Mischief Makers

Developer: Treasure Publisher: Nintendo

Released: October 1, 1997 Rated: E 7/10

Few games attest to the undiscovered potential of the N64 library like the inevitable oddity that is Mischief Makers. To hearken back to the original intent of the controller design that divides and confuses so many, the dual design of the analog stick and d-pad was an effort to cover both the new horizons of three-dimensional movement and the anticipated further development of familiar side-scrolling fare. The fact that 2D platformers and anything else that effectively used the directional pad that had brought Nintendo so much prior success fell off in the latter half of the ‘90s isn’t the fault of the N64, although it did play a role in the failure of the Sega Saturn, now considered the home of a previously untapped gold mine of 32-bit experiences that benefit wholly from a controller unencumbered by an additional stick jammed in the middle.

Mischief Makers, then, sits as essentially the sole representative of what might have been if the marketability of 2D had continued in tandem with the system’s bread and butter of 3D adventures. No surprise to see that it was developed by Treasure, a company that had not only spent the Sega Genesis era making some of the system’s most design-forward and well-polished titles on the system, such as Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, and Dynamite Headdy, but would go on to find instant success in their own transition to 3D with former Japan-exclusive N64 rail shooter, Sin and Punishment.

I figured out where the pattern repeats — it’s right there in the middle.

The Treasure philosophy is on full display here, as the company so often employs both a central unique design mechanic, in this case the grabbing and shaking by main character Marina, while also going so far as to basically exhaust every possible concept and situation in which to use it, sometimes to a fault. Not every level is a home run and with so many high-concept implementations of the seemingly simple gameplay quirk – mazes, olympic pentathlons, search and rescue missions, and lots and lots of riding on scenery, all interspersed with boss fights of varying complexity and spectacle – it can feel like the 52 levels could have been cut down to a leaner 35-40 of the best. Regardless of the already somewhat short length of six hours or so, it might have ended up at a more consistent five, but Treasure is rarely the type to leave a stone unturned, while Enix (the original publisher in Japan) isn’t a publisher much opposed to padding either.

People who played Mischief Makers all got really into My Life as a Teenage Robot and depending on how much you know about that show it might be a bad thing.

That said, Mischief Makers is an excellent game and easily worth its previous title of hidden gem on the system. Traditional platforming blends with the mechanics of grabbing, shaking, throwing, and holding on for dear life as your character, Marina Liteyears, an android maid in the employ of the robotics expert, Professor Theo. Theo is kidnapped by imperial forces while visiting Planet Clancer, a world where all objects and living things bear the equally charming and unsettling faces of Japanese Haniwa figures, a fact overshadowed in its worldwide release where the resemblance more quickly conjures up images of Ghostface from the recently released Scream (1996). Cultural references that somehow didn’t prevent an international release aside, Mischief Makers controls well once you get used to it, as there are only a few inputs you’ll need to remember. At the same time, the progression of the first few levels and their immediate jump to high-concept layout and design can make it a little more difficult to pick up and play than other platformers. This is especially important as the simplicity of the number of inputs is offset by the need to develop quick reaction time and make the movement and interaction with basically every item second nature ahead of more complex level and boss designs.

Using all of the techniques made available to them through previous console generations to create vibrant, charming sprites and detailed, multi-layered backgrounds, Mischief Makers looks all the more impressive for its style all these years later, and was thankfully acknowledged for its excellent graphics in its original context and time period. The extensive amount of sprite manipulation from scaling to rotating to transformation creates a visual style that, due to little else utilizing the same framework on the N64, doesn’t have any real imitators. The additional sprinkle of 3D elements, such as in the game’s many boss fights adds up to provide even a leg up on Guardian Heroes, Treasure’s sole release for the Sega Saturn, which is often lauded for its fantastic animation and sprite work.

Capped off with some quirky, classically MIDI-heavy tunes that convey a lot of themes of space travel (even though it pretty much all takes place on-planet) and adventure, Treasure doesn’t have quite the array of all-time retro tunes like many contemporaries, but it oddly enough puts Mischief Makers even further in the camp of a true retro experience. Voice clips like the iconic “help me, Marina” and the oft-repeated “shake shake” will be the biggest takeaway in the audio department for most. In the end, despite a short campaign and only so much replay value, Mischief Makers leaves its mark as effectively as any effort from Treasure typically does and will likely do so even more now as it ended up with so little in its genre on the N64. Very nearly a must-play, only held back by the fact that its imperfections can be a little too much for some and the fact that it has so little in common with what defines the N64 and the reason people revisit it.

Continuing Legacy

Though she’s yet to make any further appearances in any major official capacity, Marina and Mischief Makers as a whole are certainly cult favorites, earning her a spot in fan project Smash Remix. Developer Treasure would continue developing their unique brand of titles through the 2000s, including two more N64 titles that sadly, remained Japan-exclusive in their initial releases: the aforementioned Sin and Punishment and the mech-based platformer/shoot-em-up Bangai-O.