So, had a series of thoughts. What with all the remakes and virtual arcade machines popping up, my thoughts drift back to the glory days of the NES. If I was given an unlimited budget and allowed to make one game, any subject, what would I make?
A remake of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.
Now, my thoughts on remakes are fairly simple. If you're going to remake or retell something, why not retell something that failed the first time? I understand remaking popular things as there is a built in audience, but why not something that could stand to be fixed?
Hence the Jekyll & Hyde idea. The original version is (rightly) considered one of the worst video games of all time. You play as both Jekyll and Hyde. As Jekyll you move left to right across the screen, avoiding annoyances like drunks, bomb throwing anarchists, zombies, and bratty children. With every hit you take your life bar goes down and your Hyde bar goes up. When your H bar is full, you transform into Mr. Hyde.
As Hyde, you move right to left across a nightmarish mirror world filled with monsters. Using your psycho-wave attack, you destroy the monsters and collect power-ups. The biggest thing you face though is when you get farther in the game as Hyde than as Jekyll. Once you do, lightning strikes you dead for some reason.
So, sounds like fun? Not really. I found the game annoying and far more frustrating than fun. Jekyll has almost no defense aside from a walking stick (which doesn't do much). He's slow and unable to jump over anything. Hyde can't jump (or if he can I never got that far). The psycho wave is nice, but the punishment you take for getting farther just doesn't make sense. I'm told there is a final boss (as Hyde), but you'd have to be a better gamer than I to get that far.
With that out of the way, how would I go about remaking it? For the Jekyll, keep the overall mission the same. You are Dr. Jekyll and you're going to going to be late for your wedding. You have only a certain amount of time to get to the church on time, but there are just so many problems! Your future father-in-law doesn't like you, zombies are attacking London, your students are in revolt, and all your neighbors have had it with your experiments and are determined to drive you out of your house and mind. I suppose I'd do it as a sandbox/3-D thing, a la Saints Row, but then again I do prefer the old fashioned side scrolling platform, so maybe a cell shaded remake, like the remastered Ducktales. Basically your mission is to get across the board and to the church. Jekyll is a gentleman, so that means no violence to solve problems. I figured something like the wanted system in GTA, only with 19th Century police/military instead of tanks and helicopters to chase after you if you start smacking heads. You gain time and points for helping settle problems, i.e. fetch quests and platforming. Be careful though, as your Hyde meter grows when you get angry.
What happens then? Mr. Hyde comes out to play, that's what. Hyde's adventures take place in a mirror London, one that is constantly at midnight when the dead roam and things skitter from the shadows to feast on the unwary. Hyde is a straight up brawler. Just move across the city at your leisure, fighting whatever comes your way. The more you fight the more XP you get, so you fight stronger things. Your Jekyll meter is constantly running down though, and when that happens, you're back to dodging stones and fetching shot ducks.
That's pretty much it. The end boss for Jekyll is simply marrying his blushing bride, while Hyde's would be fighting an off-brand Old One. Once you've beaten the game on medium, I figured you could play as Hyde in Jekyll's world. Beat the game on hard, and you can play as Jekyll in Hyde's world for the challenge.
Anyone want to back this?
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