I think those are the best games of all time, but those are not my favorite. I only have one favorite game.
Mappy.
For all of you who do not know about this game, lemme paint a picture.
History:
Mappy, like Xevious, is an early Namco arcade game that achieved great success in the land of the rising sun, and very little success in the states. Behind it's cute characters and presentation is a surprisingly strategic arcade action game that requires a lot of planning, and can become quite frantic.
Since Mappy wasn't extraordinarily popular in the U.S., there isn't a lot of history to report. The name Mappy is likely derived from mappo, a Japanese slang term (slightly insulting) for a policeman. The large red cat was known as Nyamco in Japan, which besides being a play on Namco, comes from nyanko, the Japanese equivalent of "kitty cat". Nyamco was renamed Goro in the U.S. release.
Mappy (again, like Xevious) was ported to a large number of home computers and consoles in Japan, and (unlike Xevious) saw no American conversions. It has shown up more recently in the states thanks to the Namco Museum 50th Anniversary compilations and the Jakks Pacific Namco TV Games plug & play systems.
Story:
You are Mappy, the brave mouse policeman. Mappy's mission is to retrieve all of the stolen treasure from the Meowky cat gang. They've stashed all of the loot in their leader's mansion which contains several floors, and numerous trampolines that the Meowkies like to use to travel between stories. Mappy's job is only to gather the goods, not to make any arrests, so don't let him get near any cats or it's lights out for Mappy.
Walkthrough:
There are four different mansion layouts and one bonus round layout. You will encounter all four of them through the first 16 rounds, which repeat from round 17 on.
Round Mansion Starting Cats Features
1 First 3 Meowkies + Nyamco
2 First 3 Meowkies + Nyamco
3 Bonus
4 Second 4 Meowkies + Nyamco
5 Second 4 Meowkies + Nyamco
6 Second 4 Meowkies + Nyamco
7 Bonus
8 Third 5 Meowkies + Nyamco Bells
9 Third 5 Meowkies + Nyamco Bells
10 Third 5 Meowkies + Nyamco Bells
11 Bonus
12 Fourth 6 Meowkies + Nyamco Trap Doors
13 Fourth 6 Meowkies + Nyamco Trap Doors
14 Fourth 6 Meowkies + Nyamco Trap Doors
15 Bonus
16 First 7 Meowkies + Nyamco
Beyond round 16, the rounds repeat, although they will always start with 7 Meowkies and Nyamco.
After a set period of time, which decreases each round, a "Hurry!" alarm sounds. At this time, the Meowkies speed up, and two more Meowkies enter the mansion.
Some time after the "Hurry!" alarm sounds, the Gosenzo will enter the stage and chase Mappy.
Loot layout
The position of the loot is constant throughout every mansion.
The multiplier awarded for collecting loot in pair increases with each pair, starting at x2 and ending with x6 if every item is collected as a pair.
Collecting every item in the proper order can yield a maximum score of 8,500 points. That's 100 + 100x2 + 200 + 200x3 + 300 + 300x4 + 400 + 400x5 + 500 + 500x6.
Be greedy in the first couple of rounds but prepare to change strategies after round 4 or 5 because the Meowkies will speed up, making it more difficult to keep them at bay.
Any time Mappy collects loot that Nyamco is hiding behind, Nyamco awards Mappy 1000 points and lets him pass harmlessly.
Bonus rounds
The bonus rounds occur in rounds 3, 7, 11, and 15.
During the bonus rounds, you must collect every balloon, including the final large blue Nyamco balloon, before time runs out.
There is no on-screen timer. Instead, time is measured by the passing of the bonus stage music. When the music ends, your time is up.
In order to collect all of the balloons, you must break through all of the mid-level trampolines to collect the balloons underneath. It is usually the fastest method of collecting those balloons.
In the third and fourth bonus stage, one of the balloons must be popped by the Nyamco that bursts out of the large blue Nyamco balloon when you break it. In the third stage, Nyamco will break the balloon at the top of the left column. In the fourth stage, he will break the balloon at that is one column to the right of the left edge.
You are awarded 200 points for every red balloon, and 2000 points for the large blue balloon. You are awarded a 5,000 point bonus for a perfect performance, which ultimately yields 10,000 points.
Door strategies
Unlike the loot, the position of the doors change from one round to the next.
Both flashing doors and non-flashing doors alike can be used as weapons to stun and push the cats out of your way while you move through the mansion.
Doors can be opened from a short distance away, you do not need to be right on top of them.
When the flashing doors are opened, the wave they emit can catch and push cats off of the screen for bonus points. The points awarded are as follows:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
200 400 800 1200 1600 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
When the boss cat Nyamco is caught in the wave, not only does he count towards the number of cats captured, he also doubles the score.
The most number of points you can be awarded is 12,000, which is awarded for catching 10 cats, including Nyamco.
