
178 · Mappy Land
Mappy, the police mouse, has prepared all kinds of wonderful birthday presents for his girlfriend, Mapico. But the big cheese in the feline world, Nyamco , has ordered his clowder to hide the presents throughout Mappyland.
SHOW NOTES
NES Longplay
Mappy in Smash
Mappy Arcade Game
Hopping Mappy
Mappy Kids
Bubsy 3D
UP Intro
- MAPPY HAS DYNAMIC PLANS FOR HIMSELF AND HIS GIRLFRIEND, MAPICO
- NES Longplay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbaefzok-J8
- Introductions
- The Ultimate Cat and Mouse Game
- If Q-Bert is B-Tier...what tier is MAPPY
- Overview
- Arcade Platformer where you have to dodge the cats while collecting the cheese to bring back to your girlfriend Mapico
- Gameplay
- Trampolines
- Are the layouts interesting?
- Should there have been more cat/mouse chase related hijynx?
- The Weapons
- Bonus Level
- The bonus round is rather difficult to access. It appears in certain stages, and is unlocked by jumping on a specific trampoline three times without any distraction items. Normally this would kill Mappy, but here it will send him into the clouds, with various extra items to collect
- STORY
- Story 1: It is Mapico's birthday, and the task is to collect cheese as her present.
- Story 2: Mappy wishes to marry Mapico, and must collect wedding rings.
- Story 3: Mappy and Mapico are having a Christmas party, and Christmas trees must be collected.
- Story 4: It is Mappy Jr.'s birthday, and the task is to collect baseballs for his present.
- Sequels and Spinoffs
- MAPPY - the original arcade game
- Hopping Mappy (Arcade Sequel)
- the Micro Police mouse, Mappy, as he bounces on a pogo stick to run circles around pink cats, called Meowkies
- Mappy Kids (Famicom)
- Mostly the same game but with a slot machine
- EGL
- Next week - MysteryQuest
Auto-generated transcript. Each paragraph starts with its timestamp. Speakers are not identified.
Mappy Land! Mappy has dynamic plans for himself and his girlfriend, Mappico. That's neat. And welcome to NEStalgia, a chronological exploration of every NES game released in North America. I'm Mike. I'm Sean. I'm Joe. And I'm Sam. That is some important deep lore information for people that don't know that Mappy Land is just the land and Mappy is the character. And he also has a girlfriend named Mappico. And then you follow him through the big life events of Mappy.
He does adult things. This is sounding like Smurfs. I got a Smurfs vibe from it too. It really is though at the end of the day, it's the ultimate cat and mouse game. Am I right? Oh, wow. Oh, shit. I didn't really see it that way.
I mean, it's not cat and mouse like someone chasing someone, but it is literally a cat and mouse game. You could argue though that the cats are chasing Mappy. They're chasing him. That's true.
I thought this was more like Catch Me If You Can. Which it very well could be. Leonardo DiCaprio movie. Yeah. Leonardo DiCaprio movie. Yeah. It very well could be though. We don't know what Mappy. We don't know he's innocent. We only get to see him. We just start playing as him. We don't know what he did. He could have had a life of crime before this game started. I choose to believe that. I thought this was like a prequel to MapQuest.
Yeah, this is how people got around. They would put this in their car instead of the GPS. Yeah. It's a sequel though to a game called Mappy for the arcades. So they added it instead of it just being about the mouse itself. Now it's about like the land that he lives in. So that was a pretty cool upgrade.
Now, are you are you being funny or is it actually a sequel? I always assumed that Mappy was just another name for the same game. Nope. It's the sequel. This is Mappy. Mappy was an arcade game and Mappy is kind of like a Bandai Namco mascot in some ways. I think about like if Q-Bert is a B tier arcade mascot, what tier is Mappy? It's gotta be like F. F tier mascot. Cool. Unless you want to give him a D because you know you want to be nice to him. I don't know. Yeah, like as far as like recognizability, I'd probably go F. And to be clear when I said I always thought that Mappy was etc, etc. I mean always as in like since yesterday when I heard about this for the first time.
I would say at least D because he has Smash Brothers representation, right? That's true. Everybody has Smash Brothers representation. Yeah, but he has a... Everybody's here. I'm sure. Am I correct in saying that Pac-Man's up B is based on the trampolines in this game? Absolutely. Yeah, alright. Is that correct? No way. Really? I'm being dead serious. It's absolutely true.
