It's Mr. Pants

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Main other{{#invoke:infobox|infoboxTemplate | child = | subbox = | bodyclass = ib-video-game hproduct {{#ifeq:|yes|collapsible {{#if:|{{{state}}}|autocollapse}}}} | templatestyles = Infobox video game/styles.css | aboveclass = fn | italic title =

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| label6 = DesignerTemplate:Pluralize from text | data6 = Justin Cook
Paul Machacek

| label7 = ProgrammerTemplate:Pluralize from text | data7 = Paul Machacek

| label8 = ArtistTemplate:Pluralize from text | data8 = Leigh Loveday
Ryan Stevenson

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| label10 = ComposerTemplate:Pluralize from text | data10 = Robin Beanland
David Wise
Eveline Fischer

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| label13 = PlatformTemplate:Pluralize from text | data13 = Game Boy Advance, mobile phone

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}}Template:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|ignoreblank=1|preview=Page using Template:Infobox video game with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"| alt | arcade system | artist | caption | border | child | collapsible | commons | composer | designer | developer | director | embedded | engine | fetchwikidata | genre | image | image_size | image_upright | italic title | modes | noicon | onlysourced | platform | platforms | producer | programmer | publisher | qid | refs | release | released | series | state | subbox | suppressfields | title | writer }}Template:Main other{{#if:itsmrpantsboxart.jpg|}} It's Mr. Pants is a puzzle video game developed by Rare and published by THQ for the Game Boy Advance. It was released in North America in 2004 and Europe in 2005. A port of the game for mobile phones was developed and published internationally by In-Fusio in 2005–2006. The game stars Mr. Pants, a crudely drawn mascot formerly featured on Rare's website who had made cameo appearances in several prior Rare games.

Gameplay

The basic idea of the game is to create rectangles which have to be two-by-three blocks or larger to clear them from the grid. Blocks cannot be placed on top of blocks of the same color that are already on the grid, but they can be placed on top of blocks of any other color which causes the different blocks on the grid to disappear.

The game incorporates three main game modes: Puzzle, in which players must clear a puzzle board using a limited selection of specific blocks; Wipeout, in which players have a two minute time limit to clear all blocks from the grid; and Marathon, in which the available grid space is slowly restricted while players attempt to achieve the highest score possible. Each mode has four difficulty levels, ranging from "Easy" to "Special", with each difficulty unlocked after clearing the previous one. Players are awarded a trophy for each successfully completed difficulty level. Upon completing all four difficulties in Puzzle mode, a fourth game type is unlocked called "Max the Mystical Mouse's Muddle", in which players must clear rectangles of specific sizes as provided by the eponymous Max.

Development and release

It's Mr. Pants was developed by Rare, which, during much of the game's production, was a second-party developer for Nintendo. Rare was responsible for creating games in Nintendo's long-running Donkey Kong franchise. Early in the course of development, the game went through several name changes including Splonge, Nutcracker, Animal Cracker, and Sunflower.<ref name="edge">Template:Cite magazine</ref> It was eventually presented by Rare at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2001 as Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers, one of four titles for Nintendo's GBA handheld game console.<ref name="ignpreview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Nintendo aimed to release Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers on 7 December 2001,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but was likely postponed ahead of time due to the forthcoming acquisition from Microsoft in 2002. In September 2002, Nintendo announced it had sold off its 49 percent stake in Rare back to the latter company; Rare subsequently sold its entire company to Microsoft Studios.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Donkey Kong intellectual property for which Nintendo held Rare responsible, defaulted back to Nintendo, forcing Rare to abandon this theme for the then-upcoming puzzle game.<ref name="edge"/><ref name="gamasutra"/> On August 11, 2003, Microsoft announced their partnership with publisher THQ for distributing Rare's GBA titles, including the newly revealed It's Mr. Pants, set for an early 2004 release.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

It's Mr. Pants was originally conceived by Rare veterans Tim Stamper and Gregg Mayles.<ref name="gamasutra">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The game was chiefly designed by Justin Cook and Paul Machacek.<ref name="gamasutra"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Cook, who credits himself for creating two-thirds of the game's levels, described It's Mr. Pants as "just a solid puzzle game", stating, "We knew that it wasn't a big 'wow' game, but the playability was there." After the breakdown of its relationship with Nintendo, Rare chose to rebrand the game using one of their other characters. The team initially considered using characters from the Banjo-Kazooie or Sabreman franchises before settling on Rare's online mascot Mr. Pants.<ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref> The character had originally been created by Leigh Loveday for the company's website surveys, collectively called "The Pantsboard", and had previously made cameo appearances in other Rare games.<ref name="edge"/><ref name="nwrinterview"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The character's design was implemented into the game by Ryan Stevenson.<ref name="nwrinterview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mayles recounted that the "childish" visual style used in It's Mr. Pants was accomplished by having the right-handed artists draw with their left hands to intentionally make the illustrations appear "genuinely bad".<ref name="edge"/>

The Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers incarnation of the game featured the ability to switch between top-down 2D graphics and a 3D isometric layout. According to the developer, the isometric perspective was scrapped due to "consistency issues" when swapping between the two views, due to it being awkward seeing where puzzle pieces near the back of the board were, and finally because it "just didn't look as nice" as they had hoped.<ref name="igninterview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When It's Mr. Pants was first revealed as Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers, the game was intended to be multiplayer for up to four individuals using the GBA Game Link Cable.<ref name="ignpreview"/> Rare had experimented with various multiplayer modes during the game's development, but ultimately released the game as single-player only.<ref name="nwrinterview"/> Once the game was submitted to THQ, the publisher requested a few slight changes be made. For instance, the "Crayon Snake" that circles around the board in Marathon Mode was originally called the "trouser snake", a slang term for male genitalia.<ref name="gamasutra"/> It's Mr. Pants was also in development for the Gizmondo handheld, but was cancelled due to the console's failure.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Reception

The original game received "mixed or average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic, receiving an average score of 73 out of 100.<ref name="mc"/>

External links

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