Mr. Nutz is a side scrolling

Side-scrolling video game

A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...

, 2D platformer video game published by Ocean Software

Ocean Software

The British company Ocean Software was one of the biggest European video game developers/publishers of the 1980s and 90s...

. It was first released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...

 in 1993, then later released for the Mega Drive in 1994, followed by Game Boy

Game Boy

The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...

, Game Boy Color

Game Boy Color

The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...

, then Game Boy Advance

Game Boy Advance

The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...

 ports.

The player controls the one player character

Player character

A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...

, Mr. Nutz an Anthropomorphic

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...

 red squirrel

Red Squirrel

The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Eurasia...

 wearing shoes, gloves and a cap through six themed levels

Level (computer and video games)

A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...

. The end goal is to stop Mr. Blizzard, a yeti

Yeti

The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...

, who is the final boss and is trying to take over the world by using his magic powers to turn it into a mass of ice. The game shares similarities with other platformers of the same time, being that jumping is the main technique used in the game to navigate both fixed and moving platforms and defeat or avoid most enemies. Ammunition, in the form of nuts, can be collected and thrown at enemies.

Ocean released in 1994 another game on the Amiga

Amiga

The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...

 under the name Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad

Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad

Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad is a side scrolling, 2D platformer video game published by Ocean Software for the Amiga and first released in 1994....

. Developed by Neon Studios, it featured the same titular character but with different, faster and more wide-open gameplay, unrelated levels and enemies, another story, and a large overworld map instead of a linear path to follow in a mini-map. This game was also going to be released for the Sega Mega Drive in 1995 as Mr Nutz 2, but never appeared.

Development

After the closure of Ocean France, Philippe Dessoly (Character Designer, Graphist) and Pierre Adane (Programmer) decided to work independently on a platform game for Amiga, it was shown to Ocean Software which accepted to publish the game on Super Nintendo and Mega Drive/Genesis instead of Amiga, because the video game console market was safer against copy and more profitable, Ocean was also in charge of porting the game to console. The early title was Squirrel's Game, the developers changed it into Mr.Nuts but it was considered as too pejorative

Pejorative

Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...

 and vague by the English publisher, the final title became Mr.Nutz replacing the "s" by a "z". Mr.Nutz was drawn in a Disney style in the early sketches, Pierre Adane advised Dessoly to make the character less "cute" and more "cool" to appeal the young gamers. The development took 18 month for the Super Nintendo version and 6 month for the Mega Drive/Genesis version. Some levels, like a Water stage, was removed in the final version, the Game Boy Advance version contains those levels.

Staff (Mega Drive version)

• Produced by: Pierre Adane, Philippe Dessoly
• Game design: Pierre Adane, Philippe Dessoly
• Program: Pierre Adane
• Graphics: Philippe Dessoly
• Original music: Raphael Gesqua
• Sound conversion: Krisalis LTD

Gameplay

Mr. Nutz can run, jump, swim in some levels and collect items. The character can jump on most enemies, strike them with his tail, or throw nuts he has collected at them to defeat them. Apart from bosses, most enemies can be killed with one strike. As with many games, contact with hazards and enemies that does not sufficiently defeat them results in losing one unit of health followed by a few seconds of invulnerability as the character sprite flashes. No version contains a time limit, the player may spend as long as they wish on each level, although some versions of the game will reward the player with bonus points for clearing a level quickly. Coins found along the way will not only give points and bonuses during gameplay, but the total amount of coins collected in a level will determine the player's completion bonus at the end of a level. Coins, health, and hidden lives are often hidden throughout the levels.

The player starts with a number of lives

1-up

1-up , pronounced "one up", is a term in console video gaming that commonly refers to an item that gives the player an extra life, to complete the game. In certain games, it is possible to receive multiple extra lives at once...

 and health

Health (game mechanic)

Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....

 units, the amounts are different depending on difficulty and port. Losing all health results in losing one life and the player must restart at the beginning of the current journey. After losing all lives the player may choose to accept a game over

Game over

Game Over is a message in video games which signals that the game has ended, often due to a negative outcome - although the phrase sometimes follows the end credits after successful completion of a game...

 or to continue

Continue

Continue may refer to:*Continue , an option to continue a video game after all the player's lives have been lost*Continue , a 2008 Cantopop album by Pakho Chau*Continue , a programming language keyword-See also:...

 but must then restart at the beginning of the first journey in the current stage with the default lives and health and zero nuts, coins and score. The player may continue an infinite number of times.

