds of invulnerability as the character sprite flashes. No version contains a time limit, the player may spend as long as they wish on each level, although some versions of the game will reward the player with bonus points for clearing a level quickly. Coins found along the way will not only give points and bonuses during gameplay, but the total amount of coins collected in a level will determine the player's completion bonus at the end of a level. Coins, health, and extra lives are often hidden throughout the levels.

Development

By 1990 after the closure of Ocean France, character designer and graphics artist Philippe Dessoly and programmer Pierre Adane decided to work independently on a platform game for Amiga. When designing a character for the game, Dessoly was considering a turtle or a parrot, but his wife gave him the idea to choose a squirrel. Dessoly did his sketches of the character and enemies in pencil as well as level designs. The game was shown to Ocean Software, which agreed to publish it on the Super NES and Mega Drive/Genesis instead of Amiga, because the console market was safer against piracy and more profitable compared to personal computers.

The working title was Squirrel's Game. The developers changed it into Mr. Nuts, but this was considered too pejorative and vague by the English publisher. The final title became Mr.

Reception

SNES N-Force gave the game 90%, commending the controls and the graphics which the reviewer likens to "a good children's book." GamePro gave the Super NES version a mixed review. They praised the use of parallax scrolling and the "beautifully drawn" backgrounds, but remarked that "the game play, despite the hidden secret levels and fairly tough challenge, just isn't very interesting."

The SNES version won "Best Platform Game" for 1993 by Consoles + magazine.