No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!

No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!
Developer(s)	Artdink
Publisher(s)	Acclaim Entertainment
Composer(s)	Shingo Murakami
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Release date(s)	October 31, 1998 (NA) 1999 (EU)[1]
Genre(s)	Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E)

No One Can Stop Mr. Domino! is a puzzle game released in North America for the PlayStation console in 1998. The user controls one of five anthropomorphic dominoes, placing other dominoes in rows that will successfully topple while avoiding obstacles and working under a time limit.

Gameplay

The game includes 6 stages: a casino, a grocery store, a family home, a local park, an amusement park, and a city. Each stage is set up like a racetrack as the character will go back to the starting point after each lap. The player can make as many laps as needed to clear a given stage. When the level is cleared, the player will proceed to the next stage.

Once a stage starts, the character will start to run, and he/she will not stop running. To control the character's speed and where he runs, the player dictates movement with the D-Pad. The characters that are not under the player's control will attempt to hinder the avatar's progress in ways such as throwing dice, turning on electrical wire, making fruit appear out of nowhere; making the evasion of such obstacles a primary concern of the player.

A game element called a "trick tile", places the dominoes effectively by input of the Circle, X, Triangle, or Square button. This will place a domino on the current path. The player can continue to keep placing dominoes by holding down one of the aforementioned buttons.

When a full lap is completed around the stage and returned to where the first domino was laid, the character will bump into the domino. The dominoes will begin an effect of inertia, and the character will stand still while the dominoes are falling.

While active, the character's stamina will decrease. This is signified by the character's body gradually darkening. If the character's stamina is depleted, the character will transform into an ordinary domino, and the game will end. This is prevented by encountering on special Recovery Tiles that can recover the character's stamina, but can only be used once for each tile.

The player clears a stage by activation of the required number of trick tiles for each stage. The player heightens their score by activating the trick tiles in a shorter time and in as long of a chain as possible. If the stage is cleared with a High Score, the player will be able to unlock new characters.

Characters

• Mr. Domino is the titular character of the game, and one of the two characters that are selectable in the beginning. He runs at normal speed.

• Miss Domino is one of the two characters that are selectable in the beginning of the game. She skips rather than runs.

• Bruce is a Domino with devil horns. He is difficult to handle due to his fast running speed. For advanced players only.

• Pierre-Domino is a Domino with sunglasses. He is the opposite of Bruce, as he runs slowly and runs out of breath quickly.

• D△M•?0 is an alien Domino with an unknown style.

Reception

In Game Revolution's "50 Worst Game Names Ever," No One Can Stop Mr. Domino was the #11 spot.^[2] Game Informer has named the game one of the top ten weirdest of all time.^[3] Nevertheless, in Edge it was critically praised for its originality. A sequel was released for the Wii entitled Go! Go! Minon (alternate title: Domino Rally) in June 2007.^[4]

References

1. ^ Release information for No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!
2. ^ The 50 Worst Video Game Names of All Time
3. ^ “the top 10 weirdest games of all time,” Game Informer 180 (April 2008): 28.
4. ^ Domino Rally, MobyGames, game released on 18 June 2007