Mappy

Controls consist of a two-position joystick and a button. The player assumes the role of Mappy, a police mouse tasked with recovering stolen items from a mansion that serves as a hideout for a gang of thieving cats. Goro (Nyamco in Japanese), large and red, is the leader, while the smaller blue Meowky cats (Mewky in Japanese) are his underlings. The mansion contains horizontal passages closed off by doors and broken up with gaps bridged by trampolines.

If a character runs off the edge of a platform, he will fall into a gap and bounce on a trampoline if one is there. Both Mappy and the cats can veer to either side and land on a platform while traveling upward, but not while falling. A trampoline will break if Mappy bounces on it four consecutive times, changing color after each bounce to indicate its status. Once Mappy lands on a platform, the trampoline reverts to its original status.

He cannot be hurt by any cats while bouncing either up or down, and the cats can bounce on trampolines without breaking them. The goal of each round is to collect all 10 stolen items, which form five pairs: stereos, televisions, Mona Lisa paintings, computers, and safes. Bonus points can be scored in two ways: Collecting an item behind which Goro is hiding, which briefly stuns him. Collecting both items in a pair consecutively, which multiplies the value of the second one.

The multiplier starts at two on each new round or life, and increases by one for each additional pair of consecutive items, to a maximum of six. Doors can be opened or closed by both Mappy and the cats, and always open toward their knobs. To open or close a door, the player must face it and press the button. Any character standing near a door will be briefly knocked back and stunned if it opens toward him.

Flashing doors release a burst of microwaves when opened, which travels horizontally in the opening direction and will sweep away any cats caught in it for extra points, which are doubled if Goro is among them. After a short delay, these cats return to play from the top edge of the screen. Only Mappy can open a microwave door, after which it reverts to an ordinary one that any character can open or close. The round ends once all 10 items have been collected.

If the player takes too long, a hurry-up warning sounds, more Meowky cats enter the mansion, and all enemies speed up. After enough time passes, a large "Gosenzo" coin with Goro's face enters the screen; it is immune to microwaves and can kill Mappy even in midair. At intervals, a bonus round is played in which the goal is to score extra points by popping as many balloons as possible in a short time, while bouncing on trampolines and veering left/right through a set of vertical passages. The round ends when Mappy pops all the balloons, runs out of time, or falls through a broken trampoline to the bottom of the screen.

As the game progresses, difficulty features are added that include: More Meowky cats, moving at a faster speed. The ability to enter the mansion's attic and move within it. Bells hung above trampolines, which Mappy can knock loose while bouncing and drop on cats to stun them. Flashing sections of floor that briefly vanish after Mappy steps on them.

Any cat that falls through the resulting hole will be stunned, awarding bonus points. One life is lost whenever Mappy touches an un-stunned cat while moving, falls to the bottom of the screen without hitting a trampoline (except in a bonus round), or touches a Gosenzo at any time. When all lives are lost, the game ends.