“Stupid and Stubborn, and Therefore Dangerous.”
“The less I understood of this farrago, the less I was in a position to judge of its importance.”
North American box art.
‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ began life as a novella, penned by Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886. It is the case study of a seemingly good-natured Dr Henry Jekyll battling his inner demons, who turns to science in an attempt to purge himself of his immoral urges. A concoction he produces – meant to repress his darker thoughts – inadvertently causes his dark side to manifest itself in the form of a split personality, taking the name of Edward Hyde and generally causing problems for everyone in town. Eventually, this evil persona becomes his dominant personality, leading a temporarily sane Jekyll to take his own life in order to prevent himself from committing further atrocities as his uncontrollable alter ego.
The novella was an instant success; soon inspiring stage plays beginning as early as 1887, film adaptations as early as 1908, as well as countless radio and television presentations as the technology became available. But of course, we’re here to discuss one piece of media in particular: The first known video game adaptation of the story.
1989’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – or 1988’s Houma ga Toki as it is known in Japan – has earned a bit of a reputation for itself in recent years. Along with Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, it was a subject of James Rolfe’s early proto-”Angry Nintendo Nerd” game reviews. A relatively obscure game up until that point, the rise in popularity of the Angry Video Game Nerd would lead to a rise in popularity of the game itself, earning it spots on “Worst Games of All Time” lists and appearances in many a copycat video review. James’ revisiting of the game some years later only served to reinforce his original point: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is most certainly, undoubtedly, one of the worst games of all time. I mean, if a completely exaggerated character who shouts at an animated pickle covered in feces said so, then it has to be true!
The story of the game’s development, like many Japan-developed NES titles, is something of a mystery. With publishing / development credits given to both Bandai and Toho Corporation (credited as ‘Toho Cinefile-Soft Library’ in the Japanese release) – as well as one Advance Communication Company – it’s difficult to ascertain who exactly had what part in the creation of the game. A lack of credits does not help matters, leaving us only with speculations as to the members of the team (such as composer Michiharu Hasuya, who is often credited for the soundtrack). There was enough faith and / or marketing budget behind the title to warrant a 15-second commercial spot for Japanese television, but the American release a year later seemed to go almost entirely under the radar, not warranting so much as a Nintendo Power review.
Perhaps Nintendo knew from the game’s reception in Japan that they had a stinker on their hands, and didn’t want to waste the time or money on promoting it? If that was the case, why go through the trouble of localizing it to begin with? Unfortunately, we don’t have the information available to solve that mystery. What we can do is take a look at the game itself, and see if it deserves its evil reputation.
It did see a brief spike in popularity in 2000, as it was the subject of Something Awful’s first game review.
“This Nintendo Entertainment Systems Game Allows You to Experience This Conflict.”
First things first: Neither of the Angry Video Game Nerd episodes which cover this game actually fully explain the mechanics. In fact, of a random sample of five other video reviews I watched of the game – one of which is even meant to act as a defense of the game – none of the presenters fully understood (or at least properly conveyed) how it is the game is actually meant to be played. I’ll get to explaining the mechanics in due time, but I mention this point now in the hopes of persuading you to “clear your mind” — to forget what you think you might know about the game if you’ve only ever seen it played by others.
The story stars Dr. Jekyll in its lead role, and focuses on his journey to his own wedding ceremony. He is set to wed one Miss Millicent; a character taken from the 1920 film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. So, in this sense, the game is more a loose adaptation of the film rather than of the novella. “Loose” still being a key word there, especially considering the film ends in tragedy with Henry Jekyll’s suicide before he is able to wed his fiancée. Perhaps the game exists as a “what if” scenario where he rejects this demise, and continues to try and live his life despite no longer being able to concoct the potion to control his transformations. As such, not allowing himself to succumb to overstress becomes essential, as being pushed past a certain point triggers his transformation into Edward Hyde. It is unfortunate then for Henry on the day of his wedding, seemingly the entire population of London seems dead set on stressing him out.