As you guys know from playing the game, the trampolines that Mappy jumps on both in the original arcade game and in Mappy Land for the NES, you can only bounce on them three times and then they disappear. Here, the very same thing happens to Pac-Man in Super Smash Brothers where he can get three up Bs, each one higher than the one before it, but then it's gone. It's crazy. I never made that connection while I was playing.
Alright, so let's actually talk about the game though, because I think that there is something, there is an interesting element here because it's, on the surface, it's just an arcade platformer, right? It's no different than a lot of other games that we've played like City Connection or,
you know, I'll even liken it to Pac-Man because the ultimate goal is just like a set stage where you just have to collect certain, I think they're cheeses, right? You have to collect the cheese and once you've collected all the... If in one of them it's cheese. Yeah, well no, because then there's like keys eventually, right? That sounds like cheese. Cheese, keys, rings, Christmas trees, lots of E's.
Right, so you have to collect those things and then you're like good to pass on to the stage. The thing that makes Mappy different from the other platformers is the trampoline element of the game and, you know, otherwise like the cats are pretty much just like the ghosts in Pac-Man. They just have like this random thing that some of them are coherent, other ones just go wherever they want.
The, you know, the actual structures are always on the same types of platforms. There's only ever like three types of platform levels that you can be on. So the layouts themselves don't change that much and the style of the game doesn't change that much. But how your access to these trampolines and where the prizes are placed changes between rounds. And that's really like the key defining element of each land besides the setting. Sean, anything you want to add to that?
No, that's pretty much it. Like the only, the only thing that happens as you progress, I think, is the arrangement. The arrangement and the window dressing. It doesn't really add any, any other gameplay elements as you move forward. It just recolors everything pretty much. I feel a little differently, actually. I felt like, my first thought was, you know, this, whenever we get a game like this that's arcadey, it always kind of throws me off a little bit. Because it feels, this like arcade style game feels like something we were seeing in 1985, 1986. So it's always strange to be like for one to pop up again.
But I did think that these, it had some unique ways of going about gameplay. And I actually thought that there were some interesting, each level had some different, I mean, there's a level later on where you would just fly. The whole, you fly and you shoot enemies. Totally different than the rest of the game. And then there's like a level where there's, where there's a cannon that you can shoot at people. And there's always different, different ways of dispatching the enemies. I thought that there was actually like, I was surprised that there was some variety as I went on.
Yeah, there's different traps. Yeah. I apologize for that. And there's also one level with vines too, where you're jumping from vine to vine and the platforms are, the trampolines are moving. So it, it does change it up a little bit.
Yeah. The vines were the awakening for me. That's when I realized like that this game was a step up from Mappy, the original, because they were actually taking the idea of integrating the settings. You know, Sam, you just mentioned the vines. And I thought that was really unique and reminded me of Donkey Kong Jr. in a lot of ways in the way that he would climb the vines. But then, you know, to Joe's point, when you get on the balloon power up and now you can fly and that's the level where you're collecting the keys and taking down the ghosts.
I think it's surprising that the game doesn't just stick to trampolines that, you know, that access you to platforms because the, correct me if I'm wrong, guys, but like the trampoline layout as it by itself, like the first like couple levels of the game are very, very simple. Right. Like, did anybody ever fall into the trap of like having to use the trampoline three times and then falling in the pit? I feel like there's enough leeway between where they place the enemies and how the enemies behave that you can mostly fool them on like the first jump of your trampoline. You should never really run out of trampoline jumps. I actually didn't even know that you could run out of trampoline jumps.
Yeah, especially since you're invincible, you're invincible when you're using the trampoline. It's really hard to to die there. The game more or less is like not just the trampolines, but I found most of it to be very simplistic, including these these vines you can hang off of, including the flying, the one flying screen or four flying screens, depending on how much you're playing. So, yeah, very simple design overall.
All right. Let's talk about the weapons in the game, because that's another thing that's that's pretty unique to Mappy Land is there are optional power ups or weapons that you can collect in the stages. And I believe they transfer over between levels so you don't have to use them. Yeah, you don't have to use them right away.
