is an arcade game by Namco. First introduced in 1983, it was distributed in the United States by Bally/Midway. Mappy is a side-scrolling platform game that features a mouse protagonist and cat antagonists. Mappy runs on Namco Super Pac-Man hardware, modified to support horizontal scrolling. The name "Mappy" is likely derived from mappō, a Japanese slang term for a policeman. The game has been re-released as part of several Namco arcade compilations; it spawned a handful of sequels and a 2013 animated web series developed by cartoonists Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub.
Gameplay
The player guides Mappy the police mouse through the mansion of the cats called Meowkies to retrieve stolen goods. The player uses a left-right joystick to move Mappy and a single button to operate doors. The mansion has six floors of hallways in which the stolen items are stashed. Mappy and the cats move between floors by bouncing on trampolines at various places in the house. Both Mappy and the cats can land on a floor on the way up, but not on the way down. When Mappy passes cats in the air, Mappy is unharmed, but if Mappy runs into a cat anywhere else, he will lose a life. The trampolines break when Mappy bounces on them four times in a row, and the trampolines change color depending on how many times Mappy has used them without a rest. In addition to the Meowkies, the boss cat Goro also roams around. He is faster but less aggressive than the Meowkies. Throughout the levels, Goro hides behind the different recoverable objects. If Mappy recovers an item which Goro is hiding behind, the player receives in addition to the score for the item. The current world record score was set on September 20, 2015 by Mike Kasper. Kasper scored 2,313,890 points beating the previous record of 1,277,410 held by Greg Bond. Opening and closing doors is an important feature of the game. Doors only open towards their doorknobs. Opening a door when a cat is near it will score 50 points and stun the cat Meowkies cannot open doors but can go through open ones. Goro will open a door if it opens away from him. Blue doors, when opened, blast a slow moving "microwave" in the direction of the doorknob that will trap any cats it touches and remove them from the board when the wave reaches the edge of the screen. The more cats caught, the more points gained. If Goro is trapped by a wave, the score is doubled. Cats removed in this way return shortly from above. A round is completed when all the loot is retrieved. If the player takes longer than usual to clear a round, a "Hurry" message appears after which the music speeds up and the cats move quickly and aggressively, and more Meowkies are added. If the player takes much longer after this, a green disc with Goro's face on it named the "Gosenzo Coin" will drop onto the top-middle platform and chase Mappy more effectively than the Meowkies as it can kill him while jumping. The Gosenzo can open doors and cannot be stopped by microwave doors or any objects. The third round and every fourth round after is a bonus round. Mappy, unbothered by the cats, must bounce across a series of trampolines, popping fifteen different suspended red balloons, with a "Goro" along the way. A bonus is awarded if all the balloons are popped before the music ends. After every bonus round, a new feature is added to the gameplay, such as bells that freeze cats. The "Hurry" message will also appear sooner. There are 256 levels.
Ports and sequels
A Japan-only port of the game was initially released for the Famicom and MSX in 1984, followed by a later port to the Sega Game Gear in 1991.
This was followed by a video game console-only sequel called Mappy-Land in 1986. In 1998, it was re-released as part of Microsoft Revenge of Arcade for the PC.
Mappy also had several Japan-only sequels, including
*Hopping Mappy in 1986 for the arcades
* and Mappy Kids in 1989 for the Famicom.
There is also a version called Mappy Arrangement which was released in 1995 as part of Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 in 1995 for the arcades.
The Famicom version of the original Mappy was re-released in Japan as part of the Famicom Mini Series in 2004.
Mappy is included on the Ms. Pac-Man collection manufactured by Jakks Pacific.
It is also featured in the 1996 Game Boy compilation Namco Gallery Vol. 1
It is also one of the first arcade titles to have been released on the Virtual Console.
In 2002, it was released in Japan as a pachinko under the title of Mappy Park.
In 2003, two mobile games were released in Japan with the titles Teku-Teku Mappy and Mappy De Puzzle.
in 2009 titled MAPPY trampoline puzzle.
the September 2011, the new mobile game titled Mappy World.
Bandai Namco Games was bringing back to series titled Mappī taiketsu! Neonyāmuko-dan for iOS on 2015 in Japan.
Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Mappy on their June 1, 1983 issue as being the third most-successful table arcade unit of the year.
Web series
As part of Bandai Namco's ShiftyLook initiative, an animated Mappy web series, titled Mappy: The Beat, was announced in 2012. The series was written and directed by Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub, who also performed all of the character voices, and presented by using limited animation in the style of their Blamimations series. The story follows Mappy, now working a thankless job as a security guard for his former foe Goro's company Nyamco. He is accompanied by his friends and fellow Nyamco employees, the laid-back digging-obsessed Dig Dug and the dim but good-natured Sky Kid, along with other Bandai Namco characters working at the office. Mappy: The Beat premiered on ShiftyLook's YouTube channel on July 22, 2013 and ran for 13 episodes, each roughly eight minutes in length, with the final episode released on January 20, 2014. Kurtz also made a guest appearance as Mappy on the concurrent Bravomananimated series, with Bravoman in turn appearing in the final story arc of Mappy, portrayed by guest voice Dax Gordine. Following the closure of ShiftyLook, their channel was removed from YouTube, making the episodes no longer officially available.
