Play M.U.L.E. Online

M.U.L.E. came out on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1983, developed by Ozark Softscape and published by Mindscape. It was a different kind of game for the platform, focusing on economic strategy and player interaction instead of the action or platforming that dominated the era.

You control a settler trying to build a profitable colony on the planet Irata. The main goal is to out-earn your opponents, human or computer-controlled, by the end of twelve monthly rounds. You do this by claiming land plots, purchasing M.U.L.E. robots to automate production of food, energy, and ore, and then selling your surplus at a fluctuating market. The signature mechanics are the tense auction house where you bid against rivals for goods and equipment, and the land grant phase where you strategically block others from valuable resources. The pacing is deliberate, almost turn-based, with sudden spikes of tension when a pirate raid hits or the market crashes. It feels like a board game come to life, where every decision carries weight and a bad gamble can ruin your entire season.