And, you know, to Joe's point earlier, there's some that are like built into the stages that are pretty cool. I think there's like a a bar that you can do like front flips on to stay away from people. There's a punching bag that you can like hit and then it'll hit a cat if they're nearby. But there's also the ones that you just like drop on the fly, too. And I thought there was like a there was like a Tom and Jerry element to that. Forget the cat and mouse thing, but just like in a cartoon world, too. There's something really funny about the way that Mappy handles his cat enemies. I don't know if you guys felt the same way, Joe.
Yeah, I mean, definitely. And just to speak to the first element that you were talking about, you know, the the environmental elements that you use. Since those to me felt like the primary thing, at least at the beginning, before you had collected droppables. And I thought that that at first I thought was very annoying. And then after I thought about it, I was like, it's actually kind of interesting.
It's a different way to play the game and play a game like this where I'm I have to almost exclusively use my environment to to attack things. And there were unique ways to use those environment things. And of course, later on, you get you quickly get other droppables. But I always felt like those environmental like defense mechanisms were were more present and which I just thought was an interesting unique choice in a game like this.
Yeah, I enjoyed those. I had a fun moment with like I think it was the punching bag or thing, whatever that thing was, where it just knocked away two enemies. And I didn't even realize that's what it did.
And for the most part, I didn't. I think because I had because you start with nothing when I pressed, what is it, the B button or the A button? I forget which one is which it and nothing happens. And I just assumed that you didn't use items or you didn't throw things or whatever. So for most of my playthrough, I didn't use anything. And it I think it was fine. It went OK. And then when I realized you could, I was like, oh, that makes it a lot easier. So I don't even think that they're really that necessary for for for most levels anyway.
Yeah, they're like an added color to the game. You know, I was I was giving that cartoon analogy, but I kind of wish they even doubled down on it a little more. Right. Like what if you did like reverse mousetrap where the objective was actually to trap the cats instead of collecting prizes?
I thought that, you know, there could have been some more hijinks, you know, in the levels that really play to the to the settings that you're in, too, because Joe mentioned that you can fire off like cannonballs and stuff like that. I just thought it would have been fun to do like some some more things that actually involve the enemies in a way that like it makes it a cat and mouse game where they're trying to catch you before you catch them. More of like a systems feel.
Yeah, I think that's fair to say. Or even just, you know, like it doesn't have to be a whole different kind of game. I mean, maybe what I'm proposing is like a spiritual successor to Mappy Land, but it could also have just been more cartoon like in the sense of, you know, add anvils and pulling pianos like, you know, just double down on that idea because it seems like they went there and they just were like nervous about getting too close to Looney Tunes land.
Yeah, but they were good at doing with the with the amount that they did. I wish they had done more also, but like making it all feel like shenanigans. You know, like there's there's there was one like cat toy that if you if you if you fling it as you walk by the cats will just get distracted for a minute and like they look all happy and they like dance around it. And like everything had a different effect on the cats and it was all helpful to you. And some of the effects were just aesthetic and like did fundamentally the same thing. But it just gave it a little bit of like, oh, this feels like yeah, kind of Looney Tunes like you're saying. Did anybody find out about the bonus level?
I'm going to take that for a no. It's not easy to find. And I only saw it in a in a gameplay video I was watching on YouTube and I was like, how would you ever know to do this? I guess that was like the point of it. You know, a lot of bonus levels are like encouraged for people to stumble upon. This is like you take a leap of faith and you either get to the bonus round or not. It doesn't again in a game like this that's kind of simple and not that hard to fight off against. I don't think the bonus level is that rewarding. So it's more for like players who figure it out to score extra points. But essentially you have to like figure out which trampoline is like the one that you can jump on three times.
And then instead of it killing Mappy by dropping him into the pitfall, it will shoot him up into the clouds where there are like a bunch of different items and points to collect and stuff like that. But I just don't know how you would figure that out without accidentally trying to die. Yeah, yeah. We're just too good. We're too good to find the bonus level.
Well, it's not even that. Yes, of course, that's what it is for us. But for most people even, it's like it's not every single trampoline. So you wouldn't know if you found the right one. You wouldn't even know if it's in that stage because it's not in all the stages.
