Mr. Do! (Arcade)

Mr. Doǃ
Developer: Universal Publisher: Universal Platform: Arcade (custom) Released in JP: October 1982 Released in US: February 1983 Released in EU: February 1983 This game has revisional differences.

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

There is an alternate, earlier version of Mr. Do! where the protagonist is a Yukidaruma (Japanese snowman) instead of a clown. While referred to as a "prototype" in MAME, other sources claim it was properly released in Japan, making its exact release status a mystery.

To differentiate the ports, they will henceforth be referred to as "Clown version" and "Yukidaruma version".

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.

Gameplay

In the Clown version, eating the treat in the center of the screen will cause a bunch of Munchers to rush in from the top, freezing all enemies on-screen. In the Yukidaruma version, the Munchers never appear, 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

To do: Add music tracks for comparison.

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.