Mikie (新入社員とおるくん Shinnyū Shain Tōru-kun?, lit. "New Employee Toru"), also known as High School Graffiti Mikie, is an arcade video game developed and released by Konami in 1984. The object of the game is to guide a student named Mikie around many locations of his high school to collect hearts which make up a letter from his girlfriend while being chased by members of the academic staff. In Japan, the game's setting was changed to an office in order to avoid controversy, while the original version of the game was released internationally. Centuri distributed the game in North America.
Plot[]
Mikie is the coolest guy in high school who every girl dreams about... or so he seems to think. He wears a blue open shirt with a horizontal red stripe worn over a white shirt, yellow pants, yellow sneakers, and has well combed blond hair fashioned in a pompadour style. He accompanies this attire with a mischievous and apparently unapologetic attitude, performing all sorts of antics during class hours in order to impress his sweetheart, the popular cheerleader, Mandy.
Gameplay[]
The object of the game is to guide Mikie throughout many locations of his high school in order to collect hearts with which he'll finally gain the affection of the girl he likes. Each heart collected is registered as the letter of a word (or a love note left by Mandy on some home ports), which appears on the top of the screen. Once all the hearts in a room have been collected and the word uncovered, the exit door will open and Mikie can then leave to seek new adventures in other parts of the school, although not without being pursued all over it by his mad teacher and other academic staff members. A big heart moves from place to place within each room in a determined pattern, which gives bonus points if successfully collected.
Mikie's adventure begins in his very own classroom, where his teacher is going nuts due to all the turmoil he's causing and not letting him give his class in peace. After having collected all the hearts, Mikie ditches class and ventures to many of the campus's other facilities while being pursued by his mad teacher, the janitor, the school's cook, and a dance instructor. Of this group, the teacher will be Mikie's most dangerous enemy, as he is faster and can throw his dentures at him as a manner of ranged attack. On his part, Mikie can headbutt his pursuers to momentarily stun them. However, enemies that had been temporarily disabled will become faster once they recover.
The game is divided in five main stages, which are all different locations within the school, with a sixth one acting as a sort of hub, connecting them all together:
- Classroom
Mikie's adventure to gain his sweetheart's love begins in his classroom, while attending a boring class his teacher is so deeply absorbed trying to give. The level is composed by nine seats arranged in a 3×3 grid, where Mikie's classmates are trying to pay attention, while the teacher is at the top of the screen writing on the blackboard. Many seats feature a heart Mikie must collect, and he must leave his own seat in order to pick them up while risking being seen by the teacher, who turns around to check on the class from time to time. To avoid being detected, Mikie can quickly take one of the other seats to fool the teacher to believe he's being well behaved; however, since those seats are already occupied, Mikie will have to push the other students off first.
If the teacher detects that Mikie is out of his seat, he'll momentarily abandon his academic duties and start chasing him all across the classroom. Fortunately, his physical condition isn't that great and he'll often have to stop to try to catch his breath. If Mikie manages to find a seat before the teacher reaches him, the latter will head back to the blackboard to keep writing.
- Corridor
A short stage that acts more like a sort of hub where Mikie can enter the rest of the levels. Here, he'll meet a new enemy: the janitor. The janitor is slower than the teacher and doesn't have a ranged attack, he just slowly mops across his path, although due to the limited space to maneuver, he can nonetheless also be a threat to Mikie's little amorous adventure. In addition, buckets will sometimes appear on one end of the floor Mikie is currently on and be pushed by a mysterious hand all across the corridor, which Mikie must avoid.
This level is conformed by three corridors: ground level and a second and third floors, each having many doors, as well as a staircase connecting them. Mikie starts on one of the upper floors and must quickly find and enter the door that is flashing, which marks the location of the next stage; all this before the teacher and the janitor get to him. However, due to the small space there is to maneuver, this can be a difficult task, as he'll often find himself in a situation where he'll have no other option than to try to rush past his enemies.
Mikie can also try any of the other doors; these can contain either a girl clad in a nightgown blowing him a kiss (bonus points) or a punching glove which will smack him and temporarily stun him, being a little risk-versus-reward additional feature to the game.