Is it fixed or is it like random? Which one is it? So it's like players in the know. I think it's actually spread out across a lot of the different levels. So I don't remember like if it's 1-4 or 1-3 or whatever. But, you know, if you go on like game FAQs, you can find all of them. But I feel like it's one of those things that like meant a lot to people who were trying to get the high scores in the games because you have to find all of those to get the highest possible score because that stuff gives you a ton more points than you're getting in the base game. The base game. It's a whole nother world up there, Sean. The DLC land.
We were having this debate at the beginning. I think we all agree that the settings are very interesting and it's nice that they, you know, they didn't just be like, okay, you're just in a world of ladders and platforms. Like, you know, I think we had that discussion with City Connection where it was like, yeah, it's cool that they're taking you from like New York to Egypt and stuff like that. But it was just backgrounds.
It didn't really matter. Here it feels like it matters a little more. But I want to challenge everybody to see if this was the most effective route that they could have done in terms of level design. Did it actually, did it change the core game of trampolines and going up ladders all that much? Should they have designed some puzzle things where you could accidentally get trapped in a certain situation and then, you know, you have to try to get out before the cat comes down there or something?
I'm kind of spitballing here. So, Joe, you were a big fan of the level layouts. What do you think about that? I mean, yeah, I definitely think that like when I say I'm a big fan of the level layouts, I'm talking as to basically maybe what I expected this game to be when I first booted it up compared to like what it turned out to be. It surprised me. I thought it was going to be a lot simpler than it was.
But I do, yeah, I do think there could be a little more variety. If you're going to do have like a couple of levels that are kind of doing the same thing, almost exactly the same thing with like a couple of different environmental changes. And then you just have one level that's like totally different. And then you go back to the same thing again. And then you maybe have another one that's totally different. It just feels like they had like three ideas and it didn't stretch out long.
I shouldn't say like three ideas. There's a lot of interesting ideas in this game. But like three major ideas for level design and they needed to stretch it out a lot across what, like seven levels, eight levels. So they just like duplicated a bunch of them and like made minor differences. So, yeah, I think that like almost in the same breath, I want to commend them for being having such unique variety. And then also kind of like complain about like there not being enough variety. So maybe I'm just a complainer. But that's kind of the way for some reason, that's kind of how I felt about it.
My problem with the level design here wasn't so much that like the trampolines and the platforms, like that's the constant. And then with every new level, like, yeah, the background changes, the trap changes. And then there's like one little core thing that changes, like the like the what's it called? The vines or the flying in the ghost, the ghost area. But my problem is that these levels are so short and these ideas are so basic that they're they're very they're very shallow.
Like maybe if they were to add as the game went on, like maybe they introduced the vines and then in level four, they still have vines. But now they're introducing something else. And if they just layered it more and like made them work off of each other instead of like just like here's an idea for three minutes of your time. And now here's a new idea that can work in it like in itself, like in some in some games. But in this one, they were too skin deep to hold up on their own for me.
For me. Yeah, that actually makes me realize that I think what what my issue is with the two is is not now that you mentioned that it feels like like the vine level feels like it's the introduction level to the vine world. Like, you know, it should be three more levels where they build on that. And then we go on to the flying level. And it's so simple because it's teaching you. And then like before we get to do any more flying stuff, we just move on. It feels like there should be like a couple more flying levels now. Now here's where the challenging flying stuff comes. So it does feel like they're all.
They're all good ideas, but they don't go further with any of them. Exactly. There's also an element to, you know, the the Meowkies. I think they're called those cats that that are trying to catch you.
They're not that challenging to avoid in most scenarios. Like, yes, if you're if you're playing and you're just trying to collect the stuff as fast as you can. And sure, like you could run into them pretty quickly or, you know, be careless or something. But if you're if you're taking the game kind of slow and you're watching where the cats are, it's very easy to avoid them. There's very few like traps or or pitfalls. A lot of the trampoline element because you're invisible, not invisible, because you can't be hurt when you're on the trampoline, even though it's like you and like three other cats all bouncing on this trampoline. You know, for some reason, you can't be hurt.
You just got to like choose a way out and make sure that they're not like on the same platform as you at the same time. And then you're like free to run in another direction while they're still bouncing on the trampoline. And it was like.
