Hopping Mappy Review by: - 7/10 Hopping Mad? More like Hopping Happy!

OVERALL RATING: 7/10 Who's not a fan of the underdog? Or in this case, the under-mouse? In 'Hopping Mappy', you play a policeman mouse named Mappy. Hopping around on a pogo stick, it's your job to avoid hungry cats while gathering loot the cats have stolen.

Items exist in pairs, so you can get a bonus for collecting pairs together. The cats follow pre- determined paths, so the task in the game is strategizing how to maximize your points while choosing a convenient trail. ((For the Japanese and game history lovers: There are two types of cat: a large red one named Nyamco or Goro. Mscit Demo Exam Software 2015 on this page.  and smaller ones called Mewskies. The reason the larger cat has two names is due to the fact that this game was released in both Japan and the United States.

May 03, 2013 This video is a snapshot Mappy (US) game sample video. Currently I have over 4000 videos gameplays.

'Nyanko' means 'kitty cat' in Japanese, so Namco decided to use a play on words and name the cat Nyamco. When the game moved to the United States, the large red cat was re- named. For some strange reason however, the United States chose to keep Mappy's name despite the fact that it comes from the Japanese word for policeman, 'mappo', a slightly derogatory term.)) GRAPHICS (4/10): I've got to admit that this game doesn't have the best of graphics. That being said, the designers do at least deserve a few kudos for not giving the game an excessively dark palette.

However, the colors which ARE given aren't all that attractive either. The game starts off with a bright green yard complete with a white fence and blue sky. There are some trees drawn in the background which are detail- less enough that I could have drawn them, and patches of garden have various shades and textures which causes the ground to resemble a checkerboard.

All in all it's not so ugly that it hurts my eyes, but it's dull and uninteresting. The caricatures aren't so bad however, and each sprite clearly represents what it is intended to: there's no mistaking the policeman mouse, or the enemy cats. I did find it amusing that the red cat (who is rather large) bounces just the same as Mappy and the Mewskies despite lacking a pogo stick. Pushing that little amusement aside, there was another aspect of the graphics I appreciated: when you collect an item, it's twin comes to life. For example, if you collect one snowman, the other snowman begins waving.

I like this little detail because it helps you more easily spot the item if the screen is chaotic, and it also helps you keep track of what you've last collected if you want to get the bonus for collecting clone items successively. Finally, one of the graphic cons is that every level looks exactly the same.

Every five levels experience a change in color pallet, but players are always faced with a checkerboard yard, a white fence, and a sky background broken only by a few trees. I'm not sure if the color changes are supposed to denote change in the time of day, or a change of seasons. I suspect the former because the levels get darker and then lighter.

However, the choice of colors (in my own opinion of course) better suit a change of seasons. SOUND (7/10): This is probably the first game I've reviewed where I actually -enjoyed- the music!

The same music is played throughout almost every level, but it's so catchy and cute that I didn't feel the need to mute my speakers. The quality wasn't fantastic, but I feel it's important to show leniency consider that this game was designed for arcades back in the mid- 80s. I wasn't completely sold into the music until I hit the bonus round however. The bonus round music in Hopping Mappy is easily one of THE BEST tunes I have heard in a game, and it caused me to squeal in delight. It's the majority of the reason I rated the sound category so high.

Part of me wishes that song was played throughout the entire game, but the rest of me is glad it doesn't. Hearing it only during bonus rounds actually encouraged me to try harder to get to those rounds. The other sounds weren't impressive. They simply weren't terribly annoying, over- done, or boring. ADDICTIVENESS (6/10): A bit selling point to this game, for me at least, was how very playable it is. I'm not one that shows much skill when it comes to playing games and so I was thrilled to do well in this game. Not only did I find it fun to play, but it also was not ridiculously easy.