Mr. Do!/Gameplay

Controls

 * Joystick: Use the joystick to direct Mr. Do in any one of the four cardinal directions. Mr. Do can walk through existing tunnels, or he can dig new ones by walking into the dirt.
 * Fire: Press the fire button to release Mr. Do's power ball. The power ball will bounce around the tunnels until it either returns to Mr. Do's hands, or hits and destroys an enemy. If it destroys an enemy, Mr. Do must wait for the ball to reform in his hands. Mr. Do cannot throw the power ball if he is not holding it.
 * 1-2 Players: Press either button to begin a 1 or 2 player game.

Mr. Do
You control Mr. Do, a little guy dressed in a clown suit, during his quest to harvest cherries and protect them from the monsters. His goal is to complete a screen in one of several ways described below. His only weapon is a power ball which kills pursuing monsters. The ball bounces around the pathways until it hits something or it returns to Mr. Do. After it kills a monster, you must wait for it to return before you can shoot it again. It often takes more than a few seconds for it to return, which leaves Mr. Do unarmed for that length of time. If Mr. Do is touched by a monster, or crushed by a falling apple, he loses one life.

Apples & Diamonds
Each scene begins with six apples on the screen, which do not appear randomly; they will follow one of four arrangements designated for each of the ten stages. Apples serve nearly the same purpose in Mr. Do! that boulders serve in Dig Dug. The apples can be dropped on monsters to kill them—clear out the area beneath an apple and it will fall and crush any monsters in its path. An apple can drop one level without breaking if it doesn't kill any monsters. Apples can also be moved horizontally as long as there is dirt to support them. Killing the monsters with apples is much better than shooting them, because you get more points and can kill several at a time. Occasionally, an apple will contain a hidden diamond. When that apple is split, the diamond will appear. Getting the diamond will advance you to the next screen and earn you 8000 points and a free game.

''In 1982, when Mr. Do! was made, it was illegal in some states of the U.S. to award free games or credits because of gambling laws that were on the books. Arcade operators in these locations had to turn the free game feature off.''

Mini-Dinos & Driller Dinos
Red monsters (sometimes nicknamed Mini-Dinos) are the most common enemy in the game. They emerge from the center of the screen, one at a time (with pairs of monsters only separated by a second) until six to eight are loose. Red monsters begin each round a little faster than Mr. Do, and speed up as time goes by, and as the level of difficulty increases. They kill Mr. Do by running into him. Shooting a monster earns you 500 points, but dropping an apple on them is worth 1000 to 8000 points. Killing all of the monsters will advance you to the next scene.

Monsters prefer to travel through the pathways, but they can mutate into more powerful creatures (nicknamed Driller Dinos) that can dig through the dirt. Before a monster transforms into a digger, it will stand still and striped pattern will flash around the monster. The frequency at which this happens increases with each stage. The monsters move more slowly when they are digging and often stop for a rest. They tend to dig in Mr. Do's direction and shy away from apples, but they seem to get stuck when an apple is about to fall on them.

Cherries
Cherries appear throughout every stage in fixed locations. They are always arranged in groups of two by four and are worth 50 points each. As you begin to collect them, you will hear a scale of notes. If you manage to get all eight cherries in one continuous sweep, you will hear the entire scale and you will earn a 500 point bonus. Digging up all of the cherries is another way to end the scene, but not as efficient as killing all of the monsters. The monsters also dig up the cherries but you don't get points for the ones they get. Cherries should just be considered bonus points during each stage.

Alphamonsters
You can see an Alphamonster moving along the letter pen at the top of the screen. When your score reaches a multiple of 5000, the Alphamonster enters the screen from the top with whatever letter it happened to be standing on at the time. Shooting the Alphamonster turns that letter yellow in the pen, and turning the entire word EXTRA yellow earns you an extra Mr. Do and advances you to the next stage. It gets increasingly difficult to earn letters, so you should get as many as possible on the early stages. Alphamonsters are capable of eating apples, so it is best to shoot them. When shot, an Alphamonster turns into an apple. Alphamonsters chase Mr. Do when he doesn't have his power ball and run away when he does have it, so they aren't very dangerous. If an Alphamonster roams around for a while without getting killed, it will eventually return to the letter pen along the top. When moving back and forth, the Alphamonster will remain on an un-highlighted letter for about 5 seconds, but it will only stay on a highlighted letter for roughly 1 second.

Munchers
After all of the red monsters have appeared, a bonus prize is revealed. The first prize is worth 1000 points and increases to a maximum of 8000. Getting the bonus prize triggers a couple of actions. The playfield turns red, the red monsters freeze and an Alphamonster comes out, accompanied by three blue Munchers. The Munchers chase Mr. Do, eating any apples in their way. Shooting one turns it into an apple. To return to normal play, you must kill the Alphamonster, or kill all three of the Munchers. If an Alphamonster is already on the screen when you get the prize, the three Munchers will appear where the Alphamonster is. Every Muncher will turn into an apple if the Alphamonster that they spawned from is killed.