That seemed that seemed like a missed opportunity to make the game just a little bit harder. If not, not that it's not if you were hurt on the trampoline, but in the sense that like it's too easy to get away from them, provided you're near one. Yeah. And also, like, I know you guys were using the level traps a lot, but like at a certain point I had enough fish that I could just spam fish at these things and I wouldn't have to interact with the level traps at all. So if I ever got into a situation where if I went one way or the other, I was going to get touched by a Meowkey. Otherwise, I could just keep hoarding fish.
I have a question about the ghost level. Go for it. I got to the end of it and there was just like a little man there who wouldn't let me go. Is there something else I was supposed to do?
You have to go. You see, you pick up that little cross thing or whatever, and then you have to go to the entrance of like the church. Oh. And then there's a regular like chutes and ladders level. Really? Yeah. Oh. Maybe just because like I'm Jewish, I just like avoided the church. I don't know. I don't even realize there. Did I even see a church? Well, it was a different objective though, right? You are bringing up a good point, Sam, that they don't spell that out for you because the whole time you're collecting cheeses before that, and then all of a sudden there's an icon for keys.
Yeah, keys. I'm sorry. Not that true. Yeah, but even if you collect all of them. Yeah, I got all of them. All of the keys. No, I know what I'm saying. Even if you collect them all, going back to the guy doesn't solve the problem. Yeah. Yeah, I totally stumbled into that too because I was just trying to figure out where to go, see if I missed something. I was backtracking, and then I just happened upon it. I think that's what's supposed to happen. Yeah, but I was so, I don't know. I was stuck in my modern ways of playing games. I'm like, what the hell? I can't go anywhere. I guess I'm looking this up.
So, that's how I figured it out. Yeah, I just ran out of time and the little coin came and killed me. I have a random question for you guys. Did anyone do the quote-unquote new game plus that happens after you beat, I don't know if you'd actually call it new game plus, but play through a second time after you've gotten to, what's her name, Mapico? You're supposed to play this four times. That's not new game plus. Well, I consider it a new game plus. I only played it the one time, and then I watched a video of someone playing it three more times. So, you didn't even get to see him get married.
Well, that's what I wanted to mention. I thought I was dropping a huge revelation on you guys. I guess I'm not. No, because it's a standard game. But what I wanted to talk about is that, like, you joked at the beginning about seeing Mappy go through his life, but there's a little wholesome story there. It's very heartwarming by the end. The first time you get there, you find her for her birthday. And the next time, you're going to the engagement, or you're going to the wedding, I guess. And then the third time you get through it, you're going, what is it? It's Christmas. Because that's always what happens after you get married. It's Christmas. Fancy Wigs annual Christmas ball.
Yeah. And then finally, at the end, you're, like, collecting baseballs along the way, and you're like, hi, Junior. There's, like, a very, I'm trying to remember what it is. It's just, like, a heartwarming message. Like, ah, I'm here for your, you know, to be always there for you, Junior, or something like that. It's Mappy Junior's birthday.
Yeah. And I was just like, wow, now I feel a connection to Mappy. I'm like, well, this is some character development in this game. And now he's an S-tier mascot for Band of Namco. Exactly. Yeah, he says to his son, I'm looking at the net right now, I wish you many happy returns of the day, Junior. A little weird translation, but I send a gift in celebration the birth of you. Thanks, Daddy. I guess the kid was saying that? I don't know. Is that what your parents said to you? I wish my dad would say that to me. Yeah. I send a gift in celebration the birth of you. The reason, yeah, the reason why I'm the way I am is my dad didn't say, in celebration the gift the birth of you enough.
It's weird to think that there wasn't a fifth storyline where you play as an older Mappy, now in his, like, you know. Divorced. His golden age, and he's just slower. He can't jump on the trampoline more than once. Oh, now it's getting sad. Yeah, the ghost area has, like, headstones for your wife and child. When they were making the movie Up, Pixar was playing Mappy first, and they were like, we have to tell this beautiful story. That sounds right. That's where the idea of the balloon came from, because Mappy gets a balloon and goes flying to take down ghosts.
The ghost of Christmas past, that's where the Christmas party comes in. Oh, my God. It all connects. Thanks. Anyway, we're getting a little silly. We're getting a little silly. Let's talk about some sequels and spinoffs. As I mentioned, there is an original arcade game called Mappy. You can play it. It's a lesser version of this. It's the same exact thing, except for the settings aren't as fun and there isn't a story to be told. So I don't know why he'd go back and play that.
