''Dr. Franken'' is a platform game released in 1992 for the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

and in 1993 for the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eur ...

by Elite Systems. It was titled ''The Adventures of Dr. Franken'' for the SNES in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The game features Franky, a

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compares ...

on a mission to collect the scattered body parts of his girlfriend, Bitsy. A Mega Drive version was planned but never released. Versions for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

and Game Gear reached prototype stage, but were also not released. A Game Boy sequel, '' Dr. Franken II'', was published in 1997.

Gameplay

The Game Boy release of the game uses a password-based saving system to save the player's progress. The game consisted of seven floors (20 stages in various places of the world in the SNES version) where various items and parts of Bitsy (Franky's girlfriend) were hidden. Keys and special items were needed to access additional areas to find more body parts and equipment required to resurrect Bitsy.

Development

The Game Boy and unreleased NES versions of the game use two classical music pieces throughout. The title screen music is Bach's Fugue No. 2 In C Minor BWV 847 (The Well Tempered Clavier in C), and the gameplay music is Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. The Game Boy and NES versions' music was arranged by

Mark Cooksey Mark Cooksey (born 18 January 1966 in Skegness, Lincolnshire, England) is a British video game musician, best known for his work on the Commodore 64, most notably composing the music for the platform game ''Ghosts'n Goblins''. He was employed ...

. He composed the music in C-Lab Notator for the

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

Reception

Legacy

Franky also appeared in the 1993 Game Boy puzzle game ''Franky, Joe & Dirk: On the Tiles'', along with Joe from

Joe & Mac ''Joe & Mac'', also known as ''Caveman Ninja'' and ''Caveman Ninja: Joe & Mac'',
. AtGames. Retrieved on April 19 ...

and Dirk the Daring from Dragon's Lair (1983 video game), Dragon's Lair. ''Dr. Franken II'' is a sequel to the original and was released for the Game Boy in 1997. It was developed by MotiveTime and published by

Jaleco was a corporate brand name that was used by two previously connected video game developers and publishers based in Japan. The original Jaleco company was founded in 1974 as Japan Leisure Company, founded by Yoshiaki Kanazawa, before being renam ...

. It is a platform game in which the lead character, Franky, must escape the castle in which he is trapped in order to search for pieces of a gold tablet which will help him to stave off debt.

References

External links

* * 1992 video games DTMC games Game Boy games Metroidvania games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Cancelled Game Gear games Cancelled Nintendo Entertainment System games Cancelled Sega Genesis games Platform games Video games based on Frankenstein Video games developed in the United Kingdom {{platform-videogame-stub