Mappy

[NeoZeedeater]

Namco's character Mappy has had to live in the shadow of Pac-Man. I wouldn't mind seeing the little mouse make a return in a new game as all he seems to get today are re-releases and cameos.

The first Mappy game, simply titled Mappy, was released in arcades in 1983. It was simple and addictive platformer where you had to recover stolen property from criminal cats. Western publisher Bally Midway passed on Pole Position in favor of this game. This turned out to be a bad financial decision which gave their competitor Atari a lot of cash. Pole Position was far more successful than Mappy.



Namco ported Mappy to the MSX and Famicom in 1984 and to Game Gear in 1991.

MSX version


Famicom version


GG version
http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics2/mappy.html

The Famicom version was recently released for Game Boy Advance as part of Nintendo's Famicom Mini series.


Dempa ported Mappy to various Sharp, NEC and Fujitsu computers.

X1 version


Mappy has also shown up in late '90s compilations such as Namco Gallery Volume 1 for Game Boy, Namco Museum: Volume 2 on Playstation and Namco History Volume 1 for J-Windows 95.

Namco Gallery Volume 1 through Super Game Boy


A cell phone version was released in Japan a couple years ago.


Mappy's second arcade game was Hopping Mappy in 1986. This time Mappy had to pogo stick around squashing all the cats on the levels. I don't think it was released outside of Japan which is too bad since it's pretty good.


Mappy Land was a side-scrolling sequel released for the NES. Namco released it in Japan in 1986 and Taxan published it in North America in 1988.


Mappy Kids in 1989 was another 8-bit Nintendo release although this one never left Japan. It was a mix of standard platform action and mini games. The goal was to collect money and buy various objects for your son's home so he can get married. It also had a split-screen versus mode. I haven't played much of it. It was more detailed than Mappy Land but I thought it did away with the charm of the old Mappy games.

Here are some pics. I can see why Namco didn't release it here. There's some KKK resembler wearing a Pac-Man T-shirt and other weird shit.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/chiko/mapi_kids.html



Overall it's a cool series. Fans?

[Dyne]

Here are some pics. I can see why Namco didn't release it here. There's some KKK resembler wearing a Pac-Man T-shirt and other weird shit.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/chiko/mapi_kids.html

haha, thats the funniest thing i ever saw.

[ChaoofNee]

I have fond memories of Mappy Land for the NES from my childhood...
...never played the original, though. Kinda sucks that Nintendo rereleased Mappy and not MappyLand for GBA.

[Johnny Undaunted]

Here are some pics. I can see why Namco didn't release it here. There's some KKK resembler wearing a Pac-Man T-shirt and other weird shit.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/chiko/mapi_kids.html

I'm pretty sure the Klansman is supposed to be a Geldra Masker from Rolling Thunder (it's a Namco game after all). That screenshot is one of those "spot the difference" games more commonly seen in the papers.

[Nick]

I am a huge fan of the original. The level music is playing in my mind right now. I'd be all over a cell-phone version.

[Ragnarok the Red]

Yeah, Nick, the level music's one of those things that's forever stuck in my mind.

I remember playing this all the time at the old arcades in Dallas as a little kid (all of which are gone now ) and was always frustrated at how hard it could be.

Didn't know it was released for GBA recently, may have to look into that, it's a perfect on-the-go type game

[gameoverDude]

I can't get Mappy's music out of my head either- it's just that damn good.

Those microwave doors are really nice to mess around with. Lure a few cats toward one and then blow them off the screen for serious points.

[Victrix]

I -=[HATE]=- Mappy.

Why? Dunno. Scarred me as a child I think. Only game I can remember other than Mappy ever enraging me was Zillion. But Mappy still wins for overall hatred induced.

[gamevet]

I remember when Exidy released their own console. The flagship title for the console was Mappy. The console failed, but the game later came to the Atari 2600. It was a lame rip-off of Pac-man. Cheese was the dots, with cats chasing you around the maze.

[NeoZeedeater]

I think you're talking about Mouse Trap, not Mappy.