Mr. Bones

n/a

NTSC-U/PAL NTSC-J
Mr. Bones
System(s): Sega Saturn
Publisher: Sega of America (US), Sega Europe (EU), Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (JP)
Developer: Zono, Pacific SoftScape
Supporting companies: SegaSoft, Angel Studios Interactive Entertainment (cutscenes), T.L.A. Developments (some stage programming), Metropolis Digital (some animation), Sega Test (testing)
Distributor: Zegetron (GR), Sega-Ozisoft (AU), Tec Toy (BR)
Sound driver: SCSP/CD-DA(9/11 tracks)
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1997-06-26 ¥5800 GS-9127 US 1996-10-18 $49.99 81016 EU 1997-03-13 MK81016-50 DE 1997-03-13 MK81016-50 PT 199x UK 1997-03-13 £39.99 MK81016-50 PL 1997 229zł AU 199x FMRB01SSC BR 199x 193126

Mr. Bones (ミスター・ボーンズ) is a Sega Saturn experimental action game developed by Zono and published by Sega of America. Conceptualized by Ed Annunziata, the game is an eccentric and surreal experience combining numerous gameplay styles and mechanics, ranging from action platformer to rhythm game to Tempest-like, and was first released in the United States in October 1996 - two weeks before Halloween.

The game is notable for being composed by famed American guitarist Ronnie Montrose, and for being one of the few Western games of the era to receive a published soundtrack in North America.

Story

Opening FMV.

The immortal DaGoulian has discovered Skeletism (shorthand for "Skeletal Magnetism"), a form of vampirism controlled by rhythm that can reanimate the dead, and has summoned an army of skeletons with glowing red eyes to lay waste to the world. Mr. Bones, a skeleton animated with good Skeletism (blue), is the only one who can stand in his way.

Gameplay

In platforming levels, the player can move Mr. Bones with and , crouch with and jump with . When he grabs on to a ledge while jumping, the player can press to have Mr. Bones pull himself up. As a form of attack against other skeletons, the player can press to make Mr. Bones fire a Plasma Beam from his hands to absorb evil Skeletism and convert it into good Skeletism.

Mr. Bones' vitality is measured by how much Skeletism he has in his body, which is measured by the Skeletism Meter (the word "BONES") in the top-right corner of the screen. When he takes damage from enemies and hazards, the Skeletism holding his body together will weaken, and having low Skeletism will cause his body parts to fall off from attacks or from jumping and falling, reducing his mobility and abilities. By pressing , the player can reassemble bones that have been dropped as well as temporarily strengthen Mr. Bones' Skeletism. Some parts can only be reassembled if the player has a "Prerequisite Part" - for example, the player must have collected a rib cage in order to reassemble an arm, or a hip bone to reassemble a leg. Skeletism is replenished with the Plasma Beam or by collecting items.

The player can also reconfigure Mr. Bones' limbs using the , and buttons. The and buttons will enable a Long Legs and Long Arm configuration respectively, while pressing will enable the "Slim Jim" configuration that reduces Mr. Bones to a skull and spine, dropping all other parts.

If all the letters in the Skeletism Meter are gone, the game is over, and the player will be returned to the title screen. The highest level reached will become available in a level select accessible via the options menu, allowing the player to continue the game from the beginning of the last level they left off at.

