Mr. Do's Wild Ride 1984 Universal
1984
Mr. Do's Wild Ride (c) 1984 Universal.
Mr Do's third arcade outing is another platform game, following on from the superb 'Mr. Do's Castle', released a year earlier. The synonymous Mr. Do! cherries are present and correct, but are not used in the same way as in other games in the series. In both 'Mr Do!' and 'Mr. Do's Castle', collecting all of the cherries available was a way of completing a level. In Wild Ride, however, collecting them merely changes the 'prize' awarded upon reaching the level's goal. This can be one or two letters from EXTRA, or other items which simply award bonus points. When Mr. Do reaches his goal, he waves a flag while the bonus counter is added to his score.
The gameplay is similar to that of Nintendo's legendary 'Donkey Kong', with Mr. Do starting each level at the bottom of the screen, trying to make his way to the exit at the very top. Mr. Do doesn't have either his Powerball or mallet in this game, but holding the ACTION button makes him run faster along the track. The trade-off of this is that his bonus points deplete much quicker. When all of the EXTRA letters are collected, the player is awarded with an extra life.
Each of the game's six levels is set on a roller coaster, with each having its own theme, traps and pitfalls. Wild Ride doesn't feature the intermission screens that appear in previous Mr.Do games.
The levels are :
Level 1, Roller Coaster.
Level 2, Pirate Ship.
Level 3, Three Elevators.
Level 4, Castle on Screen.
Level 5, Multiple Columns.
Level 6, Six Rings.
After level six the levels are repeated.
>>> TECHNICAL DETAILS
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Main CPU : Z80 (@ 3.9 Mhz), (2x) Z80 (@4mhz)
Sound Chips : (4x) SN76496 (@ 4 Mhz)
Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 240 x 192 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 258
Players : 2
Control : 4-way joystick
Buttons : 2
>>> TRIVIA
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Released in January 1984.
The title 'Mr. Do's Wild Ride' may be an homage to 'Mr. Toad's Wild Ride', an attraction at Disneyland.
Ocean Software, who were based in the city of Manchester, England, released a home computer version of the game. They obviously decided, however, that the 'Mr.Do!' name was no longer commercially strong enough to guarantee strong sales, and instead re-tooled the game as 'Kong Strikes Back' - dropping Nintendo's ubiquitous giant ape into the game and arming the player with bombs - which act in the same way as Mr.Do's powerball.
A Mr. Do's Wild Ride machine was shown at the 2003 classic arcade games show 'California Extreme' in San Jose, California.
- SCORING -
Sundae : 100 points.
Cocktail : 200 points.
Umbrella : 300 points.
Sword : 400 points.
Money bag : 500 points.
Trophy : 600 points.
EXTRA letter : 500 points.
Diamond : 10,000 points.
Climbing a ladder above a roller coaster :
1 coaster : 100 points
2 coasters : 300 points
3 coasters : 500 points
>>> GAME SERIES
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1. Mr. Do! (1982)
2. Mr. Do's Castle (1983)
3. Mr. Do's Wild Ride (1984)
4. Do! Run Run (1984)
5. Neo Mr. Do! (1996)
>>> GAME PORTS TO OTHER SYSTEMS
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* Computers :
MSX (1985)
>>> OTHER GAME RESOURCES
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Game's rom.
Machine's picture.