What happens when a weirdo vampire awakens thousands of vile skeletons from their swampy graves? It's up to a misfit among them to put a stop to the madness before the undead take over the world. Armed with a sense of humor, memories of music gone by, and some rad guitar-shredding skills, Mr. Bones, a dead blues musician from decades past, tackles the ominous task of subverting DaGoulian's convoluted scheme of spreading evil across the face of the earth. Lucky for you, this wonderfully ludicrous plot introduces a horde of gameplay gimmicks that are as strange and enjoyable as the story's premise, stretched across two discs waiting to be popped into your Saturn's tray.

Storyline notwithstanding, what truly sets Mr. Bones apart from just about everything else on the Sega Saturn is its ever-changing approach to the platforming genre. Throughout the few dozen mini-game-esque levels that Mr. Bones entails, gameplay perspectives are unremittingly swapped, never ceasing to cleave onto your attention like superglue. While the first stage will see you running from left to right in traditional 2D fare, others toy with the viewpoint and control schemes further to create an experience that forces the player to continually adapt to what's on-screen. One level even sees Mr. Bones scurrying on top of a collapsing frozen lake, with the perspective placed beneath him below the ice!

Other stages are at the ready to showcase the game's uniqueness as well. There are a handful in particular that serve as the epicenter of Mr. Bones' innovation, and perhaps surprisingly, are played in the established 2D pane. These levels give the player full control of the titular character, and grant acquisition of special moves, including a satisfying regeneration attack and the ability to attract misplaced bones back to the skeletal hero's body and warp them into different configurations. These gimmicks work cooperatively and make for very interesting, very novel concepts. As enemies (which happen to comprise of evil skeletons, bats, zombies, and various typical spooks) attack you, your energy decreases along with your bones' attraction to each other. If your energy is still at a relatively healthy amount, you can summon any stray parts to remain intact. But if you've been jostled around too much, sometimes you'll be constrained to limited mobility, lacking legs, arms, and other bones. (This is where humor kicks in, seeing as how it's actually possible to jump around helplessly without any appendages at all!) If that's the case, keep an eye out for blue energy sources and collect them to build up your strength again, or absorb energy from your foes with that nifty regeneration attack mentioned earlier. Depending on how "complete" Mr. Bones is, he can transform into distinct (and freaky) bone formations, enabling easier access to ledges and other obstacles.

And then there are truly awesome moments that surface and fade away all too soon. An audience of cadavers rocking out to a custom guitar solo? A downhill dash from runaway logs? A soulful fantasy with an exposition on the meaning of the blues? A hilarious joke-cracking hullabaloo? Even though trial-and-error resides at the core of nearly every level you'll encounter, with a multitude of irritating restarts always in tow, it's difficult not to get caught up in the fun that Mr. Bones pokes at himself regardless of any frustration that you might have. Admittedly, you'll probably appreciate the audacity and newfangledness revolving around these gameplay notions more than your pure enjoyment while playing them, which isn't necessarily a fault in and of itself.

However, the longevity of the game as a whole is somewhat degrading. You can definitely expect to swallow several hours between beginning and end, but you'll be hard pressed to find any additional replay value beyond that. The developmental focus here was obviously on a strong single-player story-driven experience. No high score counter, no multi-player modes, next to no extras. Look to the level select menu to jump to your favorite stages and to replay the CG movies.

So, what about the technicalities?

All of Mr. Bones' idiosyncrasies are enveloped in what's arguably one of the greatest graphical efforts ever produced on the Saturn hardware, rivaling (and possibly surpassing) the visuals of all-time favorites such as NiGHTS into Dreams and Panzer Dragoon Saga, especially in terms of movement, fluidity, and incredibly accurate real-time shadow effects. Mr. Bones himself stands nearly identical with the movement of a real-life human!

The overall texture detail in Mr. Bones' huge amount of environments is nothing short of superb, a breakthrough for 1996 and pleasing to behold today. Many select stages even resemble CG cutscenes in the way that they scroll by, looking amazing in the process. And speaking of CG cinemas, a bountiful amount of them have been thrown in for good measure, not only advancing the storyline, but proving that the Saturn can render video quality just as well as the competing Sony PlayStation. Humans have been seamlessly integrated into carefully-constructed three-dimensional worlds, a concept well ahead of its time.

Music gurus will be glad to hear Ronnie Montrose's involvement in Mr. Bones' guitar-ridden soundtrack. The famous guitarist pitched in to supply the brunt of what you'll be listening to, contributing yet another flare of individuality to the game's atmosphere. (Even the "non-Ronnie" tracks are great.) Perhaps most importantly, Montrose's addition wasn't a blind one, either, not simply functioning as a marketing ploy. Much akin to Richard Jacques' musical genius in the Sega Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast, Ronnie wasn't conservative when precisely matching his music to the theme of its respective stage, and any player of Mr. Bones can appreciate that.

Voice acting? Also nailed down, and done exquisitely well. The lead character is memorable thanks in large part to what he says and how he says it, and DaGoulian's got all the bases covered on exemplifying his exaggerated evilness.

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All in all, don't pass up an opportunity to see what Mr. Bones has in store for you, regardless of the cheesiness that accompanies it, its cranked difficulty, or its curbed replayability. The Sega Saturn platform is brimming with creative, unique, and overlooked software, and this one helps lead the pack. Not only will you get to sample imaginative gameplay that hasn't resurfaced elsewhere, you'll also have something that acts as an exhibition of the Saturn hardware's deftness in graphical prowess, paired with a fine taste of electric guitar styling.