User Reviews

I was watching a YouTube video featuring a guy who gives court style reviews to some poorly received games, thus rating them as either "innocent" or "guilty." In it, I was introduce to this NES game called Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which is based on a book by Louis Stevenson. In the game, the player controls Dr. Jekyll who has to walk through six stages before reaching the church where he'll marry his girlfriend Ms. Millicent. Each stage contains dangers and obstacles which the doc has to avoid. The game features two meters: the top one represents life, and bottom one represents stress. If Jekyll gets hit by an obstacle, the life meter will deplete and the stress meter increases, though the stress meter changes faster. Once the stress meter gets full, Jekyll will turn into his doppelganger Mr. Hyde. The world Hyde plays in is similar to Jekyll's, except the backgrounds have a more eerie appearance. In these eerie places, Hyde has to destroy certain monsters (I recommend using the fireball instead of punches.) to bring down the stress meter. Once the stress meter empties, the player will return as Jekyll, and a significant portion of life will be restored as a bonus. Upon watching the YouTube video where the host rates it as "guinnocent" (the host's personal verdict to indicate a mixed response), I decided to play the game online.

I must admit that things like rolling barrels or people who run around at the presence of a bomb-dropping bandit can be tricky and frustrating. But with clever maneuvering and keeping a positive attitude, you should be able to avoid most, if not all, of them. I would at times let the people bump me back to avoid sustaining significant damage from the bombs. True, projectiles like bad musical notes and shoveled dirt are unpredictable, thus avoiding them is only by chance as Jekyll can only walk and not run (This shouldn't be surprising as people would just walk, not run, when going to an occasion). Anyway, I could care less, for most part, if I get struck by them, considering the Hyde levels are an opportunity for life restoration and to earn some money.

The game has two endings which is a rarity in an NES game. To get one of them, Jekyll has to reach the gateway to the church at the the sixth stage. The ending in that one is simply a scene of the front of the church where the word "End" momentarily appears. To get the other ending demands more gameplay. First of all, if Hyde, in his eerie levels, reaches a point where Jekyll turned into him, lightning will strike and kill him as well as Jekyll, thus ending the game (Fortunately the game has infinite continues so the player won't have to back to the beginning.). This is because Hyde must not progress further than Jekyll. But if there's an exception to this rule, it's when Jekyll reaches the sixth stage. When Hyde reaches the gateway to the church in his realm, he is greeted by a face that teleports and shoot fireballs. As Hyde attacks the face, the stress meter decreases little by little. Once the stress meter empties, the face will teleport to multiple locations on the screen before disappearing completely, and, as always, Hyde will return as Jekyll. Upon returning to Jekyll's world, Jekyll is no longer bothered by obstacles which have been omitted for some reason. When Jekyll reaches the church, the doc and Ms. Millicent slowly approach each other in front of the church before entering. The next scene shows Jekyll and the bride standing close to each other before kissing, and the "End" caption appears. Several seconds later, an odd person with a cross appears, along with the "End" caption which is reversed as if looked through a mirror. The appearance of the odd person is something that the host of the YouTube video regard as "creepy." As for me, the odd person is probably Mr. Hyde in his victory pose after defeating the face.

Despite its difficulty and flaws, I liked the game and played it quite a lot. This is because I always have this notion that I could get around the things that other gamers regard as frustrating even though I still get caught sometimes. Also the two soundtracks perfectly fit the worlds of Jekyll and Hyde. I played the game quite a lot until I managed to see both endings. Getting the first ending is challenging enough, while getting the second ending took me more hours and I had to use dozens of continues. While this game won't appeal to people looking for quality fun, it should attract gamers looking for a challenge. As to what I think about it, I don't find the game as bad as the critics say.