Mitchell van Morgan (franchise)

Mitchell van Morgan is a series of platform video games and related media created by ArgosyMTM Interactive (under its subsidiary label Mitchell Project) featuring the titular character, Mitchell van Morgan, who serves as one of ArgosyMTM Interactive’s mascots. Alternatively called simply the Mitchell series, it is one of the central series of ArgosyMTM Interactive’s lineup. At least one Mitchell van Morgan game has been released for each Nintendo handheld since the Game Boy Color. All Mitchell videogames are distributed and published by ArgosyMTM Interactive (formerly MTM Interactive). The MMO online games are distributed, published and developed in association with Argosy New Media (d/b/a MTM Virtual Worlds Group).

The Mitchell van Morgan games follow Mitchell's adventures in Raleighopolis, a fictionalized version of Raleigh, North Carolina (where MTM Interactive was operated out of at the inception of the franchise), usually with Mitchell as the player character. He is usually joined by his best pal, Gavin, and occasionally by other characters. As in other platform video games, the player runs and jumps across platforms and atop enemies in themed levels. The games have simple plots, typically with Mitchell saving the world from the primary antagonist, Marquessa. The first title in the series, Mitchell van Morgan, released for the Nintendo Game Boy Color (GBC) in 1998, established gameplay concepts and elements prevalent in nearly every Mitchell van Morgan game since. These include a multitude of power-ups and items that give Mitchell special magic powers such as a barrier to protect himself, his black boots to move quick as a flash, mac & cheese increases his health bar, fireball-throwing and size-changing into giant and miniature sizes.

The series has notable similarities to other platformer videogames. The franchise has also expanded into other video game genres as well as media such as film, television, printed media and merchandise. Over 210 million copies of games in the Mitchell van Morgan series have been sold worldwide, making it one of the best-selling video game series in history.

Overview
Nearly all games in the series feature an African-American artist named Mitchell van Morgan (named after co-creator Peter Bullard’s two sons, Mitchell and Morgan) as the central player character and protagonist. The games feature Mitchell's attempts to save his city from various threats, primarily the evil genius Doctor Marquessa, usually referred to as simply Marquessa. The main antagonist throughout the series, Marquessa's aim is to rule the planet and establish a dictatorship known as Marquessa Land; and to achieve this, he usually attempts to eliminate Mitchell and acquire the powerful Power Stones.

History
Most two-dimensional Mitchell titles are platform games viewed from a side-on perspective. Their controls are fairly basic and do not deviate much from the genre standard; the selling point of the series is the gravity-defiance of the playable characters, who usually have the ability to run uphill, walls and even ceilings. The stages are also similar to the Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario titles in that many sequences involve Mitchell being thrown along preset paths with little input from the player, which has led to criticism that the player can complete a Mitchell game merely by holding the pad in one direction. However, the games also feature numerous sections involving precise jumping between platforms and avoiding of hazards, although these sections do not require "pixel-perfect" judgment and are perhaps more lenient than most platform games of the era. Three-dimensional Mitchell titles feature more free movement and controls are slightly more advanced.

Mitchell van Morgan 64, a 3D RPG game, was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1999. It has been described as “quite similar to Super Mario 64 mixed with Dungeons and Dragons”.

In 2004, a compilation entitled 4 Games in 1 Pak: Mitchell van Morgan was released for the Game Boy Advance. In addition to containing Mitchell van Morgan, Mitchell van Morgan 2, Mitchell van Morgan 3 and Mitchell van Morgan 4, it also included multimedia features such as BGM's, illustrations and even commercials.

To create distinctive Mitchell products in various markets, the Argosy parent company initially developed two major regional backstories for the instruction booklets; an European/Oceanian/Latin American version and an Asian/North American version, the latter of which was the version built upon by the comics, cartoons, and other media. While sometimes the storyline would have minute differences, other times the storyline would be very different. By the mid-2000s, the series' storyline had taken a more unified approach and this practice diminished.

A highly faithful two-part port of the original GBC game made for mobile phones has been a huge hit in Europe, introducing the game to a new generation of preteen gamers, with respected handheld specialist Pocket Gamer awarding Mitchell van Morgan Part Two a 9 out of 10 review score.