By Evan Musu Game Evaluation

Published by: Sega of America Developed by: Zono Inc. Released: 1996 Price-- Original Price: $50.00 Flea Market Price: $8.00

Installation / Load Instructions Game is for the Sega Saturn System. Type of Game: Platformer / Rhythm / Memory Game To Play Game: Insert Game into Sega Saturn, let system check disc, start application

Story Blind Man (ally) DaGoulian (Villain) Wraith (ally) Mr. Bones (Hero) Mr. Bones (a dead blues musician) was buried in a cemetery for criminals. Many years later DaGoulian wants to take over the world by raising the dead by the beat of his drums. Mr. Bones is awaken and is not like the other skeletons/dead around him, he is good. He decides he must stop this trouble somehow. He meets allies along the way like the Blind Man (who gives him a guitar) and a Wraith (who help with his travels).

Gameplay and Scoring You control Mr. Bones by moving down, left, right, jumping, and assembling and dissembling him. Scoring: Mr. Bones measures his life gauge by the Bones in the upper right corner and he has only one life but unlimited continues. Assembled Dissembled

Gameplay and Scoring Continued Mr. Bones can form ways to achieve goals. One Long Arm or A Tall Man

Artwork, Sound, Music The visual style is a light-hearted dark atmosphere. Nothing is too scary but it is funny at the same time. The music encapsulates the atmosphere even more by including a score written and performed by Ronnie Montrose (a famous blues musician). The sound adds to the gameplay and atmosphere by using sound cues when needed to go a certain direction or using sound to a carry the game by linking sound cues in the correct order to achieve a goal. Link voice clips to form a joke (This is a random gameplay to the game which can also make this type of level irritating).

Manual and Bugs The Manual explains the story, credits, controls, and gives detailed information about each level. Manual is sometimes needed to figure out goal (s) for the levels. No Bugs are Known in Game.

Audience From the ESRB rating this game is intended for Kids to Adults. For the themes of the game, this game is good for kid to adults. For difficultly, a 12+ year old would be able to complete the game due to its difficultly.

Good Game Features Great Atmosphere Dark, witty, and comical. Great music Variety of stages Responsive Controls Some good levels Examples: Grave Escape and Little People Village

Bad Game Features Poor Player/Gameplay Balance (varied difficulty) Difficulty varies between stages to very hard to very easy. Not easy to figure out goals without the manual or a walkthrough. Repetitious death sequence which you need to watch over and over. Random gameplay aspect to some levels: examples: Guitar Solo Funny Bones Death Sequence

Similarities Crash Bandicoot is the most similar game because of the variety of stage throughout. Crash Bandicoot is a much more accessible game to due its increasing difficultly compared to Mr. Bones random difficulty. Mr. Bones Crash Bandicoot

Summary Even though there is some randomness and varied difficulty to some of the levels, the overall enjoyment of the game is high due to the tight controls and other great levels in the game. Some of the early levels could have an easier difficulty level and have a more accessible way of completing the Guitar Solo and Funny Bones levels. Overall, I would purchase this game for the price you can grab it for now but I would not have purchased it for the original price.