''Mr. Cool'' is an

action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform ...

Peter Oliphant Peter Oliphant is an American actor and video game designer. He is best known for playing Freddie Helper on the American sitcom television series '' The Dick Van Dyke Show''. Oliphant is currently a video game designer, programmer, and produce ...

and published in 1983 by

Sierra On-Line Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre ...

for the

Atari 8-bit The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

and Commodore 64 home computers. The ports for the

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a tea ...

(as a

self-booting disk A self-booting disk is a floppy disk for home or personal computers that loads directly into a standalone application when the system is turned on, bypassing the operating system. This was common, even standard, on some computers in the late 1970 ...

) and

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-mold ...

were written by John Redekopp and released the same year. The game is heavily inspired by the 1982 arcade video game ''

Q*bert ''Q*bert'' (also known as ''Qbert'') is an arcade video game developed and published for the North American market by Gottlieb in 1982. It is a Video game graphics, 2D action game with Puzzle video game, puzzle elements that uses Isometric video ...

''.

Gameplay

The player controls an ice cube (titular Mr. Cool) starting each game at the top of a seven-tiered pyramid of hot plates. He must jump diagonally from plate to plate and turn them all to the same color. At first only one touching of each plate is required, but on subsequent levels two or more landings on each plate are needed. The many obstacles the player must avoid include fireballs and hot springs dropping from the top and bouncing to the bottom of a pyramid. Once on any level the player can activate "Supercool Time" lasting for fifteen seconds. Then he can turn the fireballs into snowballs and cool down hot springs. There are fifteen rounds in every level, and the levels become faster as the player progresses.

Development

After finishing his first game for Sierra On-Line, ''Wall War'', Peter Oliphant became interested in ''Q*bert''. He identified some problems with that game—a certain repetitiveness. ''Mr. Cool'' was a response to that: "a game like ''Q*bert'', but better". He had the Atari 8-bit version finished three weeks after he first started thinking about it.

Reception

''Softline'' wrote in a 1983 review: "Although Mr. Cool lacks Q*Bert's Escheresque assault on the eyes, it’s a no less addicting game. ..Mr. Cool deserves to be a sizzling hit for Sierra On-Line." In ''

Creative Computing ''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format th ...

'', Arthur Leyenberger had a similar response to the game's inspiration: "This game resembles the popular arcade game Q-Bert, but without the beautifully colored screen. That is not to say the game is not fun or challenging enough." He found that some players had difficulty using the joystick diagonals to control the character. ''The

Addison-Wesley Addison-Wesley is an American publisher of textbooks and computer literature. It is an imprint of Pearson PLC, a global publishing and education company. In addition to publishing books, Addison-Wesley also distributes its technical titles throug ...

Book of Atari Software 1984'' gave the game an overall mediocre rating (C) and concluded: "It does require some strategy, for like Pac-Man you must take the offensive for brief periods of time. In sum, it is a well-made clone."

References

Bibliography

External links

''Mr. Cool''
at Atari Mania *
Review
in ''

Electronic Fun with Computers & Games ''Electronic Fun with Computers & Games'' was a video game magazine published in the United States from November 1982 to May 1984. For the last two issues it was renamed ''ComputerFun''. Content The magazine was split up into the following sect ...

''
Review
in '' PC Magazine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Mister Cool (video game) 1983 video games Action games Apple II games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games Platformers Sierra Entertainment games Video game clones Video games about food and drink Video games developed in the United States