In a further deviation from any known source material, Hyde no longer has the authorities or Dr. Lanyon to contend with. Instead, he battles back an onslaught of monsters while trapped in what the international manual refers to as ‘The World of Demons’ (insert your “just like in the novel” joke here). You’ll probably want to try and give the game the benefit of the doubt first: Maybe these monsters are meant to symbolize the inner demons of a tormented Jekyll, with the true battle taking place inside his own mind and heart? But the monster roster comes across more like an assortment of ghouls and creatures with no obvious symbolism, and you might eventually settle on the idea of them just being a random assortment of enemies made to populate the game. Again, the international manual isn’t much help here. However, the Japanese manual refers to this demon world as ‘the Makai’: A dimension similar to Hell, but not necessarily intended as a place where inherently evil souls go to rest. Rather, it’s populated by a variety of yōkai / supernatural beings, whose personalities rate anywhere between malevolent and mischievous.
By my personal interpretation, the developers interpreted Hyde as a sort of yōkai or malicious spirit himself — albeit an artificial aberration of Jekyll’s own creation by science, rather than some pre-existing entity that sought to possess him (that would be a “tsukimono”). As such, Hyde doesn’t belong in the World of Demons, and his presence there incites the residing spirits to attack him. Hyde seems none too fond of this demon world either, and is in search of some sort of escape or absolution. In any case, when playing as Hyde, your goal is to kill enough monsters to relieve enough stress to return to Jekyll’s form — all as quickly as possible, of course… At least, that’s how it appears on the surface. More on that later.
The difference between playing as Jekyll and Hyde is like night and day. By matter of calculation, you will spend most of your playtime as the good doctor, which is probably unfortunate for most. You see, Jekyll plays a mostly “defensive” game, unable to attack back at most of his aggressors without incurring an increase to stress. This means that you are meant to dodge the variety of stressors; including a boy firing his slingshot at you, a battling couple tossing their belongings at each other which may accidentally land on you, a woman whose poor singing takes the form of physical musical notes, hunters and dirt-diggers whose work inadvertently irritate you, endless torrents of rolling barrels, and a variety of animals who pester and attack you. But the thing is, these hazards won’t always physically harm you, occasionally leaving your “Life” meter intact while your stress level increases. In some cases, hazards might not affect either meter unless you get hit by them multiple times in quick succession.
Which brings us to the mysterious ‘Bomb Maniac,’ who – as you might guess – drops bombs when nearing you and quickly runs away. His appearance also causes other NPCs on-screen to run and panic, which itself can injure Jekyll if they run into him. The bombs have something like a variable blast radius and fuse time, which varies depending on which version of the game you’re playing and which stage you’re on. And unlike the other hazards, these bombs will definitely hurt you if you get caught by them. They can hurt a lot. These bombs are by far the biggest annoyance in the game, as the optimal strategy for avoiding them [in most stages] is to walk backwards and jump in the air, which often takes so much time that another Bomb Maniac might appear just as soon as you’re done. In one instance, I had to deal with five bombs in the span of one minute, during which time I barely managed to progress the scrolling screen by more than a couple pixels.
Several hazards have alternate ways of being dealt with. Bees can be batted away with your cane, making it the one effective offensive action you can employ as Jekyll. Elena McCowen, the large singing lady, can be bought off with coins you’ve collected to stop her painful serenade (though you have to get close to her to do so, which means surviving her initial shower of falling notes). On stages where buildings are present, you can hide behind doors for several seconds, which is often a safer bet than trying to time jumps to dodge. All that being said, sometimes your best bet is to not get too caught up in trying to avoid taking hits, as it’s not really worth the time it takes trying to avoid the toll on your stress level. The bombs are really the most major hazard to be feared, as they drop your health to a point where transitioning to the Hyde gameplay immediately becomes a matter of life and death. There’s only one way to restore health while playing as Jekyll, and interestingly enough, it’s not even available in the international version.
Both versions of the game feature six levels (without Hyde’s “alternate dimension” levels rolled into this number), but the Japanese version features two stages unseen in the international release: The City and the Alley (in the international release, these are replaced with repeats of the Town and Graveyard stages). The reason for this is potentially because of the presence of one Mrs. Rachel, who the international manual describes as a lonely widow whose late husband resembled Jekyll. What this translates to in the game are the appearances of Rachel from building windowsills, where she beckons for Jekyll to enter her home. And if you should, you are seen in room she was occupying, while her sprite mysteriously disappears from view. The music briefly changes, as your health is restored and your stress is relieved. As if that weren’t enough, you’re even paid in coin for your time! The implication here is pretty seedy, to say the least, and so the solution in the international release seemed to be to omit these stages she appears in entirely (save for the last stage, where they simply omit her from it). The problem is, the international manual still includes her character description, and an earlier section alludes to “a character who supports the good Dr. Jekyll by increasing his life power.”