In all versions except the original Super Nintendo version, passwords are shown when the player reaches certain levels and can be input to start the game from the beginning of that level.

Levels

There are six levels

Level (computer and video games)

A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...

 that must be played in order, they are generally increasing in difficulty, and each has a boss

Boss (video games)

A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...

 to defeat at the end. The levels are split into different sections called "journeys" but have a common theme throughout. Most areas contain many collectibles and enemies, and there are often secret areas to find.

1. Woody Land

   Mega Drive version: 167 coins, 100%, password: -

   A grassy area that starts off in day light and finishes at night. Enemies include walking fruit, caterpillars, giant Venus Fly-traps and porcupines on the ground. He also has to face hornets, fairies, and hanging spiders in the air. The boss is Mr. Spider, a giant semi-anthropomorphic spider, which jumps and creates other spiders to attack Mr. Nutz.

2. Adventure Park

   Mega Drive version: 430 coins, 100%, password: MAGICS

   An area containing many tall trees with high branches to explore. There are rope swings and bouncy spring-like blocks. The boss is a witch on a broomstick fought inside a house at the end of the stage. This boss can fly, shoot out skulls, and create men with jack-o-lanterns as heads to attack.

3. Living Room and Foul Kitchen

   Mega Drive version: 292 coins, 100%, password: GOLDEN

   Mr. Nutz first enters the Living Room and Foul Kitchen area. In this area, Mr. Nutz faces electrocuting light-bulbs, cooked turkeys which walk, and hopping rabbits. Then, after achieving the golden cup, he shrinks, and falls into a sink. He enters a new area, where he is forced to swim on many occasions. Here, he fights plungers and lightning fish and must avoid dirty sink water by swinging on chains and crossing on sponges. The boss is a squid or octopus type creature, encountered in a drain leading from the sink, it swims and uses smaller jellyfish to attack.

4. Volcano Underpass and Clouds

   Mega Drive version: 276 coins, 100%, password: WINDOW

   This level begins in the underground caves of a volcano, with rocky passages filled with pools of lava. Enemies include fire creatures, miner weasels that throw pick axes, small fire-breathing dragons and flying bats. Platforms of smoke emitting from the volcano eventually take the level into the clouds with moving cloud platforms, flying cloud creatures, bees, birds and small bomber planes and crawling spiky caterpillars. The boss is a giant ogre

   Ogre

   An ogre is a large, cruel, monstrous, and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore, and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature...

   
    named Ograoum Papas who attacks with his hands, tongue and reproducing bouncing eyes. Note that the hands of Ograoum are reversed of him, perhaps by an error in developing the game.

5. Mean Streets

   Mega Drive version: 391 coins, 100%, password: CASPER

   An area that resembles an amusement park. Here, Mr. Nutz has to avoid many obstacles such as floating hamburgers, attacking hornets, and other monsters. In Part 1 of Mean Streets, there is a secret tool on top of the stage (in the version for Super Nintendo), which is the squirrel can fly (the same way that he swims in a stage above), in addition to being unbeatable. This effect is only in this stretch of the game is over when for the second part of the stage. At the end of the level, Mr. Nutz faces Little Clown. He can change his size (But only in the SNES and GBA versions), throw pies, and attack with reproducing floating heads.

6. Ice Scream and Frozen Nutz

   Mega Drive version: 159 coins, - , password: PIZZAS

   An snowy icy land, containing floating ice burgs, penguins and Eskimos who fire harpoons. In this level, Mr. Nutz has to enter an igloo

   Igloo

   An igloo or snowhouse is a type of shelter built of snow, originally built by the Inuit....

   
   where he has to find his way through a maze. Once exited, Mr. Nutz continues in the same area until reaching the Frozen Nutz area. Many of the enemies are the same here, but here Mr. Nutz has to navigate the area more due to the many platforms at different heights. After the level, Mr. Nutz has to face Mr. Blizzard, the yeti which took control of the wilderness. He jumps, throws snow flakes, and tries to blow Mr. Nutz off of his icy platform. The game is completed after defeating him.

In Mega Drive version after completing the game it shows video fragments of secret locations and ways into them. On the last screen you will see your final score and total coins.