Mappy-Land ・ マッピーランド
Developed by: TOSE
Published by: Namco (JP), Taxan (NA)
Release date: November 26, 1986 (JP) | April 1989 (NA)
Pac Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Pole Position…Namco produced hit after hit in the early 80’s arcade scene. 1983’s Mappy doesn’t come up in the same breath as those industry titans too often, but the cute little game went on to be a modest hit in its own right, killing it in Japanese arcades especially.
Personally, I love Mappy! I got horribly hooked on the original around this time last year. It’s the perfect blend of platform-y fun and arcade-y goodness, with a great difficulty curve and a catchy tune to jump around to. Thanks to my crippling past addictions, I was looking forward to giving its console exclusive sequel a spin: 1989’s Mappy-Land. And lemme tell ya, Namco pulled out all the stops for this one. It’s got a totally revamped play style, graphics that’ll kick your ass six ways from Sunday, and an intricate plot that has to be one of the best and most emotional the Nintendo Entertainment System has to offer. All gamers owe it to themselves to play Mappy-Land at least once.
That last paragraph was a lie! Mappy-Land is an inferior sequel to Mappy. I think so, anyway. I’m sure there are at least five Mappy-Land megafans frothing at the mouth and threatening to have my head on a pike for my red-hot take, but I said what I said.
Mappy-Land chronicles the major life events the titular mouse goes through, and how gang leader Goro tries to stop these precious moments from happening at every conceivable turn out of pure spite. The game’s first loop details Mappy courting his future wife Mapico by presenting her with several dozen wedges of cheese. The second covers Mappy’s wedding, during which he gifts his wife-to-be more wedding rings than a girl could ever possibly need. The third is a Christmas party that features an entire forest’s worth of Christmas trees, and the final loop chronicles Mappy’s struggle to obtain fifty-something baseballs for Mappy Jr’s birthday.
The identity of Mappy Jr’s mother is left ambiguous. He’s a child that’s old enough to speak and play baseball with fifty baseballs at one time, so it’s unlikely he’s the product of Mappy and Mapico’s very recent marriage. Given Mappy’s background as a cop, I’m going to choose to believe that he lost his previous partner in a dramatic, bloody shoot-out at the hands of Goro. Obviously this set him on a path of heavy drinking, deep depression and revenge, tortured by the knowledge that he can never be the father Mappy Jr. needs during his formative years. I told you this game had one of the most emotional plots ever seen on the NES, didn’t I?
So now that I’ve gotten writing Mappy fanfiction out of my system, let’s talk about the game itself. Mappy-Land’s core gameplay is the same as the original – jump on trampolines to traverse the board, avoid oncoming cats, and collect all the items to move onto the next level. I reckon most players could easily finish a loop or two without much trouble, and will likely have fun doing so. However, to truly “beat” Mappy-Land, you have to finish 4 full loops of the game, at 8 levels a piece. As the levels go on, the game adds more and more padding to every loop, that comes in the form of being forced to track down secret exits.
The gameplay loop beyond the first 8 levels goes like this: collect all the items in the stage. Now that you’ve got all those, start blindly jumping around the entire level looking for the secret exit. Once you’re inside the secret exit, you have to collect MORE items. Sometimes it’s just one, sometimes it’s a bunch. Once you’ve collected all of those items, find the exit within the secret exit (wut) to return to the main level. Once you’re back in the main level, you must run to the level’s exit while still avoiding enemies. Now you can move onto the next stage and do that all again. I don’t feel like I’ve wasted my time in the slightest!
I’m coming down on Mappy-Land pretty hard here, but it’s not awful. Just a smidge on the long and underwhelming side. Completing it can be a bit of a pain in the ass, but infinite continues save it from being the hideous bitch task from Hell that it could have potentially become. There’s plenty to like about it: the music is super catchy, the graphics are as cute as can be, and the first two loops are genuinely fun. Of course, the best part has to be seeing one of my favourite characters from the 8-bit era: Mappy’s nemesis, Goro!
Look at him!! He has a different silly little outfit in every level. I could never truly hate this game for him alone.
I guess Namco was trying to give the game a bit more depth for the console market, but sometimes depth doesn’t need to be applied to already winning formulas. It’s why there has been a gazillion re-releases of the original Pac Man, but most people have never even heard of Pac & Pal. Mappy-Land is by no means a terrible game, but it’s lacking the addicting quality its predecessor had in spades. It also doesn’t help that it overstays its welcome by a good ten levels, feeling like a whole heap of busywork by the time you reach the ending. This 1986 cartoon mouse game did NOT live up to my high expectations. Namco WILL be receiving a vaguely disgruntled letter (and a plea to canonize my Mappy fanfiction) from me in the next four to six weeks.
Final rating:
NESJunk 