Levels

	Grave Escape
	Having just been brought to life, Mr. Bones is on the run from DaGoulian's Army of Darkness in an auto-scrolling FMV level. He must jump over obstacles including trees, fences, gravestones and craters while avoiding the stones thrown at him by DaGoulian's skeletons as well as the ghosts that emerge from the craters. Blue butterflies will periodically appear to replenish any lost Skeletism. The level goes on for nearly 3 minutes, ending with Mr. Bones entering a mausoleum.
	The Mausoleum
	Mr. Bones is on the roof of the mausoleum, surrounded by DaGoulian's minions at the front and back edges of the roof. The skeletons will attack in waves, and Mr. Bones must avoid these attacks by jumping as well as keeping his Skeletism healthy using the butterflies. After a while, the skeletons will emerge onto the roof and fight Mr. Bones directly, so he must defeat them using his Plasma Beam. When he has defeated enough skeletons, all the skeletons surrounding the roof will leave, allowing him to jump off the mausoleum and move on.
	The Valley
	The first standard platforming level in the game, Mr. Bones has to get through the cemetery. Skeletons will either chase after Mr. Bones directly, or attack him from holes in the ground. Some holes in the ground can be entered to find items such as replacement parts, often requiring the player to descend down stairs using +. Larger gravestones will also block the way forward, requiring Mr. Bones to find and stand on top of gravestones with a key on them to press a button to open the way. Blue gravestones will restore Skeletism when stood on. Near the end of the level, Mr. Bones will have to run through fields filled with ghosts, which will damage him. By reaching the gates at the end, he will finally escape the cemetery.
	Guitar Solo
	After escaping the cemetery, Mr. Bones meets a blind man (played by Ronnie Montrose) in a woodland cabin who teaches him to play the guitar. Their jam session is interrupted by the sounds of DaGoulian's rhythmic drumming, and Mr. Bones finds himself in front of an audience of skeletons, armed with only his guitar on loan from the blind man. This level requires the player to perform on the guitar using the face buttons on the Control Pad to entertain the skeletons. Playing in time with the music will make more of the skeletons turn blue and regenerate Mr. Bones' Skeletism, while playing poorly will make them boo at Mr. Bones and make him lose Skeletism.
	Night of the Bats
	The first of three levels taking place in the Batwoods. As soon as the level begins, a flock of bats will dismantle Mr. Bones and reduce him to a skull and spine. He must get through the cliffs and trees of the woods and recollect his missing parts, while either avoiding or fighting the bats and Frankenstein monsters with his Plasma Beam. The goal of this level requires Mr. Bones to be in a specific configuration in order to pass through, in this case he needs to have only a rib cage and left arm. He can dismantle himself with to drop any unnecessary parts.
	Dawn of the Bats
	The second of three levels taking place in the Batwoods. Mr. Bones is required to have a rib cage, a pelvis, a left arm and a left leg in order to fit into the exit door.
	Day of the Bats
	The third of three levels taking place in the Batwoods. Mr. Bones is required to have a complete structure in order to fit into the exit door.
	Rolling Logs
	In this auto-scrolling FMV level, a bat will cause a stack of logs to start chasing Mr. Bones downhill. He must keep on running and jumping over rocks, while avoiding the logs that will roll and bounce after him, keeping his Skeletism healthy using the butterflies. At the bottom of the hill, Mr. Bones must enter the exit door with a complete structure to finish the level.
	Drum Solo
	After escaping the log avalanche, Mr. Bones discovers a drum set in the woods and must play the drums in time with the energy travelling into the drums by holding the correct direction on the D-Pad. Missing beats will make Mr. Bones lose Skeletism, while keeping a good rhythm will replenish it. When the level is completed, the drum beats will create a portal to the Wraith World, sucking Mr. Bones in.
	Glass Shards
	Having arrived in the Wraith World, Mr. Bones must traverse a spacial void filled with floating glass shards and a disembodied voice that talks about the nature of the blues, which he must jump across in order to find the exit door. Blue shards will replenish Skeletism when stepped on, while red shards will cause harm. The exit door requires Mr. Bones to completely dismantle himself with in order to proceed.
	Big Bones
	The player must reassemble Mr. Bones' body in order to complete the level, and to do so they must bounce his body around using his skull. To do this, they must use and to move Mr. Bones' skull to redirect his body towards his scattered parts to reassemble him piece by piece. Floating skulls with red eyes will bounce Mr. Bones around like pinball bumpers, with the bobbing skulls disappearing for a few seconds when bumped into. With each part that is recovered, the player moves on to the next section of the level and regains some Skeletism. If Mr. Bones bounces off the screen, he loses a part and some Skeletism, sending the player back to the previous section of the level. The level has a total of six sections, tasking the player to collect Mr. Bones' rib cage, pelvis, arms and legs in that order.
	Vortex
	Mr. Bones meets the Wraith and performs a serenade for her. In return, she helps him by creating a vortex to jump into. He splits apart at the beginning of the level, and must recollect his parts while avoiding the glass shards. He is constantly swirling in a clockwise direction of the vortex and the player has to control his speed, using to speed up and to spin anti-clockwise. The player can also make Mr. Bones jump into the center of the screen with if they are unable to avoid the shards. The level is complete once Mr. Bones is fully reassembled. This is the last level of disc 1. The remaining levels require the player to insert disc 2.
	Underwater Ride