Trampoline strategies
While Mappy is jumping on a trampoline, he is safe from being captured by the cats.
Mappy can jump on a trampoline three times in a row without touching the ground before the trampoline breaks.
The color will change from green, to blue, to yellow, and to red every time that Mappy jumps on a trampoline. If Mappy jumps on a red trampoline, it will break. Mappy will lose a life unless there is another trampoline beneath him.
The trampoline will change back to green as soon as Mappy touches any ledge.
Be careful landing on a ledge when a cat is right on top of you while you are rising or falling. If you move to land on the ledge quickly, the cat may have enough time to react and follow you.
Mappy is not safe in mid-air from the Gosenzo.
Bells
Bells appear on either side of the house in the attic during rounds 8, 9, and 10.
If Mappy hits the bell, he knocks it loose and it falls to the floor. Any cat hit by the falling bell is stunned momentarily.
A Meowky hit by a bell is worth 300 points. If Nyamco is hit, he is worth 1000 points.
Trapdoors
Trapdoors appear on various floors of the house during rounds 12, 13, and 14.
When Mappy walks across a trap door, it disappears and any cat following Mappy will drop down to the floor below and become stunned.
Trap doors can be effective for grouping cats together for flashing door waves.
Controls
A) Joystick: Use the 2-way joystick to direct Mappy through each Mansion stage. Push the joystick to the left or to the right to make Mappy run in either direction.
B) Door Button: This button can be used to open and shut the doors that are found throughout the mansion. opening a flashing door causes a wave to fly out, snagging any of the Meowky gang who get caught in it for bonus points.
C) 1 or 2 Players: Push these buttons to begin a one or two player game.
Characters:
Mappy
This is Mappy, the police-mouse who is on the case to recover the stolen loot pilfered by the Meowky gang. It's a solo mission, so Mappy can't afford to make any arrests. He needs to get in, grab the goods, and get out. The Meowkies aren't going to make it easy for him, but Mappy has two tools at his disposal; trampolines and doors. If any of the Meowkies catch Mappy, it's lights out, but the fact is, Mappy can't be caught in mid-air. This means while he is rising and falling above a trampoline, he is invulnerable to capture. The other trick up Mappy's sleeve are the doors. There are two kinds of doors, regular and flashing. The flashing kind emit a wave when the door is opened. The wave travels to the edge of the screen, trapping any of the Meowkies along the way. The total number of cats that are brushed off the screen by the wave determine how many bonus points Mappy earns. Regular doors do not emit any waves, but they can still be used to Mappy's advantage. Any time that Mappy is in the way of a door when it opens or closes, he will be pushed back by the door. If he bumps in to any Meowkies when he is pushed, he will temporarily stun them, allowing Mappy to pass through them harmlessly.
Meowky
All of the members of the Meowky gang look alike, with the exception of Nyamco the leader. These pink cats are out to stop Mappy from reclaiming what they have stolen. All they have to do is touch Mappy while he is standing on the floor and they put him out of commission. They try to find a direct route to Mappy and are pretty easy to lead around the house, but don't take your eyes off of them for a moment, or they will surprise you. They can be stunned by being knocked back by a door, or temporarily removed from the house by a wave emitted from a flashing door.
Nyamco
Nyamco (renamed Goro in the American version) is the leader of the Meowky gang. He doesn't attempt to stop Mappy as directly as his underlings do. He runs around the mansion where he pleases and he tries to hide from Mappy by hiding behind the stolen loot. If you happen to grab a piece of loot that Nyamco is hiding behind, he will award you an extra 1000 points instead of killing you. Otherwise, he is exactly the same as any other Meowky. Nyamco is susceptible to the flashing door wave, and doubles the bonus points awarded if he's captured in it. He can also be knocked back and stunned by an opening or closing door.
Gosenzo
The Gosenzo appears in level after the "Hurry" warning appears on the screen. At first it flops from the attic to the floor. Then it "wakes up" and starts rolling through the mansion. Unlike the regular cats, the Gosenzo can kill Mappy in mid-air. So if it's falling down to a trampoline, don't get caught in the same column, or Mappy will lose a life. The Gosenzo will open doors just like a cat, so finish the mansion and get out quickly.
The stolen loot
100 200 300 400 500
This is the stolen loot that the Meowky gang stashed in their leader's mansion. There is two of each item in every stage. In addition to be awarded the number of points listed below each item, a special multiplier is applied to each score if the second instance of an item is grabbed immediately after the first. For the first pair captured in a stage, the second item's score is multiplied by 2. The second pair is multiplied x3, the third pair x4, the fourth pair x5, and if all five items are collected in pairs, the score for the last item in the final pair is multiplied by 6. So try to save the safes for last.
That is all about Mappy. I'm addicted to this game. My record is 421,960, which i'm guessing is around 5th in the world record title, but since this is the Nintendo Wii version, I really don't know.
