Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the 1988 NES adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which combined a confusing Excuse Plot with Everything Trying to Kill You and Never the Selves Shall Meet. This features Jekyll as a man trying to get to his wedding with Miss Millicent, only to be attacked by everything and everyone in town for no good reason.
Upon becoming too stressed, he'll turn into Hyde and navigate the World of Demons, but should Hyde get farther along in his path than Jekyll, both will be incinerated by lightning. The game is notable for being one of the first games The Angry Video Game Nerd reviewed, and would later be adapted into a fake trailer by James Rolfe.
Tropes
- All There in the Manual: The game's manual is necessary for beating the game, as nothing in-game tells you how to play.
- Animals Hate Him: Every animal in London is out to get Jekyll, from dogs and cats to birds, spiders, and bees.
- Artistic License – Biology: The birds defecate large brown poop instead of small white poop.
- Auto Scrolling: Hyde's levels automatically scroll to the left.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Defied. If Hyde gets further than Jekyll, he instantly dies.
- Bee Afraid: One enemy in the rural levels is a bee. Notably, it's the only enemy in the game that Jekyll can kill.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Hyde getting past Jekyll means evil wins out over good, and the powers that be will incinerate him with lightning should it happen.
- Born Unlucky: If the player pays close attention, none of the townspeople, with the exceptions of Billy Pones the slingshot kid and probably the Bomb Maniac, are actually trying to impede Jekyll. The gravediggers and hunters are just doing their jobs and Jekyll just happens to get caught in the crossfire, the opera lady Elena McCowen is just trying to practice her singing, and the other townspeople will walk right past Jekyll without harming him as long as the Bomb Maniac isn't onscreen. When the Bomb Maniac is present, the townspeople run away in a frantic attempt to get away from the Bomb Maniac, causing them to run into Jekyll and hurt him. Even Luna the cat is rather peaceful, usually only becoming violent when the bombs explode near her and startle her (though she can also go crazy at random when reaching either end of the screen). Jekyll isn't being attacked on purpose, he's just very unlucky.
- Brats with Slingshots: One enemy Jekyll encounters is a kid with a slingshot. According to the manual, his name's Billy Pones and he has a crush on Jekyll's fiancee. He's the only enemy in the Jekyll levels who has a clear motivation for his antagonism.
- Cane Fu: Jekyll's only weapon is a cane, but it can only kill bees and put out bomb fuses for some reason. Attacking other enemies with it will only provoke them to hit back.
- Canon Foreigner: Aside from Jekyll and Hyde, no one in the game is from the book.
- Cartoon Bomb: The Bomb Maniac leaves these lying about.
- Cats Are Mean: A cat named Luna will attack Jekyll if provoked.
- Demonic Possession: Apparently, the whole town is possessed by a demon named Letule, as killing it as Hyde makes the everyone stop attacking Jekyll.
- Difficulty by Region: The English version of the game replaced two of the three town stages from Hōma ga Toki with recycled versions of other stages. These stages were most likely cut out due to their suggestive content rather than their actual difficulty, though their removal does affect the game's difficulty, since there's no other way to restore Jekyll's stress gauge.
- Dreadful Musician: One enemy is an opera singer whose singing is so bad it hurts you.
- Dual-World Gameplay: Hyde plays reversed levels of Jekyll's, and their position on the maps is a big part of gameplay.
- Early Game Hell: The first stage is the most difficult to clear if you turn into Hyde, as there's no buffers between levels to act as a safety net, and the auto-scrolling means that becoming Hyde early you won't have enough time to defeat enemies before lightning strikes. Once Jekyll puts distance between himself and Hyde it's still hard and unfair, but more manageable.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: The game is legendary for it, as everything in London is a threat to Jekyll.
- Evil Versus Evil: The nefarious Mr. Hyde is pitted against even worse demons.
- Final Boss: Jekyll doesn't have a boss fight at all, but Hyde fights a red version of the Letule enemy at the end of level 6.
- Genre Deconstruction: The game is filled with so many frustrating mechanics that it seems deliberately designed to annoy the player. Jekyll's cane subverts the usual video game weapon in that it works against you more often than not, and is only there as a Video Game Cruelty Punishment that goes against the usual video game conventions of rewarding violence. He also walks very slow, as if the developer wanted you to feel his frustration and tempt you into transforming into Hyde to play something resembling a regular game, but going too far into his section gets you struck by lightning as another Video Game Cruelty Punishment. However, you need Hyde to reach the end, or else you don't get the true ending, as if suppressing that rage is bad. Even if The Angry Video Game Nerd was joking with his psychological analysis of the game at the end of his re-review, a lot of it is pretty on point, even if it doesn't necessarily make the game any more fun to play for most people.
