Mr. Do!

Mr. Do! is an action game first released in arcades in 1982 by Universal and soon after ported to various computers and game consoles. The game is somewhat similar to Dig Dug; players control Mr. Do!, a circus clown, with the goal of progressing through the numerous levels by either clearing all the cherries on the screen or defeating all of the various monsters. Mr. Do! was a big success for Universal and it spawned several sequels (including Mr. Do!'s Castle), however none of them were as popular.

Players control Mr. Do! and can navigate around a game screen that consists of brightly color dirt with several tunnels throughout along with groups of cherries and apples in various locations. Mr. Do! doesn't have to follow the existing tunnels in the playfield and can dig through the dirt to create new paths as well allowing players to reach the cherries and evade enemies. Chasing Mr. Do! are various monsters which players have two defenses against. The first way to defeat monsters is to drop an apple on top of them; if players clear the dirt beneath one of the apples it will fall and if one of the monsters (or Mr. Do!) are below it will be destroyed. Secondly, Mr. Do! has a 'Powerball'. Throwing the Powerball causes it to bounce around through the open paths before eventually returning to Mr. Do!. If any monsters are in the way, they will be destroyed. Mr. Do! has only one Powerball, however; players will need to wait for it to either return to Mr. Do! or regenerate after an amount of time in order to use it again. Due to this limitation players will often need to be careful as to when the Powerball is used and will have to take advantage of the apples to destroy enemies or simply try to outrun them.

From time to time, an Alphamonster will appear on the screen with one of the letters from the word 'EXTRA' on it. If that Alphamonster is destroyed with the Powerball, players earn that letter; if the complete word EXTRA is spelled out by destroying each of the Alphamonsters, a bonus life is awarded. Another bonus in the form of a diamond may also be found; after an apple falls, it breaks apart. Occasionally a diamond is hidden inside and if Mr. Do! collects the diamond players are awarded bonus points and proceed to the next level.

Points in the game are earned for collecting cherries, eating treats when they appear, collecting diamonds, and destroying enemies. There are four different ways players can complete a level to proceed in the game:

• Collect all of the cherries on the screen.
• Eliminate all of the monsters.
• Spell the word EXTRA by eliminating all the corresponding Alphamonsters.
• Collect a diamond.

As the levels progress, the game becomes faster and monsters persue Mr. Do! more aggressively.