Nail 'n' Scale

Nail 'n' Scale, known as Dragon Tail (ドラゴンテール) in Japan, is a puzzle video game developed by Data East for the Nintendo Game Boy. Seen as a combination of the video game Jump'n Run and various puzzle games, the features fast-paced side-scrolling gameplay.

Nail 'n' Scale
North American cover art
Developer(s)Data East
Publisher(s)
  • NA: Data East
  • EU: Data East
  • JP: I'Max
Platform(s)Game Boy
Release
  • JP: December 13, 1990
  • NA: April 1992
  • EU: 1992
Genre(s)Puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player
Multiplayer

Gameplay
Spike using a vertical nail shot.

In Nail 'n' Scale, the player controls Spike, a skilled climber. The player plays their way through levels of heightening difficulty. In each level, the player uses climbing spikes to navigate through the level to the door at the end of each level. The climbing spikes are also used to break bricks that block the path. There are 51 levels in all, with a boss on every tenth level.

Each boss has his own unique weakness that must be exposed by the players before he can be defeated. While the first boss is not very intimidating, each subsequent boss becomes more frightening as the game progresses. Terrifying monsters can be defeated by firing the nail in either a horizontal or a vertical direction. Players can be killed by their own exploding spikes, acquired throughout levels after the first boss. There are multiple exits on some levels, but all except one do not function. Only the "true" exit permits access to the next level.

The final boss of the video game is the evil dragon named Lore, who lives in his dragon's lair. Players can continue from where the left off after a "game over"; providing that they never turn their Game Boy off.

Special items
Magical door
Completes the level regardless of the player's location.
White spike
A spike that will not break the brick when jumped on
Exploding spike
A spike that explodes after a short period of time, destroying the brick it is fired into, provided that the block could be broken normally.

Reception

Allgame rated the game 3 stars out of 5. The gaming magazine Power Play gave it a 61% rating in their March 1991 issue.

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