Kid Klown in Night Mayor World (NES)
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- For other games in the series, see Kid Klown / Mickey Mouse.
Kid Klown in Night Mayor World is an action-platformer developed and published by Kemco and released in 1993.
In the game, Kid Klown is traveling with his family in Kansas, until suddenly, the evil Night Mayor (Nightmare, get it?) "klownnaps" Kid's family, and challenges him to rescue his family.
The game is broken up into six stages, not counting the introductory stage. Each level has a different theme. For example, the first level is in a forest, stage 2 is in a toyland, and the fourth stage is an ice level (every game should have one, right?). Kid Klown's only means of attack are his trusty balloons. He not only uses them to attack enemies, but also to use as platforms to bounce off of as well. He can also blow a balloon in midair to float slowly downwards, a la the Tanuki suit in Super Mario Bros. 3. At the end of each stage is a boss that must be defeated, and some levels even have sub-bosses in them. At the end of each stage, Kid Klown plays a bonus game where he must shoot balloons at different icons, each yielding things such as extra lives and health. On each stage, you can open chests that contain various items like health and extra lives. However, one of the items is bad which causes the left and right movement of Kid Klown to be switched.
The game started life in 1992 as a Disney-themed game called Mickey Mouse 3: Yume Fuusen (Dream Balloon). In this game, Mickey is selling balloons to get a gift for Minnie Mouse, Pluto alerts Mickey that Minnie is trapped in a nightmare, and so Mickey rushes over to help her. While a North American prototype of this game was made, it never materialized, possibly due to Capcom holding the rights to Disney games in North America, and so, the game was reskinned. As a result, many assets including changes to the enemies, and even a few musical changes were made, but overall, both games play identical.
The controls take some getting used to, but with enough time and patience, most players can breeze through the game in around an hour. The biggest fault of the game is the amount of slowdown in each level. Also, despite the colorful, detailed graphics, there is a lot of sprite flickering due to all the action on screen. The game also appears to "borrow" certain elements from other games. For example, in the fourth stage, there is a part where rays shoot horizontally out of the walls, a la Mega Man.
The game received mixed reviews from critics. Due to the game's late release date of 1993, it is very rare and highly sought after by collectors.
Screenshots
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Music
Kid Klown in Night Mayor World has a pretty substantial amount of music for 1993. Most parts of the game have their own themes, which is nice. However, similar to Kemco's The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout, each stage theme is pretty short, and doesn't take long to loop. However, unlike that game, the songs only play for one level, as opposed to multiple levels, so they're less likely to get annoying. Another good thing is that the compositions fit the action of the game; a lot of them have a "circus" feel and are fast-paced.
When Kid Klown was localized to North America, many aesthetic changes were made, and the music is no exception. However, only a handful of songs were changed; most of the music remains the same. The original Japanese release actually featured a couple Disney themes, such as the Mickey Mouse Club theme song, as well as It's A Small World. A few of the cutscene themes were also changed.
The music was written by a mysterious "M. Takenaka", who was also credited in Dragon View for the SNES. According to Hiroyuki Masuno, she gave him her compositions and he would sequence the music on his Roland sound devices on his Apple II, and subsequently convert the data into his sound engine. Some of the music that was changed for the North American release sounds in the style of Masuno (particularly, Cutscene 3). However, both versions of the game credit the same sound designers, so it should be verified whether or not he actually did the music for the localization. He most likely did the Bonus Game's Extra Life jingle, as it is very identical to one of the jingles in Birthday Blowout.
There is also a "bug" in which some of the songs have an unusual loop after looping several times. This is likely due to the converted MIDI data. This issue has been disregarded in this recording.
Recording
- Kid Klown in Night Mayor World
- Mickey Mouse III: Yume Fuusen
| # | Title | Composer | Arranger | Length | Listen | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Mickey Mouse March | Jimmie Dodd, M. Takenaka | Hiroyuki Masuno | 1:09 | Download | |
| 02 | Cutscene 2 | M. Takenaka | Hiroyuki Masuno | 0:26 | Download | |
| 03 | It's A Small World | Robert B. Sherman, Richard M. Sherman, M. Takenaka | Hiroyuki Masuno | 1:06 | Download | |
| 04 | Cutscene 3 | M. Takenaka | Hiroyuki Masuno | 0:47 | Download | |
| 05 | Ending | M. Takenaka | Hiroyuki Masuno | 1:14 | Download |
Credits
- Ripper:
- Recorder: Doommaster1994
- Game Credits:
- Sound Composer: M. Takenaka
- Sound Performer: Hiroyuki Masuno credited as H. Masuno
- Uncredited Mickey Mouse Club Theme: Jimmie Dodd
- Uncredited It's A Small World: Robert B. Sherman
- Uncredited It's A Small World: Richard M. Sherman
Surprisingly, the game has credits; something not normally seen in Kemco games. We have reached out to Hiroyuki Masuno about the identity of "M. Takenaka". All he could tell is that she later remarried and now has a different surname, and explained due to the passing years, he was unable to recall her full name. Though Masuno is only credited as a "Sound Performer", it is possible he composed the music for the North American localization. Though the above credits screenshots were taken from the Japanese version, both versions of the game has the exact same audio credits.
Game Rip
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Ripping NES music is a very arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.
Releases
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Links
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- Games Released In Japan
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