Mr. Do!'s Castle

Name:	Mr. Do!'s Castle
Company:	Parker Brothers
Model #:	PB5820
Programmer:	On-Time Software
Year:	1984
Released?	Yes
Notes:	Originally to be released by Coleco, but released by Parker Brothers after Coleco left the 2600 market in 1983.

There are two types of games in world; those that make good 2600 games, and those that should never have been attempted.  Unfortunately Mr. do!'s Castle falls into the later category.  Mr. do!'s Castle was a complex and fast paced action game, a good company might have been able to capture some of the spirit of the arcade game, but we had Coleco...

Mr. Do is back, and this time he's got a castle (I guess he got tired of living underground).  Unfortunately he's discovered that Unicorns like to live in his castle too.  But these aren't cute white creatures of fantasy movies, these are nasty two legged squat monsters with horns on their heads.  Armed only with his magic hammer Mr. Do must smash blocks on top of the Unicorns heads in order to rid his castle of them forever.  Mr. Do can also smash out floor tiles to make holes for the Unicorns to fall into, but bopping Unicorns through holes only makes them angry, and they will multiply.

There are three types of Unicorns: Red, Yellow, and Green (shouldn't yellow and blue make green?).  Red Unicorns are the normal grunts, slow and easy to kill.  Yellow unicorns spawn from Red Unicorns that have been smashed through floor tiles or left alone too long, these guys are a little faster and a little smarter than their Red cousins.  Green Unicorns come from, you guessed it, Yellow Unicorns!  Green Unicorns are the absolute worst because they're lightning fast and too smart to fall for most of your tricks.  They also have a bad tendency to multiply when your not looking. 

There are two ways to beat each board.  Mr. Do can either destroy all the Unicorns (this is normally how you win), or he can bash out all the Cherry blocks scattered around the level.  Hitting all the Cherry blocks is very difficult to do, but is sometimes the wiser way to go once the Unicorns get out of control.  You can also use Skull blocks to kill the Unicorns, these blocks appear on either end of a row of blocks.  Smashing both Skull blocks will cause all the blocks in between to fall crushing many Unicorns at once.  The area in between is then replaced by a slatted bridge which cannot be smashed out.  Also scattered around the level are three Key blocks, smashing all three Keys will open the doors at the top of the screen.  Inside this door is a magic coat of arms which will turn all the Unicorns into those funny Lettermen (from Mr. Do!).  Smashing these Lettermen with your hammer will not only eliminate a Unicorn, but will score you a letter.  Spell out the word EXTRA and you'll get an extra life.  

Unfortunately the 2600 version falls short on many counts.  Many of the gameplay elements from other versions have been simplified or changed all together.  This is especially noticeable with the swinging ladders which Mr. Do can push to swing it from one side of hole to the other.  This affects which side of the level Mr. Do or the Unicorns will appear on they climb up the ladder.  In all other versions these ladders can be used to push Unicorns away from you (simply kick them while the Unicorn is climbing up), but in the 2600 version once a Unicorn climbs the ladder you can't move it.  Small changes like this can really mess up a players strategy.  Also lacking in the 2600 version are the beautiful graphics which made Mr. do!'s Castle a fun game to watch as well as play.  On the 2600 the graphics are very blocky and undefined making it hard to line up your hammer with the block your trying to smash..  Some games can be watered down and still play well on the 2600, Mr. do!'s Castle simply isn't one of them.

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