Showcase Reel - Mikie (1984)

Mikie (or Shinnyū Shain Tōru-kun in Japan) is an arcade game developed by Konami and released by the same in 1984. You play as the titular character, Mikie, a prototypical Ferris Bueller before Ferris Bueller was a thing (the film came out two years after the game), who decides he's had enough poring over boring lessons for one day. He decides to ditch school and spend time with his girlfriend, Mandy, who's already waiting for him outside the school gates. There's only one problem. The teacher isn't just going to let Mikie walk out the door; this high school kid's going to need to get creative if he wants to escape the confines of the school building.

Mikie is an interesting entry in Konami's vast and varied oeuvre; I don't think there's anything quite like it in its canon. It has been described as both an action adventure title and a maze game. The objective is to successfully escape the school grounds without being caught. To do that, the player has to navigate five screens, each representing a room in the school. Each room is connected by a series of corridors and stairwells. Each room has its own traps and pitfalls and obstacles to overcome. Each room contains a certain number of hearts as well; each heart represents as letter of a secret note that Mandy has written to Mikie. The object is to collect all the hearts; only then is the full secret message revealed, and only then is Mikie able to leave the room. However, within each room as well are one or more adults who are hell bent on making sure that Mikie doesn't leave the school grounds.

In this video I showcase the arcade version (released in 1984) along with the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions released by Imagine Software in 1986.

Timestamps for each of the versions:

ZX Spectrum - 00:12
Amstrad CPC - 01:32
Commodore 64 - 02:57
Arcade - 03:53
All versions - 04:37

Intro contains royalty free music track "War" composed by Bensound.