Mr Nutz (GBA)

“Mr. Nutz” is a 2D side-scrolling platform game developed by Ocean Software, released on various platforms starting in the early 1990s. The game initially launched for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in Europe in late 1993, and in North America and Japan in 1994. It was also released on the Mega Drive and Game Boy, marking Ocean’s first Sega game. Later, it appeared on the Sega Channel in 1995, was updated for the Game Boy Color in 1999, and was remade for the Game Boy Advance in 2001.

In the game, players control Mr. Nutz, an anthropomorphic red squirrel, on his mission to thwart Mr. Blizzard, a yeti intent on turning the world into ice using his magic powers. The gameplay involves navigating through six themed levels where Mr. Nutz can run, jump, swim, and use collected nuts as projectiles to defeat enemies. Most adversaries can be vanquished with a single strike, either by jumping on them, hitting them with Mr. Nutz’s tail, or throwing nuts at them.

Mr. Nutz is equipped with a finite number of lives and a health bar, with the specifics varying by the game’s difficulty and platform. Contact with enemies or hazards depletes health, and losing all health results in the loss of a life. Players must then restart at the beginning of the current level, or, upon losing all lives, they have the option to continue but must start over from the beginning of the first level in that stage.

The game features no time limits, allowing players to explore at their own pace. Coins collected throughout levels contribute to the player’s score and determine the completion bonus at the end of each level. Additionally, in most versions of the game, except the original SNES release, players receive passwords at certain stages, enabling them to resume from specific levels rather than starting over.