ULTIMATE GUIDE
Mikie
Buoyed by the success of Track & Field, the following year Konami tried its hand at a totally different type of arcade game. Inspired by the Fifties nostalgia of films such as Grease and American high-school flicks, this is the story of the amorous Mikie and his quest to deliver a heartfelt message to his girlfriend
WORDS BY GRAEME MASON
MIKIE
SPEAKER
There’s
no doubt that there is a decent amount of overlap in cinema and videogame demographics. In the Eighties, with the popularity of movies such as The Outsiders, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Fame and The Breakfast Club, the commonality was even more pronounced. Mix in the late-Seventies hits Grease and Animal House and it’s no surprise that eventually, someone would attempt a videogame based around the concept of a cheeky high-school student, disobeying the teachers and generally behaving badly, all in the name of love. The company was Konami and the game, at least to Western audiences, was Mikie. And it’s a funny old tale.
First, the story inside the game itself. Eschewed of the standard alien invasion backdrop, Mikie is a simple love story, strangely mixed in with some wanton and entirely unreasonable violence. Mikie has decided to take a message to his girlfriend, who is waiting patiently for him by the school gates. In order to achieve this, our eponymous youngster collects the hearts that are dotted around the school. Some of these are hidden underneath his fellow students’ chairs and Mikie collects these by bumping the poor saps off their seats. Chasing him around the classroom is the teacher – he is supposed to be studying, after all – and should he catch up with the tearaway then a life is lost. Fortunately, depending on which version of the game you are playing (we’ll get to that later), Mikie can temporarily incapacitate his teacher by either head-butting or shouting at him.
Once the hearts in the first class have been harvested, Mikie takes to the school hallways which are no less hazardous for the errant lad. Pursued by not only the teacher, but a jobsworth janitor, Mikie must make his way to the locker room and collect more hearts, this time by bashing open the lockers. Next up is the restaurant and its trio of cooks, angry that this heart-collecting student has interrupted their dubious culinary efforts. After another jaunt through the school corridors, the final class is the dance studio where a group of young ladies follow their instructor’s energetic workout. There’s just the teacher to watch out for here – boy, he’s persistent – but bumping into one of the gyrating girls sends Mikie temporarily loopy, making him vulnerable to the chasing tutor.