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Intro: Well, the first time I played Mikie, I wasn't terribly impressed. It seemed kind of fun, but as a game it seemed way, way too hard overall. Indeed, many pages on the Web that speak about this classic talk about how tough it is, one page in particular calling it 'Insanely Difficult'.

So, being the humanitarian that I am, I decided to write this guide to help you preserve your sanity. :) And besides, who can resist playing a game with a selection of tunes from the Beatles' movie 'A Hard Days' Night'?

Note: Note: there are major differences in the two other romsets for this game, so this guide will be based on Konami's normal US release. Romset differences will be listed and explained at the end of this guide.

Gameplay: Mikie is actually not as difficult as everyone makes it out to be. Don't get me wrong; it is tough, as you're dealing with a maze game where you must not only take into account directional considerations (avoiding getting trapped) but must also accurately time your attacks (because all the movement in the wrold won't save you in later levels).

The object of the game is to escape school to meet your cheerleading girlfriend outside, at which point you take off in your sporty red convertible. Seems a lot like the start of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, actually, but i don't know which came first, the movie or the game. Along the way, you will be colecting hearts to complete each of the school's rooms. Each heart gives you part of a message (supposedly part of a love note to/from Mikie) and when you have all of a room's hearts, you can exit. Exiting a room brings you into a hallway scene that connects the different rooms in the school. More on the rooms and hallways later.

In each of the rooms are also a variety of enemies: Your classroom teacher, the janitor, a number of chefs, a dance studio teacher, and football players. All will pursue you by following the best beeline possible to your current position in the room. If one manages to touch you, you lose a life and must start collecting all the hearts all over again.By pressing the attack button, you can attempt to headbutt an enemy and stun them for around 6-7 seconds. Upon entering a room, you will be faster than the enemies inside the room, but each successful headbutt on an enemy will speed that particular enemy up.

Finally, if you can collect all of a Room's hearts while the flashing heart surrounds them, you are awarded a perfect bonus (PERFECT! will flash across the screen when the Room is complete).

Room/Stage Breakdown:

Step 1, Room 1: Classroom: You start out seated in the lower left corner of the classroom, the classroom teacher writing something on the board at the front of the class. To get the hearts in this room, you must 'bump' other classmates out of their desks and collect the heart that they were sitting on. Bump them by moving next to them and tapping the joystick towards them successively 3 or 4 times (3 times for regular students, 4 times for football players.

There are five hearts in total to collect here: bottom middle, bottom right, middle, top left, top right. Exit via the top left. The music playing in the room is 'A Hard Days Night'.

Step 1, Room 2: Locker Room: You start this room from the top right corner. There will already be a chef and a janitor inside, and your classroom teacher will follow you in from the top right after about 3 seconds (so don't wait by the door to decide how to attack the room). Hearts are contained in glass jars which must be headbutted 3 times to get the heart. There are also three bins of basketballs located around the room, which you can pick up and throw using the action button (once to pick up, the second time to throw) The basketballs seem to hone in on your enemies pretty well if you're facing the enemy. Bins hold three basketballs each.

An enemy will speed up with each successful headbutt or basketball throw to that particular enemy. The teacher is already moving the fastest, and seems to speed up the most, followed by the chef, and then the janitor. It doesn't take long before the teacher is moving faster than you are.

There are six hearts in total to collect here: 2 in the bottom left cases, 2 in the bottom right cases, 1 in the upper left case, 1 in the upper right case. Exit via the top left. I don't know what the music is here.

Step 1, Room 3: Restaurant: There are three chefs in the room, and your classroom teacher will be following you in from your start point in the top left. One chef stays motionless at the front of the room, and will occasionally throw meat (they're very serious about the health program at Mikie's school) at you. There are roasts on tables around the room, which you can pick up and throw at the enemies, with the same effect as the basketballs in the locker room. Tables hold three roasts each. Again, all three enemies in this room will move at different speeds, the classroom teacher again being the fastest.

Six hearts are located around the edge of the room, and one in a glass jar (that must be smashed three times, a la locker room) on a table in the center of the room. Exit via the top right. I don't know what the music is here.

Step 1, Room 4: Dance Studio Enter from the top right. Only two enemies in this room, the dance teacher and your omnipresent classroom teacher who will follow you in from the top right. There are also nine girls in the bottom 3/4 of the clasroom who are dancing around the various hearts which you must collect, and if one touches you, you are stunned for about 2 seconds. The dance teacher will remain at the front of the class, but your classroom teacher will pursue you and is unaffected by the dancing girls.

