Mr. Bones is one of the strangest experiments to come from Sega. Developed by an American company called Zono I remember the game making some slight waves at the time of its release. It was fair to say that it didn’t look like my cup of tea however. Actually, I couldn’t even tell what kind of game it was. Years later when I got my hands on the Sega Saturn Mr. Bones was one of the titles included in the lot. It turns out the game is not only hilarious but also quite fun. With Halloween fast approaching I could think of no better time than to pop this one in again and give it another go. How does Mr. Bones hold up? Well my fellow ghouls let’s take a look!
There’s one thing you should know right off the bat. Mr. Bones is heavy on the full motion video. The game has so much of it that the developers had to release it on two discs. It’s a strange blend of live action as well as CG. This is one of the few instances where this mix actually works. The opening video depicts a wizard reviving a horde of the undead to take over the world. Among them is Mr. Bones. Where all of the other skeletons have red eyes he is viewed as an impurity for his blue eyes. Oh, and Mr. Bones also has free will. He’s the guy you play as while fighting back against the skeleton army. Along the way he makes plenty of friends, and helps out a bunch of folk. Strap in because this one is heavy handed with just how weird it is.
As far as gameplay goes Mr. Bones offers up tremendous amounts of variety. You see this is sort of a mini-game collection, but with an emphasis on 2D platforming mechanics. Every stage is different from each other in terms of objectives, gameplay, and sometimes perspective. For example, the first stage is a side view forced scrolling level where you’re constantly moving forward. It sounds easy enough but you’re being chased by skeletons and must deal with oncoming hazards from the front as well. The next one is kind of a timing based boss battle, and after that we have a more traditional platformer. At this point however the game really goes off the rails.
Here’s where Mr. Bones really opens up. There are so many stage types so I’ll just highlight my favorite ones. We’ll start with Guitar Solo. In this you have to play the guitar to calm down the skeleton army. You can’t move, but play a different series of notes by pressing one of the face buttons. If Mr. Bones glows blue then you hit the right one, but if he glows red it’s wrong and you have to quickly stop playing and find the right one. This is more experimentation and memorization, but it’s actually quite a lot of fun. Another level plays similar to the classic Defender. Here you have to save tiny elves from falling spiders that want to snatch them up by breaking their webs.
Then we have more 3D centric stages. There’s one where Mr. Bones is swimming through an underwater cavern and while it’s on rails this is simply a treat. Another similar stage has you flying through a cathedral smash through stained glass windows. The scenery in these areas is entirely pre-rendered video but the effect is actually really cool. Then there’s a drum solo (which plays kind of similarly to the guitar sequence). Probably the most interesting is the joke competition. Yes, you have to leave the undead audience in stitches to win. Different lines are set to the face buttons and you have to tell a cohesive joke. One thing’s for certain Mr. Bones is really unique.
The most interesting aspect of this game is just how cohesive the entire experience is. It’s not jarring at all even when the gameplay loop completely changes. That’s in part due to the fact each mini-game has the same style life bar. This too is handled in a unique manner. At the top right corner of the screen you have the word ‘bones.’ Each time you take damage you lose part of a letter, and die completely when it’s all gone. Because your character is a skeleton he will also lose bones when hit damaged.
In the more action oriented sequences these bones are still in play. You can pick them back up by repeatedly pressing the A button. When you lose a leg Mr. Bones hops, and losing his arms eliminates your ability to use the laser weapon. You can literally get down to a spine and skull at which point you’re almost completely defenseless. Additionally, when your skeletism is low you’ll sometimes lose bones automatically. This can be annoying, but it fits the game thematically so I can’t fault it much for this. You’ll find plenty of items that restore skeletism, and even additional bones to regain functionality.
Some stages are more enjoyable than others, but by and large most of them are pretty entertaining. In a way this made me wish that there were just a few central gameplay styles that repeated. Given the sheer amount of variety in this package I quickly got over it. In my opinion the more zany gameplay methods were the most interesting. Playing guitar and drums especially are great for a pick up and play experience. It also helps that the music in these is quite good via the redbook audio. Some of the 2D side scrolling levels however can be frustrating.
That’s because Mr. Bones is fairly difficult. I had to replay most of the side scrolling levels in particular more than once. Even the early ones. The enemies can be in hard to hit places or rush at you from off-screen. What’s interesting is the laser weapon though. Defeating enemies with this replenishes your health. The thing is the developers wanted to make this move a bit more difficult to pull off. You’ll often find enemies come in multiple groups, and while killing off one you’re susceptible to the others. You have to plan ahead a bit and survey the area before you start the destruction. Furthermore having all of your bones knocked off can quickly interrupt any plan you were trying to hatch.
It’s unfortunate that there aren’t any checkpoints in the stages. When you die you’re sent back to the title screen, but have a stage select screen that allows you to continue. This also gives the option to return to any other stage that you’ve completed. In a game with such diverse levels and huge gameplay variety this was a really welcome addition. Despite being a title you can complete in only a few hours (if you’re really good, that is) Mr. Bones saves which stages you’ve completed so you can return at any time. It also does it behind the scenes. I didn’t even realize there was a save function until after shutting the console off and coming back. This is a really cool touch in my opinion.
Mr. Bones didn’t push the Sega Saturn hardware particularly hard, but I really appreciate the style of it. The fact that the framerate is very steady also helps. The non-FMV backgrounds are a little on the bland side sometimes. Many of these are just generic outdoor scenes, and some during the day which looks a bit off if you ask me. Mr. Bones himself is always rendered in polygons and looks great. He has a lot of moving parts and they move perfectly in tandem. Some of the enemies are underwhelming however and just look like sprites. The music is also quite good. Most of it is blues/rock (which fits the theme of Mr. Bones being a deceased musician) and I loved it. The voice acting however is over the top and cheesy. Only Mr. Bones himself had a decent actor. I guess that’s all that really matters after all.
