Friday, October 12, 2012

Case Study No. 0585: Ignatius Mortimer Meen

I.M. Meen (DOS game) Intro And Expository Video
1:07
This is the intro video of an old DOS-based game called I.M. Meen. It establishes the motivation of Mr. Meen-- he can't stand the thought of goody-goody children studying.


Captured with DOSBox, converted with FFmpeg.
Tags: meen dosbox labyrinth musical
Added: 5 years ago
From: vquant
Views: 203,924

[I.M. Meen is spying on Scott and Katie as they sit and read a book together, when he starts berating them to his assistant Gnorris through song]
I.M. MEEN: Oh, look, what clever children ... See them study, watch them learn. How I hate those goody-goodies! How they make my stomach churn!
[he gets up on a nearby table and begins dancing]
I.M. MEEN: I've got a little secret that'll really make 'em cry ... It's a nasty kind of magic, from a special kind of guy!
[he continues his weird dance, then holds up a large book with a light blue cover]
I.M. MEEN: This book is made to order, but it isn't to be read ... When they open up this book, they're sucked inside instead!
[he hugs the book tightly to his chest]
I.M. MEEN: To the most unpleasant place they've ever seen ... The magic labyrinth of I.M. Meen!
[he throws the book on the table in front of the two children, then pops up behind them]
I.M. MEEN: Very scary and confusing! Destination of MY choosing! Magic labyrinth of I.M. Meen!
[he laughs and flies away, as the book opens up and sucks the children into its pages before slamming shut]

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From google.com:

"I.M. Meen: The Magic Labyrinth"
Simon & Schuster, Limited (May 1, 1995)

I.M. Meen??? Ignatius Mortimer Meen, that is. The nastiest librarian you'll ever meet. And does he have a book for you! Open it and you're drawn into his 36-level labyrinth. It's dark, it's twisted and you'd better use your agility and your brain. Giant spiders, ratmen, gargoyles and sloppy writing lurk around every creepy corner. With real-time, 3-D scrolling action, this game is real. Watch for that sludge ball... it'll mess your screen! Zap the Frankenmeen with your fire wand. Jump! It's a mad scientist swinging a stethoscope. Good work. Now, fix the bad grammar in that scroll and you're on your way to the next level. Get ready. The further you go, the "Meener" it gets!

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From wikipedia.org:

I.M. Meen is an educational video game that runs on MS-DOS, designed to teach grammar to children. In it, players must walk around a labyrinth, rescuing children and defeating monsters. The educational aspect of the game comes in the form of "scrolls", writings of I.M. Meen which the player must correct the grammatical mistakes of in order to rescue the children. The game is made by the Russian-American Animation Magic, the same company that made the CD-i games Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon. The voice of I.M. Meen was done by Peter Berkrot.

Ignatius Mortimer Meen, an evil magician who despises children and learning, creates a magical book that sucks children inside when they read it. The book takes them to a massive labyrinth, where they are found by the guardians and locked into cells. Players play as two children named Scott & Katie who are trapped inside this labyrinth. Gnorris, a gnome that has betrayed I.M. Meen, helps the player escape, giving them a magic orb that allows them to contact him, telling them they must rescue all the other children. He gives the player hints as the game goes on, and warns the player whenever a boss appears.

The player travels across the labyrinth, defeating the monsters and rescuing the children, causing the labyrinth's condition to rapidly deteriorate. They eventually confront I.M Meen himself and defeat him using the Writewell's Book of Better Grammar, which he had stolen and placed in the labyrinth. He swears that he will have his revenge and disappears.

The player goes through 36 levels in the game with nine locations, including a tower, a dungeon, sewers, caves, catacombs, hedgerow mazes, castles, laboratories, and libraries. The player must rescue all the children on each level to get to the next one, which is done by fixing grammar mistakes in various scrolls. In every fourth level, the player must defeat a boss monster, otherwise known as one of I.M. Meen's special pets, as well in order to finish the level and get to a new area. There are items in the labyrinth that can be used to help the player defeat the various monsters that dwell in the labyrinth, as well as help them out in other ways. The player has an Agility Meter, similar to a health meter that when runs out, takes the player back to the beginning of the level and removes all of their items. Near the end of the game, the player must defeat I.M Meen himself, who can only be harmed by the Writewell's Book of Grammar (other weapons have no effect on him at all). Defeating him and solving the last scroll automatically wins the game.

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