Save for Mrs. Rachel, the only other way to restore health is to relieve your stress as Hyde and return to Jekyll form, which restores roughly 75% of your max health. Of course, this means you have to survive while playing as Hyde, whose levels play almost entirely different from Jekyll. For one, they are constantly auto-scrolling, pushing you forward with no say in the matter. For another, all enemies are now a threat to your life, and must be vanquished by you to prevent this. Instead of an ineffective cane, Hyde can deck enemies with punches, or by unleashing the power of the ‘PSYCHO-WAVE’ (always written in all-caps) — effectively a fireball that travels in a strange arc and returns to you like a boomerang. This is handy enough for dealing with most of the enemies the game throws at you in this mode, though hitting enemies that are positioned above you is incredibly difficult. There’s also some minor platforming to contend with, slightly complicated by Hyde not being able to walk past the mid-point of the screen and thus having to plan your jumps according. All in all though, these sections are far more entertaining than the Jekyll gameplay, moving at a brisker pace and giving you an outlet for your pent-up frustrations carrying over from playing passively as Jekyll.
At some point, you may realize that the levels in Hyde’s gameplay play as mirrored versions of those in Jekyll’s gameplay, albeit more dark and demolished. If you’re unlucky, you may also realize that if Hyde attempts to travel further than Jekyll has in his respective version of reality, he is immediately struck dead by lightning (cast down by ‘The Powers That Be,’ according to the manual). Effectively, Hyde progressing past Jekyll is seen as “Evil triumphing over Good,” which must not go unpunished. That is, until the final of the six levels, where the game diverges without announcement or indication to the player. If Jekyll maintains a healthy lead and reaches the church first [with Hyde left far behind], you actually get what is considered to be the “Bad” ending. All you get for your effort is an unpopulated shot of the church, a bit of wedding music, and the word “End” written in the center. A classic disappointing NES game ending.
But, what if Hyde manages to stay in lockstep with Jekyll, without surpassing him until the last level? If you should manage – which actually isn’t all that hard if you are aware of what needs to be done – Hyde’s final stage takes him to the rooftops of the corrupted town, off of Jekyll’s path in a way. He’ll wind up at a demon world version of the church, and fight against a floating head who serves as the game’s final boss. The international manual refers to this monster as ‘Letule’ and simply calls him a mysterious ghost-like demon, while the Japanese manual refers to him as something like ‘The King of Makai.’ His fight is relatively easy, as spamming the PSYCHO-WAVE will hit him more often than not. Defeating Letule will trigger a light show, as his head repeatedly flashes in and out of existence. As an additional bit of macabre, If you look closely at the roof of the church in the background, you can just make out what appears to be a person hang himself from the crooked cross ornamented atop it. I reckon it’s such a small detail that the censors must’ve never noticed it. As for what it’s meant to represent / imply, I have no clue.
With the King of Makai defeated, you are returned to Jekyll, who finds himself free of obstacles as he finishes the last stretch of his journey. In the Japanese version (missing in the international release), your bride-to-be greets you at the gate, and reaching her begins your wedding ceremony in cutscene. The sequence runs for about a minute, and certainly serves as a more satisfying reward for a playthrough that should clock in at just around an hour [allowing for a continue or two]. The real cherry on top though comes after the ceremony is over, and you’re greeted again with the center-screen “End” text. Give the game a few seconds on this screen and lightning will strike, inverting the text and revealing an unnerving silhouette of what appears to be Hyde carrying a large cross on his back. It’s a memorable visual in a game that excels in presentation. “Hyde shall rise again” would seem to be the implication, perhaps in an intended sequel that never managed to materialize?
