Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (NES) Playthrough
287A playthrough of Bandai's 1989 action game for the NES, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, considered one Robert Louis Stevensons’ finest works, was originally published in 1886. Taking place in London at the height of the second industrial revolution, it weaves the twisted tale of Dr. Jekyll, a highly regarded physician who stands at odds with his nature. Cognizant of the darkness lurking deep within, Henry Jekyll furtively concocts a tincture to isolate the polarized halves of his inner self. He only partially succeeds, however, and finds himself a broken shell. Though the good in him remains tainted by the evil that he both fears and embraces, his dark side is freed by the creation of Edward Hyde, an amoral proxy through which Jekyll, untethered from the shackles of his conscience, can live out his most perverse fantasies.
This 1989 NES adaptation begins as Dr. Jekyll ingests the potion, and the player’s task is not to aid the realization of Mr. Hyde’s murderous desires, but rather, to safely direct Dr. Jekyll to the church where Miss Millicent, his fiancée, awaits. Though this choice renders the premise as little more than a convoluted justification for a cool game mechanic, the box's teaser blurb (“Battle demons with Hyde’s PSYCHO-WAVE”) should be sufficient warning to anyone hoping for an accurate adaptation.
Jekyll travels through six areas of the city on his way to Miss Millicent. Suffering the effects of the potion, he must avoid the potential stressors that surround him lest they trigger a sudden and violent transformation into Henry’s alter-ego. Preoccupied townsfolk tending to their business, unruly children, dogs and cats chasing one another underfoot, and downpours of bird droppings will sap his patience and sanity, represented by the "meter" gauge. The more troublesome enemies (such as the mad bomber clad in pink) will additionally cause Jekyll physical harm, and if the life bar empties, the game ends. But, if the stress meter reaches the H, Dr. Jekyll will collapse and pass out.
Reawakening as his evil counterpart, Mr. Hyde must then traverse a distorted, ghoul-infested parallel version of Dr. Jekyll’s London while killing demons to reduce his stress, and upon regaining his equilibrium, Dr. Jekyll can resume his walk to the chapel. However, if the two halves cross paths before the final stage, a bolt of lightning will strike him down, ending the game.
Jekyll and Hyde’s individual perspectives provide an unexpectedly effective portrayal of the character’s dissociative tendencies. Though cliché, the contrast mimics the novella’s exploration of how people willingly subjugate their interior selves for the sake of social acceptance. Jekyll’s picturesque interpretation of London makes the city appear charming and quaint, but Hyde’s lurid view of the same streets paints it as a terrifying and brutal place teeming with corrupted souls.
The game's aesthetic convincingly depicts both ends of this spectrum. Dr. Jekyll’s detailed daytime stages are certainly more appealing than the near-monochromatic night stages that Mr. Hyde must fight through, though the latter’s liberal use of deep blues and flat black does a nice job of symbolically reflecting his feelings of loneliness and emptiness. The music is atmospheric - the somber daytime theme evokes a sense of an age past, and the minimalist, repetitive phrasings of the nighttime theme suggest a sense of the mundane pervading even life's extremes.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is often lambasted for its stiff controls and overall level of difficulty, and though there is some merit to those criticisms, like most NES games, the majority of the game's issues can be overcome with familiarity and practice. With an understanding of the enemy patterns and the timing required to successfully leap moving obstacles, the controls are sufficient in most situations. Unfortunately, the cracks start to show in the final stage, and the controls lack the precision and responsiveness needed to consistently avoid the endless barrage obstacles in the end-game gauntlet.
Dr. Hyde is far more agile than his more reasonably-minded half, and the Psycho Wave attack, though odd in its trajectory, is reliable. The final Hyde level, however, can be extremely frustrating: each of Hyde’s stages auto-scroll, and if Hyde is in danger of being forced off of a ledge, he'll automatically jump forward - often straight into an enemy - resulting in forced, cheap hits that should've been entirely avoidable.
Overall, the game is a respectable effort. The fun is hurt by the occasional control inconsistencies, the unfair endgame, and an overly stiff learning curve, but in spite of these drawbacks, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde manages to be an entertaining bit of slower-paced action fare, and its unique mechanics and appealing graphics make for a game worth giving an honest effort.
_____________\nNo cheats were used during the recording of this video.