	After exiting the Wraith World, Mr. Bones lands in a river and is taken through an underwater tunnel by the current in an auto-scrolling FMV level. Mr. Bones swims around the screen using the D-Pad with the and controls being inverted, and must avoid bumping into the rocks to avoid losing Skeletism and dropping his parts, replenishing any lost Skeletism by touching the blue bubbles. At the end of the tunnel is an exit door that requires Mr. Bones to have a complete structure.
	Little People Village
	Mr. Bones wakes up to find himself tied up by Little People under the belief that he is one of DaGoulian's minions. He learns that DaGoulian is using spiders to kidnap the Little People to make them his slaves in his castle, and offers to stop the spiders. The objective of this level is similar to Defender in that Mr. Bones has to defend the Little People from being abducted by the spiders. Hands will appear in the bottom-left and bottom-right corners to guide the player to any Little People that are currently being taken away by a spider, and they must kill the spider by either jumping at its string or shooting it with Plasma Energy to save the little person. Successfully rescuing a Little Person will increase the rescue count by one, while failing to save one will reduce the count by one and take away some Skeletism. A total of 21 Little People must be rescued to complete the level.
	The Icy Lake
	After helping the Little People, Mr. Bones must traverse an icy lake in one of the hardest levels in the game. This level is played from a top-down perspective, and the player moves Mr. Bones around with the D-Pad and jumping with , with Mr. Bones' movements being slippery. To travel across thin ice, Mr. Bones must walk along with the floating blocks beneath the ice - stepping on or jumping on the thin ice without anything underneath it will cause it to crack, making him fall into the icy water and lose a lot of Skeletism. Jumping onto an ice block will cause it to sink for a second.
	From Beneath the Ice
	This level is a continuation from the Icy Lake, but with the perspective now being underneath the ice rather than being top-down. The ice is now cracking quickly behind Mr. Bones, and the player must run as fast as possible to escape the cracking ice. Falling into the ice will take away some Skeletism and restart the level from the beginning.
	Shadow Monster
	Mr. Bones has to open the door leading out of the vault, and to do so he must run back and forth between the background and foreground, jumping on the button in front of the door and either of the two skulls in the foreground to slowly open it to reveal an exit that requires a complete structure. The primary threat in this level are the shadows cast on the stone wall that will spawn projectiles or demons to attack Mr. Bones when he approaches the door.
	Dry Moat
	Mr. Bones leaves the vault and enters a dried-up moat, encountering a skeletal Tyrannosaurus Rex named Sparky. He must avoid Sparky's bite attacks and falling rocks, and jump off his skull to loosen the screws on the side of the moat. Each time a screw is loosened, Sparky will roar and shake his chains violently, causing pieces of the wall to fall down that Mr. Bones must avoid. Lost Skeletism can be replenished by collecting the mushrooms that periodically appear. It is recommended to loosen the right screw first so the player can save the Blue Skull above the left screw for later. Each screw needs to be loosened six times to be unscrewed entirely. Once both screws have been unscrewed, Sparky will be freed from DaGoulian's control.
	Hall of Pane
	After being set free, Sparky offers to help Mr. Bones reach DaGoulian by transforming into a pterodactyl and flying him through the castle in the final FMV-based level. Mr. Bones will lose Skeletism when flying through the unavoidable stained glass windows, so the player must collect as many plasma balls as possible and avoid spiked tree trunks to offset the damage. The level is complete once Mr. Bones and Sparky reach the thirteenth window. cannot be used to strengthen Skeletism in this level. Each of the stained glass windows in this level tell the story of DaGoulian's life, showing his birth and childhood, his exile from humanity for his dark experiments, and his plan to conquer the world with his skeleton army.
	Skeletism Generator
	After being dropped off at the heart of DaGoulian's castle by Sparky, Mr. Bones is suddenly sucked into the Skeletism generator. He will be floating around inside the generator, and the player must fly around and shoot the red plasma orbs to turn them blue and replenish Skeletism. The D-Pad moves Mr. Bones around, and shoots. and can be used to change the direction that Mr. Bones spins in.
	Funny Bones
	After escaping the Skeletism generator, Mr. Bones will find himself face-to-face with Junior, a robotic skeleton, who is slowly advancing towards him before DaGoulian's Army of Darkness. To stop Junior, Mr. Bones has to tell jokes to the audience to make them laugh and make Junior back away. Telling a joke requires the player to quickly figure out the correct sequence to tell the joke using the six face buttons on the Control Pad, and getting the sequence wrong results in getting booed at, wasting time. If the player takes too long to tell a joke, Junior will attack Mr. Bones and make him lose some Skeletism. The player must complete 8 successful jokes to make Junior fall into a laughing fit, allowing Mr. Bones to continue onward.
	Los Endos
	Mr. Bones finally confronts DaGoulian, and is trapped in an arena surrounded by all the remaining red Skeletism of DaGoulian's army. Mr. Bones' only form of defense and offense is his guitar. Pressing the D-Pad in a direction will make Mr. Bones point his guitar towards that direction, which he must do to block shots from those directions. The skulls surrounding the arena will light up in a specific pattern to indicate where they will shoot from next. Once Mr. Bones has absorbed a shot, he can fire back a blue shot towards the red Skeletism field with to dissolve a small piece of it, though shooting into an empty space will regenerate the field. He can only hold one shot at a time in his guitar - trying to block another shot before firing the previous shot will result in Mr. Bones taking damage. The player must completely dissolve the red Skeletism field to complete the level and finish the game.

