The Mask

The Mask is a 1995 side-scrolling action video game created by American studio Black Pearl Software for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System which is based on The Mask film. The film, in turn, was loosely based on the Dark Horse comic book series of the same name. The game received moderately positive reviews from critics, who were particularly pleased with its faithful recreation of the humor and visual style of the film, while criticizing the level design and difficulty.

Dorian Tyrell and his gang of rogues are secretly planning to take over Edge City, a small and prosperous city where the nightlife revolves around the wealthy patrons who attend the nightclub that Dorian owns and operates for the benefit of himself and his henchmen. The player controls Stanley Ipkiss, a mild mannered bank clerk who transforms into the namesake character after discovering a green Loki mask.

The player has to navigate through his apartment, a high-rent district, outside and inside the bank, the local park, inside the local prison (complete with enemies wearing stereotypical striped prison uniforms), and finally through a ritzy nightclub to fight his evil nemesis, Dorian (who is also wearing the mask). All the major bosses in the game resemble characters from the film like Mrs. Peenman the angry landlady along with careless repairmen Irv and Burt Ripley; who repaired Ipkiss' vehicle.

If the player runs out of health, then he returns to being Ipkiss, wearing his pajamas. Many of The Mask's moves featured in the game were based on scenes in the movie, such as the mallet (which he uses to smash the alarm clock in the movie), the tornado, the massive guns he pulls from his pocket during the final confrontation during the movie, and the huge 'living' horn. It also features other moves, such as a sneaking move which makes The Mask invisible (his enemies do not see him), a dash move (as well as a 'superdash' move where he runs at supersonic speed), and his primary attack which is a basic punch move with cartoon boxing gloves. Many of the special moves (the mallet, guns, horn, etc.) use The Mask's 'Morph' power, which is replenished with power-ups. If his morph meter runs out it slowly replenishes to a smaller amount than that he started out with, much like the ammo replenishes for the main gun in Earthworm Jim.

The ending of the video game involves dancing with a 16-bit representation of Cameron Diaz accompanied by big band music. Cameron Diaz was at the peak of her Hollywood motion picture career during the mid-1990s and was assigned to play the role of Tina Carlyle (Dorian Tyrell's girlfriend) in the actual film.