Mad Nurse Explained

Mad Nurse
Publisher:Firebird Software Ltd.
Designer:Simon Pick
Released:1984
Genre:Platformer
Modes:Single-player
Platforms:Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum

Mad Nurse is a video game programmed by Simon Pick and published by Firebird Software Ltd. for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum in 1984.

The plot of the game is that you control a nurse at a maternity hospital, where you have to rescue the babies who have escaped from their cots. If left alone, the babies will eat medicine bottles, electrocute themselves at electrical outlets, and fall down the elevator shaft. The gameplay has the form of a non-scrolling platformer where the nurse can use an elevator to ascend or descend platforms. If too many babies die, the nurse is fired.

Firebird initially refused to publish the game, because dying babies were too controversial, but changed their minds when their post of head of development changed hands. Some outlets also refused to sell the game.[1]

The music in the game is adopted from Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt (the friska in the second section) and Brahms' Lullaby by Johannes Brahms.[2]

Development

The game's budget was £650.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: An interview with Simon Pick. Lemon64.com. 2015-06-26. https://archive.today/20190922191705/https://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=https://www.lemon64.com/interviews/simon_pick.php. 2019-09-22. At first the guys at Firebird refused to publish [Mad Nurse] - saying it was in really bad taste [..] Then a new head of development arrived [and] he got it released. [..] A couple of high street chains banned it, but other than that it went without any comments.. live.
  2. Web site: SID info.
  3. Web site: Nicholas. Bannister. Sonic the Hedgehog's biggest challenge. The Guardian. 2. November 12, 1994. April 2, 2022. Newspapers.com.