Mischief Makers

On the planet Clancer, the evil Emperor and his forces are brainwashing the populace into joining him. A visiting roboticist, Professor Theo, is abducted by imperial forces. Now, it's up to the professors greatest creation, a robotic maid named Marina Liteyear, to set out and rescue him.

I found this surprisingly good for a side scrolling 2.5D game released on the N64. I was a huge Donkey Kong Country fan as a kid, so the games pre-rendered characters and backgrounds strongly appealed to me. It may have seemed outdated for the time period, but it worked surprisingly well here. The games atmosphere and art style was surreal and the character designs were quirky and goofy looking. The soundtrack was well made and ranged from high and cheerful to tense and awesome, especially the introduction and boss themes.

You'll guide Marina across five different worlds and over 50 levels. The gameplay is a clever mixture of platforming action and puzzle solving, being centered around grabbing, shaking, and throwing objects while Marina repeatedly says her "Shake, shake" catchphrase until she reaches the levels end and teleports to the next. The levels had time-limits and they progressively became harder and lenghthier, stretching to maze-like proportions. But luckily, Marina had speed on her side and her built in jet-pack allowed her to swiftly run, jump, hover, and glide through the levels. Combat consisted of using Marina's grapple move to grab and throw objects at enemies. You'll also face bosses, which I considered the most fun and challenging part of the game.

The game wasn't without its flaws though. Despite the large number of levels, the game is still rather short; I beat it once in only a few hours. And I found the story confusing at times and the dialogue was awkward; poor translation from Japanese to English, maybe.

Sadly, this game was largely forgotten by more successful 3D titles released at the time. But it's become something a cult classic, and I personally consider it one of the N64's most underrated titles.

Mischief Makers, besides being one of the few 2D sidescrollers for the N64, combined sidescrollers and puzzles, which I found to be a lot of fun.

The character Marina is engaging to use, especially her ability to shake and throw the objects in her environment. I love the quirky, distinctive design in this, the weird looking citizens and and the face blocks. Story also has a lot of plot for a platformer. Its interesting and the characters are distinctive and humorous. The game also does a good job of bonus achievements important. Each level has a hidden gem you have to acquire. I won't spoil what you get for getting them all, but it is important.

The one downside I had with the game is that one of the levels requires you to tap a button really fast a la the torture segment in Metal Gear Solid. I, among others, physically have trouble tapping that fast.

Overall, it's a great game that I miss playing.