Mappy's an all-time favorite of mine, and I actually kind of prefer the Famicom port. Its screen dimensions actually make it notably easier than the Arcade version (I can pretty consistently make it through three loops on the Famicom, but struggle to finish the first in arcades), particularly with regards to the bonus stages. In fact, I find they're actually *really* easy on the Famicom version, and you didn't mention one strategy you can employ to make them even easier. If there's only one balloon at the upper left corner of the bonus stage (that is, above the Nyamco Balloon), you can just pop the Nyamco Balloon, and he'll shoot out and destroy the balloon above him, and it'll count for the purposes of a perfect clear. That aside, it's cool to see this coverage of the game. Mappy is a game that I feel a lot of people are pretty dimissive of when it comes to Namco's early arcade works. I've been watching your stuff for a little bit, mostly just following along with Year of FDS and binging various Famidaily episodes, but I'll admit I was a bit worried about checking out your retrospective take on Mappy. It's a pretty personal game to me and one that everyone's seeming indifference to always made me a tad bit sad. So it's cool to see that you were as in depth with this as you've been any other title. I haven't agreed with a lot of your opinions on various games (I think MM4-6 are far better than 1-3, I like Onyanko Town, etc), but I really do have to commend your effort for actually trying to document these games and properly explain their mechanics. Mappy's Famicom release is a great one, though one that I feel falls through the cracks a lot these days. I know a lot of people weren't jazzed about the Namco Museum Archives releases being comprised of Famicom ports, but I think Mappy is proof enough that those versions deserve preservation every bit as much as the arcade originals.
So what's your overall opinion of Mappy? While it is unfortunate that the Famicom version of Mappy is officially only released in Japan back in the 80's(Same with other home console and home computer ports of of Mappy in the 80's), nowadays the Famicom version of Mappy fortunately did got recently ported outside of Japan thanks to Namco Museum Archives Vol.1, Namco Museum Vol.1 for the Evercade, and the myArcade releases. Next to the Arcade version, the Famicom version of Mappy is the best version of the game in my opinion. Also, here's a tip how to easily beat the Bonus Rounds of Mappy, if you want rip the trampoline faster to progress the Bonus Round, hold left. Saves more time to pop all the red balloons and Goro/Nyamco balloon.
I love Mappy. The original arcade is one of my favorites from that period and obviously I have a lot of love for the Famicom port which is way better than it has any right to be considering what other people were releasing on the Famicom at the time.
It was great to see the Famicom port finally released. I remember being disappointed with MappyLand being so inferior to the original. I was upset there wasn't any system I knew of with a port of Mappy. I used to play the arcade at the gas station in the early 80's and funny it ended up at the Shopko a mile away in the early 90's. It's still my favorite arcade game from the early 80's.
Mappy's an all-time favorite of mine, and I actually kind of prefer the Famicom port. Its screen dimensions actually make it notably easier than the Arcade version (I can pretty consistently make it through three loops on the Famicom, but struggle to finish the first in arcades), particularly with regards to the bonus stages. In fact, I find they're actually *really* easy on the Famicom version, and you didn't mention one strategy you can employ to make them even easier. If there's only one balloon at the upper left corner of the bonus stage (that is, above the Nyamco Balloon), you can just pop the Nyamco Balloon, and he'll shoot out and destroy the balloon above him, and it'll count for the purposes of a perfect clear.
That aside, it's cool to see this coverage of the game. Mappy is a game that I feel a lot of people are pretty dimissive of when it comes to Namco's early arcade works. I've been watching your stuff for a little bit, mostly just following along with Year of FDS and binging various Famidaily episodes, but I'll admit I was a bit worried about checking out your retrospective take on Mappy. It's a pretty personal game to me and one that everyone's seeming indifference to always made me a tad bit sad. So it's cool to see that you were as in depth with this as you've been any other title. I haven't agreed with a lot of your opinions on various games (I think MM4-6 are far better than 1-3, I like Onyanko Town, etc), but I really do have to commend your effort for actually trying to document these games and properly explain their mechanics.
Mappy's Famicom release is a great one, though one that I feel falls through the cracks a lot these days. I know a lot of people weren't jazzed about the Namco Museum Archives releases being comprised of Famicom ports, but I think Mappy is proof enough that those versions deserve preservation every bit as much as the arcade originals.
I had no idea there was so much... complexity in Mappy. Great work!
I was genuinely amazed at how complex Mappy got. Until I dug into it like that, I always played by just running around and collecting stuff.
this is one of my favoritest videogames of all time thank you
Ah the famous the famous the rat cop
So what's your overall opinion of Mappy? While it is unfortunate that the Famicom version of Mappy is officially only released in Japan back in the 80's(Same with other home console and home computer ports of of Mappy in the 80's), nowadays the Famicom version of Mappy fortunately did got recently ported outside of Japan thanks to Namco Museum Archives Vol.1, Namco Museum Vol.1 for the Evercade, and the myArcade releases. Next to the Arcade version, the Famicom version of Mappy is the best version of the game in my opinion. Also, here's a tip how to easily beat the Bonus Rounds of Mappy, if you want rip the trampoline faster to progress the Bonus Round, hold left. Saves more time to pop all the red balloons and Goro/Nyamco balloon.
I love Mappy. The original arcade is one of my favorites from that period and obviously I have a lot of love for the Famicom port which is way better than it has any right to be considering what other people were releasing on the Famicom at the time.
It was great to see the Famicom port finally released. I remember being disappointed with MappyLand being so inferior to the original. I was upset there wasn't any system I knew of with a port of Mappy. I used to play the arcade at the gas station in the early 80's and funny it ended up at the Shopko a mile away in the early 90's. It's still my favorite arcade game from the early 80's.
Not long after the Namco collection came out on Steam I bought it for this game I had longed to have in my collection for a good few decades.