Play Mr. Tuff (en,fr,de) (proto) (1994-07-12) Online

I first came across Mr. Tuff on the Super Nintendo in 1994, a prototype published by Ocean Software. It was one of those many platformers from that era, arriving late in the SNES lifecycle when developers were pushing the hardware in new directions. The game never saw a full commercial release, which makes the surviving prototype a curious piece of that time.

You control a round, blue character through a series of single-screen levels. The main goal is straightforward: collect all the keys in a stage to unlock the exit door. Your primary tool is a hammer, which you use to smash blocks and defeat the various enemies patrolling the area. The level design is compact, forcing you to navigate tight spaces and avoid hazards like spikes. The pacing is methodical, as you figure out the sequence for collecting keys while managing enemy patterns. It feels like a deliberate puzzle box where every jump and swing of the hammer matters.