What’s perhaps most interesting to think about though is that this is all considered part of the “Good” ending. You are better rewarded by the game for allowing the “Evil” Hyde to succeed in his mission than if you were to simply leave him behind! Not to mention that playing as Hyde is decidedly more entertaining than playing as Jekyll, making you wish that you were allowed to spend more time in the demon world. As such, you are motivated as a player to intentionally increase Jekyll’s stress, and push him over the edge into becoming Hyde. One of the most effective ways to do this is to attack non-hostile NPCs with your cane, which serves as a damage-free way of increasing your stress. In fact, if you’re faced with obstacles that are difficult to get past without taking damage, your best bet might actually be to hit passing innocents until you turn, as the offending obstacles will be cleared from the screen when you return to Jekyll’s perspective. Hyde’s dark temptation transcends Jekyll by going so far as to tempt the player as well.
In several ways, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is also a precursor to such games as Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and The Stanley Parable, where the focus of the design isn’t necessarily on making the core gameplay “entertaining,” but rather to use mechanics as a means of conveying an intent. There are at least a dozen different, downright obvious ways that the Jekyll gameplay sections could have been changed to make the game more conventionally fun to play: Increasing his walk speed, making his cane a more viable defense, including more stress relievers and healing items, et cetera. But the design is deliberate, and the intent is clear: Playing as Jekyll isn’t meant to be fun. This was a calculated decision by the developers for Jekyll to move as slowly as he does, as it also was for him to be completely defenseless. As such, there is the constant temptation to intentionally increase your stress in order to play as Hyde, breaking up the monotony and providing an outlet for players to release their pent-up aggression and frustration. And for those who foolishly strive for perfection in the Jekyll segments – who somehow manage to complete the game with minimal time spent as Hyde – their “reward” is the obvious lesser of the two endings.
Most interpret the original novella and its many adaptations as an examination on human duality, and as a warning against repressing evil desires too deep inside oneself lest you ultimately lose control. In its own brilliant way, the game understands and conveys this interpretation, challenging players to maintain a balance in order to earn the more rewarding ending. At the risk of coming across as jaded by modern game design, I suspect a current-day AAA attempt at developing a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde game wouldn’t be able to convey this idea in a comparably provoking way. A modern take would probably involve some sort of Fallout 3-esque value system for “Good and Evil,” with decisions you make pushing a slider in either direction. The risk is that conventional game logic is to praise players who align themselves on the side of Good, berate and punish players who dare to indulge in Evil, and totally forget players who try to maintain neutrality. This is what makes Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the NES so unique — so unlike modern game takes on morality. Perhaps the failure to recognize or appreciate this approach is a part of why current-day players are so quick to dismiss the game?
Or maybe the truth of the matter really is as simple as it seems: The Jekyll gameplay is too huge a turn-off for most players, and the Hyde gameplay isn’t really fun enough to justify or compensate for it. Even having a fuller understanding of how the game is meant to be played probably won’t prevent many from getting frustrated or bored. With all the care and craft behind creating such a cohesive aesthetic for the game, it’s a shame most players don’t seem to have the patience to progress past the first level and see it all for themselves. But even if the game might fall short in execution, there’s certainly lessons to be learned from the attempt. There’s a balance that can be struck with dividing a game between “deliberately slow” and “exciting action” sections, where the contrast might help to make the message of the game that much stronger.
And so I am faced with my very own strange case, as it turns out I actually kinda like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Not enough that I’ll probably ever want to play it again, mind you, but I honestly didn’t mind my time with it. Sure, it was frustrating at times (almost exclusively during the Jekyll sections), and I spent half my time with it stopping myself from audibly saying “faster, faster,” That being said, I can’t really argue with folk who can’t stand the game, writing it off as a complete chore to play. If I can make a recommendation, I’d seek out the Japanese version above the international one, since the two extra levels and inclusion of Mrs. Rachel give it an extra bit of variety. I believe it’s certainly a game worth trying for yourself though, if only to experience first-hand what it’s like to have a game so effectively toy with you.
“Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end.”
One of the best write ups I’ve seen on this.
This was a really interesting read! I’d heard very basic stuff about the game before, but never seen anyone go truly in depth regarding it, and hearing about the additional levels as well as the curious mechanics of the otherworld is actually super cool. It kinda makes me want to try this game out…. maybe. Some of the stuff actually reminds me of themes people have done in “video game creepypasta” stuff, like the mysterious hanging dude and the depressing church ending. Hmm…
Thanks for the effort in creating this article!