- Guide Dang It!:
- The game is almost impossible to play correctly without the manual, as you seemingly die for no reason as Hyde after advancing far enough.
- Even with the manual, avoiding the bombs is nearly impossible. What neither the game nor the manual tells you it's that you can go into doors to hide from the bombs.
- Heart Beatdown: An enemy exclusive to the Japanese version is a woman who attacks Jekyll with hearts.
- Helpless Good Side: While Hyde can actively fight back against the demons, Jekyll can only dodge things, pay citizens to leave him alone, put out bomb fuses, or kill bees.
- Identical Stranger: One enemy exclusive to the Japanese version is a woman who attacks Jekyll with hearts for looking exactly like her lost love.
- In Name Only: Aside from Jekyll and Hyde as characters, the game has nothing to do with the book or its adaptations.
- King Mook: The boss is a red colored, more powerful version of the Letule monsters fought throughout the Hyde sections.
- Law of Chromatic Superiority: The boss Letule is red, contrasting with the weaker, green Letule enemies
- Lohengrin and Mendelssohn: In the endings, The prelude to Act V of A Midsummer Night's Dream is played.
- Luck-Based Mission: What enemies spawn where is completely randomized; if Hyde is unlucky he may not fight enough enemies to turn back into Jekyll before dying.
- Mad Bomber: The Bomb Maniac, who randomly leaves bombs lying about, is one of these.
- Multiple Endings: The game has two endings. One of them is reached by simply getting to the church as Jekyll before Hyde. It just shows the church and the word "END" appears while the wedding march plays. A second ending is earned by reaching Level 6 as Jekyll and then proceeding to the end as Hyde. Hyde then fights a boss at the church, and, upon beating it, turns back into Jekyll. Jekyll's able to reach the church unhindered and an extended cutscene of the wedding plays. "END" appears when the screen fades out after bride and groom kiss. However, after waiting a while, the music will abruptly stop and the sound effect for the bomb is played. When the bomb "explodes", lightning flashes, the word "END" appears reversed, and Mr. Hyde appears as a red silhouette with what appears to be a giant cross embedded into his back.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: Hyde dies instantly if he's on the same tile as Jekyll or gets farther than he did.
- Palette Swap: The final boss is a red version of the green Letule demon.
- Precocious Crush: According to the manual, Billy Pones attacks Jekyll because he has a crush on his fiancee. Also he is the only townsperson to have any kind of motivation.
- Sanity Meter: Dr. Jekyll's stress meter increases as he takes hits from passersby. Once the meter is full, he turns into Mr. Hyde and must kill a certain amount of enemies before reaching Jekyll's location, or else death by lightning strike ensues.
- A Sinister Clue: While Jekyll's levels scroll to the right, Hyde's levels scroll left.
- Sirens Are Mermaids: An enemy exclusive to the Japanese version is a mermaid who attacks by singing.
- Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb: The Bomb Maniac plants bombs at your feet.
- Stuff Blowing Up: One of the hardest enemies to avoid in London is the Bomb Maniac, who plants a bomb at your feet. The bombs have a very large hitbox, and sometimes the explosion will knock you back into it, taking off a lot of your life bar. They can drain your entire stress meter in one attack.
- Super Drowning Skills: Hyde can fall into water and die instantly when traveling over a bridge.
- Throw a Barrel at It: The alleys of London have barrels rolling down the streets at Jekyll.
- Toilet Humour: One enemy type is a bird that attacks with its droppings.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Hitting citizens with your cane fills your stress meter. Hitting the opera lady in particular instantly turns you into Hyde.
- Waddling Head: Played for horror in Hyde's levels, as the most common enemy is a brain with legs.
- Watch for Rolling Objects: The most common object to look out for in the final stage is a barrel. Some roll along the ground, others bounce slightly.
- Wedding Finale: The good ending of the NES version shows Dr. Jekyll and Miss Millicent getting married, and getting to the occasion on time was the former's goal. The normal ending only shows the church.
