Yo! Noid: Information from Answers.com

Release Date: 1990 11
Genre: Action
Style: Side-Scrolling Platform

Game Description

Based on the Domino's Pizza floppy-eared mascot, Yo! Noid puts you in control of the buck-toothed pizza eater. New York is under attack by a Noid look-alike called Mr. Green and his many flunkies. As the real Noid, armed with a killer yo-yo, your job is to cruise the city while avoiding traps and obstacles and take down do-badders (such as pirates, hooligans, and dive bombers) with your "shoot the moon" yo-yo trick.

For an added boost, Noid can grab scrolls that give him magical powers such as smart bombs and the ability to freeze the action. Also, there are incredible inventions which enable Noid to maneuver in certain parts of the game. These inventions include a HyperBoard (which is similar to a skateboard), a Pizza Crusher (which is like a pogo stick), and an Ornithopter (a one-man flying machine).

The action takes place all over New York City, including Central Park, the Bronx, on the rooftops of skyscrapers, in the skies, and on the wharf. After each odd-numbered level of play, Noid must enter a pizza-eating contest, which is basically a bonus round.

~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Back in the late 1980s, when the very concept of pizza delivery was all the rage, everyone knew what it meant to "avoid the Noid." As the claymation icon for Domino's Pizza, the Noid was often seen trying to destroy pizzas - be it by smashing them, cooling them off, etc. - before they could get to customers. Unfortunately for him, he never succeeded when it came to pizza from Domino's, thus he often became very frustrated.

Funny. I felt the same way when I played Yo! Noid.

Before I say anything further, let me just make it clear that the Noid was one of my favorite ad icons as a child. Everyone I knew seemed to love him. I've often wondered why Domino's has not chosen to bring him back - or why they even retired him in the first place. After playing this game, though, I think I'm starting to get a good idea.

Yo! Noid is just a horrible game playing experience. At its core, the game is just a Super Mario Bros. rip-off as the Noid hops and jumps his way around New York City. There aren't always a lot of bad guys in your way, but what they do can really frustrate you. For instance, in the game's first level a deadly fish will hop out of the water at you without so much as a warning. Sometimes to avoid him, you'll try to jump to the next platform only to find out that it is submerged in the river - even though you can still see it above the water's surface.

Then there's the matter of vanquishing enemies. In most stages, you can get rid of them with your yo-yo. However, in stages such as the third one, in which you skateboard the whole time, you jump on your enemies - sometimes. Often you will jump on top of the enemy the same way you did when you killed one the last time, only to have it kill you this time. It seems like a 50-50 chance every time you attack. The bad programming causing this abhorrent gameplay makes Yo! Noid incredibly frustrating.

But it's more than jus the gameplay that gets to me. Thematically, the first beef I have is with the premise. New York City is under attack by a bunch of strange creatures. Now who's best suited to deal with this situation? Apparently the cops and the National Guard aren't even worth consulting. The "Mayer" (yep, that's how it's spelled in the game) has entrusted the Noid and his trusty super yo-yo to deal with this situation.

Even if they had made the story a little less silly, there's still a major fault behind the concept of the game, at least for the sake of the Domino's ad campaign. Isn't the Noid supposed to be bad? Sure, it's fun to play as him, but every commercial featured him doing bad things to make pizza inedible for innocent people. Wouldn't a more synergetic premise have been to make the Noid a sort of "bad guy" in the game too? Instead, he's trying to save a city. From an advertiser's perspective, it seems as though a game in which you are a heroic Domino's employee out to stop the Noid would make more sense. Or, perhaps since playing as the Noid is more marketable, they could have made his quest to ruin pizza for people (though not Domino's, of course).

Yep, Capcom blew it with that decision. Then again, the company blew it with the gameplay too. Could this horrible representation of a great ad icon be the reason for the retirement of his campaign, which followed very soon after the game's release? Well, probably not. But one thing's for sure. Avoid Yo! Noid.