History

Development

Mr. Bones began development in December 1994 at Zono, but as the project progressed into 1995, producer Ed Annunziata began looking for another company to finish development. Ed Zobrist of Pacific SoftScape reached out to Annunziata about filling that role, which resulted in the game being largely finished by Pacific SoftScape staff. This also resulted in a number of SoftScape staff migrating to Zono. Development concluded in September 1996.

Production credits

Main article: Mr. Bones/Production credits.

Magazine articles

Main article: Mr. Bones/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

PDF

Print advert in EGM² (US) #29: "November 1996" (1996-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #89: "December 1996" (1996-xx-xx)

PDF

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) #1997-23: "1997-23 (1997-07-11)" (1997-06-27)

PDF

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) #1997-24: "1997-24 (1997-07-18)" (1997-07-04)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source GamesMaster (UK) 60

	60
Based on 1 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score Consoles + (FR) PAL 89 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 86 Weekly Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 63 Fun Generation (DE) PAL 70 GameFan (US) NTSC-U 82 Game Power (IT) 65 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 80 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 72 Gry Komputerowe (PL) 90 Intelligent Gamer (US) NTSC-U 58 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 26 Mega Fun (DE) PAL 58 Next Generation (US) NTSC-U 50 Player One (FR) 89 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 62 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 75 Secret Service (PL) 56 Sega Magazin (DE) 76 Sega Power (UK) PAL 72 Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) PAL 66 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 70 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 83 Ultra Game Players (US) NTSC-U 76

	70
Based on 23 reviews

Mr. Bones

Saturn, JP
Box
Spinecard Disc 1 Disc 2 Manual Jewel case Reg card

Saturn, US
Box
Disc 1 Manual

Saturn, EU
Cover

Saturn, PT

Saturn, GR
Cover

Saturn, AU
Box

Saturn, BR
Box

Technical information

Main article: Mr. Bones/Technical information.