That sounds great. If you wanted to take Mappy to new heights, you would play Hopping Mappy, the arcade sequel to the original Mappy, where it's just Mappy on a pogo stick this time. He's bouncing around. He's going in circles, taking down those Meowkies. I still don't know why they're called that instead of just cats. Does anybody know the deep lore behind Meowkies?
Is it like a Meowth? There's a lot of coins that look like the Meowth coin. Oh. Maybe Meowth is from this. Yeah. Maybe. And then, you know, following up on the whole, like, it's Mappy Jr.'s birthday thing, they did eventually release on the Famicom Mappy Kids, which is the story of Mappy Jr., I guess, getting married. It's, like, literally the box art is two mice, like, competing for a bride. Wow. So, uh, it's mostly the same. Very family-focused game. Right. Yeah. It's mostly the same game as Mappy Land, but with a slot machine now instead.
That's why it's Mappy Kids. It's teaching kids to really how to gamble. Yeah, yeah. Right. That's, yeah. It's wish fulfillment. Stuff that they can't do, you know. I could see them totally screwing up a Mappy, like, 3D platformer, though. And just having it be, you know, like, an abomination in the PS1 era. You know what I mean? Yeah. Bubsy level. Yeah. Like, don't be surprised if Bandai Namco actually did make Mappy 3D, and it just sucked, and they were like, we can't do this.
I imagine it, like, the graphics looking like, you ever play, like, Dark Forces, the Star Wars game on the PS1? Yes. Which I know people like that game, but the graphics, it always looked like it was, like, it's 3D, but it looks kind of 2D. It always looks strange to me. And I feel like that's what I would get out of Mappy Land. All right. Well, if we ever want to play Mappy Land again, we need to decide that on a little list we make called the Essential Games List.
Joe, what is your vote for Mappy Land? I think Mappy Land probably could, you know, could fall into my notable arcade games list. Notable, you know? It's notable because it tried some unique things and kept my interest a little bit with some of its charm. But in the end, I think that there's just not enough there. I mean, I honestly don't even really have too much more to say about it. I think that it was... I don't regret playing it, but, you know, that's not, like, a ringing endorsement for it being an Essential game. So I'm going to say no. All right. Sam? I feel like if you like Lode Runner and games like that, then maybe give this one a shot just for something new.
But it's, you know, like Joe was saying, it's got its creative moments, but they're just not that many. And it's cute, but it is not essential. So, Sean? Top 10 life stories about a mouse told in four acts, but not essential. And I will just add that I played this game a lot longer than I expected to play it.
It, you know, partly because it's easy, but also because it was fun, you know? But I don't see myself going back to it. I think I played for an hour or two hours, and that's a lot for an arcade game, you know? I'm sure I've played some arcade games for way longer than that over the course of my life. But just to, like, play that leading up to this week, that was kind of surprising. So I really enjoyed my time with Mappy Land. I'm not going to put it on the Essential games list. And I think that, you know, we're all kind of on the idea that, like, it wasn't terrible. And so that's a good thing. A lot of terrible NES games. So this isn't terrible, right, guys?
Yeah. Right. Everything that they set out to do, they accomplished. Like, it all works right. I also didn't regret playing it. I think that was on the back of the box. You won't regret playing it. But it was a quote from you with the attribute of 2021. Sean, 2021.
Anyway, we're done with Mappy Land. And next week we're going to tackle Mystery Quest, which we can't even begin to think about what that's about. It's a mystery. Were you about to yawn? No. Not necessarily. I think, you know, Mystery Quest, to me, is one of those things where, like, you hear the title and you're like, I don't think I would have bought that. You know, like, on title alone, I don't think I would have went for Mystery Quest.
Yeah, it sounds just a bit generic. But I guess we'll see. We'll see. And we'll see a lot of things. Specifically, you can see things on Twitter, at NostalgiaCast, where we post things all week long. We had a lot of cool Mappy artwork. I'm sure you wanted to see pin-up posters of Mappy and Mappico. Well, that was there this week. So, you missed it. Go back. Give it a little like. Joe, don't you want to go see Mappy in full-scale print action? I'm on my way there right now. There you go. And if you want to find me, it's at Esposito Film on Twitter. We'll see you again next Friday for Mystery Quest. We'll see you again next Friday.