Eight hearts total, I believe. 2 at the very front of the class, 4 in a square pattern in the middle of the dancing girls, 1 on the left edge, and 1 on the right edge. Exit is to the top right. The music playing in the room is 'Twist and Shout'.

Step 1, Room 5: Garden: You've made it! Waiting at the top is your girlfriend, and all you have to do to meet her is grab all the hearts in the garden. Guarding them are 3 football players, who move at varying speeds, and recover faster than the regular enemies in this game (AT LEAST twice as fast).

Eight hearts in total I think. Exit via the top where your girlfriend waits. I don't know what the music is here.

The Hallway: All right, you're going to see this scene more often than any of the others. Evry time after completing a room, you exit into the school hallway, where you will have to avoid a janitor (he doesn't beeline for you here) and your classroom teacher (he definitely still beelines, but is much slower than inside the rooms). The object of the Hallway is simply to make it to the next room, which will have a flashing 'In' sign. You may need to go down stairs, but there's nothing special about them, now is there? :)

On the floor are lunchboxes, which you can pick up to gain points. The other doors will open and out springs a coiled punching glove (on Step 1, it's a hair foot on Step 2) which will temporarily stun you for 2-3 seconds. You may, however, open one of these doors to find a scantily clad woman inside, worth 5000 points (to the best of my knowledge, this is completely random, and can happen more than once on the same step). The metal gratings can also be lifted for the hamburger and the Coke which are both worth 1000 points.

Take too long in the hallway, and you'll see a red janitor's bucket appear at the edge of the hallway, which will soon slide down the hall horizontally from where it appeared. If it hits you, it kills you. The janitor will also occasionally sweep vertically across the hallway. Both the janitor and the classroom teacher can be smacked for points either by headbutting them, or by opening a door in their face, which will knock them back to the other end of the hallway.

Here are the locations of each of the rooms. When I say half, I am referring to which side of the school the room is located on. Room 1 is located on the third floor, both entrance and exit on the left half. Room 2 is located on the third floor, entrance on the left half, exit on the right half. Room 3 is located on the second floor, entrance right half, exit left half. Room four is located on the ground floor, entrance left half, exit right half. Room five is on the ground floor, entrance on the right half.

Beginner's Guide: How to Get a Perfect on the First Room:

Classroom: Easy. Getting the Perfect in the Classroom is not hard, as you only have one enemy to contend with. Don't pass on the easy points.

Locker Room: Moderate. Getting the Perfect on the Locker Room stage is trickier. Smash each case twice, so that when the flashing heart arrives at a heart, you only have to hit it once to collect. If the classroom teacher is getting too fast, just forget about the hearts and finish off the stage.

Restaurant: Hard. Getting the Perfect in the Restaurant is REALLY difficult. There isn't a lot of space to move inside the Room, and the chef at the top throwing food introduces a bad random element to the room.

Dance Studio: Moderate. Getting the Perfect in the Dance Studio isn't too hard, but becomes more difficult in later Steps where the girls kick. Use the top and the bottom sections of the screen (where the girls don't dance) to safely stun your enemies.

Garden: Moderate. Getting the Perfect in the Garden is easier. Try and group the football players, and headbutt the fast one as necessary. Use the hedges to block your enemies' progress and slow them down.

You can exit out either of the two Room doors when a room is complete (you can also come back in if need be), but only one door (the one that flashes out) will allow you to continue down towards the garden (the other is where you came in). Still, useful if you're panicking and need a quick exit.

You can bump the non-heart guarding students out of their desk for points inside the Classroom, but you're only given the points once and this only matters for Step 1 anyways.

You can headbutt the teacher in the classroom for extra points many, many times, if your timing is good. (Read: Leech)

Headbutting an enemy vertically in the hallway is extremely difficult, and should only be attempted as a last resort. There just isn't enough room.

Stun an enemy in the hallway in front of a door, and then smack him with the door for an easy extra 600 points.

When enemies are moving a little too fast to be comfortable headbutting them, make sure to get them on the horizontal and not the vertical, as it's easier to time your strike.

If you die after entering a room for the first time (or re-enter a room), the classroom teacher will only delay for about 1 second instead of 3 seconds before entering the room. Be forewarned. You may want to turn around right away and headbutt him as he stands in the doorway.

The red bucket in the hallway can only hit you on the same horizontal line. Move either up or down (as necessary) to dodge it.

Controlling and grouping enemies for points is possible on the Garden, but is not easy and cannot be done for very long before they become too fast. Still, it has the most open space of any of the Rooms.

Come and watch some .inp files at the MAME Action Replay Page to see how it's done Just download them, unzip them, and play them back with the appropriate version of MAME.

Shinnyuushain Tooru-kun (Japanese Romset):