Mappy-Land
System: NES
Release Date: April 1989
Developer: TOSE
Publisher: Taxan
Genre: Puzzle
I’m going to call Mappy-Land a puzzle game. It may also be a platformer, but in my opinion, there is enough for it to be a puzzle. You are Mappy, a very busy policeman… mouse… policemouse… and there are four stories that must be progressed through. Each story consists of eight areas and to get through each of them, you have to collect a set of items.
The first story has Mappy collecting cheese on each map to bring to his girlfriend, Mapico’s, birthday party. The areas typically consist of four levels of different platforms, where the items may be placed. To move among the platforms, you must bounce on trampolines. Be careful, if you jump on the same trampoline too many times in a row, it will disappear. Mappy can jump with the B Button, but as a mouse, he can’t get very high. Of course, there are enemies out to stop Mappy. The Guchi Gang are always looking for ways to impede Mappy, and they will attack if they get close enough. The later stories add new obstacles, like walls and short ladders that you can climb down, but not up. The Guchi Gang also picks up speed.
The gameplay hook, if we can call it that, revolve around items that either distract the enemies, or defeat them. Items can be collected for use with the A Button that protect Mappy from attack. These are cat toys, coins, pots, and fish. Not all items work on each enemy. There are four cats and their leader, Nyamco (Nya is Japanese for meow, and Namco published the game in Japan), that chase you around the stage. The cat toys, pots and fish work on the cat minions, but only the coins and fish work on their leader.
Also on each stage are weapons that defeat the enemies. You can ride pulleys to dropkick them away. Activate punching bags to knock them out. Light fireworks to launch them into the sky. Use the flashlight to disperse ghosts. And knock bowling balls into them. There are two stages that shirk the main gameplay. These are level four, in the jungle, where you have to jump across vines, and level six, the Ghost Town, where you grab a balloon to fly and collect items. When you get to the end of each story, you have to collect a number of items and reach Mapico before the time limit ends. If you fail, you have to do it again until you succeed.
Graphics: 1.0
You know what the graphics remind me of? City Connection. Those weren’t good a year ago. I will say I like some of the backgrounds, like the buildings. Those look nice.
Sound: 1.5
The music is plain and not very interesting. There are different tunes for each area, though.
Gameplay: 1.0
Mappy controls unsatisfyingly. You can’t cycle through your items, so you may have to waste a bunch of cat toys to get to a coin or vice-versa.
Difficulty: 1.0
The difficulty comes from lack of good controls. You can pretty easily trick the Guchi Gang into getting in one spot and then outrunning them.
Fun Factor: 0.5
The first time I got to the Jungle level, I wanted to throw the game out the window, but seeing that wasn’t an option, I just grumbled and kept going.
Overall Grade: 1.0
Mappy-Land earns a D. This is a poor puzzle game and a poor platformer. It ends up playing like an unfun quarter-eating arcade game. Not a good fit for 1989 on the NES.