Mr. Do’s Castle, Arcade

The 1983 sequel to the classic Mr. Do!, Mr. Do’s Castle, is a platform game this time, with pushable ladders and a hammer for bashing monsters.

Rather than bashing the monsters (actually, unicorns) directly, you have to knock bits of the floor onto them from above. Knocking holes in the ground also gives you a hole to escape down, but it can also stop you reaching certain parts of the screen. Some ladders (the ones resting diagonally) can be pushed between platforms, which adds a strategic element to the gameplay. Hitting a monster directly with your hammer will only deflect it momentarily, but if you strike one when it is on the ‘sweet spot’ of a floor tile you will kill it.

Certain floor tiles have keys on them. If you clobber all the keys it opens a door at the top of the screen, revealing a shield. Collect the shield and the enemies turn into ‘Alphamonsters’, each with a letter on them. If you hit an Alphamonster and collect all the letters of the word EXTRA you get an extra life. It’s very difficult to do that, though, because they all run away from you the moment you touch the shield.

One cool way of finishing a screen is to find the hidden diamond – just like in the first Mr. Do! game – which is hidden inside a cherry block. If it’s unearthed you have a limited time to collect it before it disappears. Grabbing the diamond awards 8000 points, a bye to the next stage, and an extra credit!

The AI of the monsters is pretty direct and they also speed up at certain points, making them run twice as fast as Mr. Do, so any level above the first one is a real challenge. Mr. Do’s Castle is a good game overall though and has been converted and cloned to most home systems over the years.

Note: Mr. Do’s Castle is known as Mr. Do Versus Unicorns in Japan.

Mr. Do series on The King of Grabs:
Mr. Do! (1982)
Mr. Do’s Castle (1983)
Mr. Do’s Wild Ride (1984)
Do! Run Run (1984)