Mischief Makers (Europe) is a 2.5D side-scrolling action game for the Nintendo 64, developed by Treasure and published by Nintendo in 1998. You play as Marina Liteyears, a robotic maid searching for her creator, Professor Theo, after he is kidnapped and taken to Planet Clancer. Rather than conventional platforming, the whole game is built around catching, shaking, and throwing — Marina grabs enemies, weapons, and objects, shakes them to trigger new effects, and hurls them back across five worlds of stages.
How to Play
The goal in each stage is to fight and puzzle your way to the exit using Marina’s catch-shake-throw ability, then take down that world’s boss. Tapping Down on the D-pad twice shakes whatever Marina is holding — a grabbed machine gun or missile pod, for example, can be shaken into a spread shot or homing missiles instead of its normal fire.
- Arrow keys — move (D-Pad)
- X — jump
- S — grab an object or enemy, or throw whatever you’re holding
- Down arrow (tap twice) — shake the grabbed item
- I / J / K / L — jet pack burst (C-buttons) for short aerial dashes
- Enter — start / pause
Tips
- Shake before you throw: grabbed weapons and objects often change behaviour when shaken, so try it on anything you catch instead of throwing it straight away.
- Turn attacks against bosses: some boss fights expect you to catch an incoming attack — like a dragon’s punch — and throw it straight back rather than attacking directly.
- The D-Pad is your main stick here: Mischief Makers is one of the few N64 games built around D-Pad movement rather than the analog stick, so give yourself time to adjust if you’re used to other N64 platformers.
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