- Locker room
What high school-themed game would be without a little fun in the locker room? Mikie must break into all of the lockers, trying to collect the hearts contained inside for his sweetheart. Unfortunately, the teacher and the janitor have followed him here and now they have a new companion: the school's chef! All three of these academic staff members will be in Mikie's hot pursuit while he's trying to break into the other students' belongings. Fortunately, there are three bins (or two in some home ports) scattered around the room filled with basketball balls which Mikie can throw at his enemies; if any of them catches a ball, they'll start dribbling it and apparently become so absorbed in this task that they'll momentarily forget all about Mikie and his antics.
- Canteen
The chef's lair! This hall counts with five tables and the cook's stove working station lies on the back wall. As usual, Mikie has to collect all the hearts scattered in the room. The cook's two assistants will join the teacher on the chase for Mikie here, while the chef remains on his working station, hurling roasted beefs at Mikie in an attempt to stop him. Pots containing more roasted beefs are set on some of the tables, which Mikie can grab and toss at his pursuers. If he succeeds in doing so, they will start eating them and be temporarily disabled from the chase.
- Gym
The layout in this room is a bit different than the rest in regard that it's completely unfurnished. Instead, a numerous group of female dancing students will be twirling all over the place, acting as its main obstacles. If Mikie makes contact with any of them, he'll become momentarily stunned, giving his enemies a greater chance to catch him. A new enemy is introduced here: the malevolent dance instructor!
- Courtyard
The only open area of the game, which acts as the final stage. Here, Mikie will have to evade the menacing-looking members of the high school's football team, attempting to collect all the hearts while Mandy is cheering for him in the background. If he succeeds, he'll complete the game and finally gain the cheerleader's affections, taking her for a ride in his convertible.
After completing this stage, the game begins on its next loop on a higher difficulty setting.
Regional differences[]
Mikie initially underwent location testing in Japan under its international title, with the same graphics and high school theme that would be used for the game's overseas releases. However, Konami chose not release Mikie as is in Japan due to the game's premise of having a protagonist sneaking out of school after incidents of school violence at the time. As a result, an alternative version was produced for Japanese arcades titled Shinnyū Shain Tōru-kun (新入社員とおるくん? lit. "New Employee Toru"), which replaces the school setting with a workplace. The classroom in the first level became an office and the teacher into a manager; the gym in the third level became the OL office; the other levels (the corridor, the locker room, the canteen and the courtyard) are mostly unchanged aside from a few graphical and term modifications (e.g.: the canteen became the company's dining room, the courtyard became the company garden, etc.), although the football players in the final stage were instead changed to security guards.
The game's soundtrack, which features chiptunes rendition of The Beatles songs "A Hard Day's Night" and "Twist and Shout", had permission granted by JASRAC in Japan, with a license displayed on the instruction card and printed circuit board.
In North America, the game was distributed by Centuri, which had distributed Konami's previous arcade games in the region. In Europe, Konami debuted the game at London's Preview '85 arcade exhibition in November 1984.
Other versions[]
A revised version of the game, titled High School Graffiti Mikie, provided less violent action, in which Mikie's physical attack was changed from a headbutt to a paralyzing shout, while his "death" animation was changed from rolling around on the floor to sobbing in contrition. The glass jars, which Mikie had to headbutt three times to retrieve the heart inside, were replaced with bundles of three hearts, providing the same effect without requiring the player character to head butt glass. In the first level, the writing on the blackboard reads "Failure Teaches Success", instead of "E=mc²". Mikie's shout has no effect on his classroom teacher. After each completed "step" (the loops of the game) in this version, the speed of the enemy characters increases, with some of them even gaining new abilities.
Gallery[]
Packaging and promotional artwork[]
Trivia[]
- The game is known for featuring licensed music from legendary British rock band, The Beatles. The classroom level plays the song "A Hard Day's Night", while the gym level plays "Twist and Shout", a song by Phil Medley and Bert Berns which was greatly popularized by the "Fab Four".