PLAY JOURNAL #1: Mappy (1983)

Mappy lets you play as Mappy whom must recover the items that were stolen from Goro and the Meowkies. The setting of the game is Goro’s mansion, and in each level the player must traverse its many floors via trampolines. The input controls are a joystick to move and a button to open/close the doors on each floor.

The game is like most other classic arcade games — as defined by Rouse — in that it is simple and hard to master. Having played Mappy in my childhood, I was able to advance up to level 5 when I’d played it at the arcade. My friend was able to start playing quite easily despite never having played Mappy before, advancing up to level 4 after losing a few times in the first 2 levels. This I think exemplifies why these types of games have a high replay incentive.

The levels aren’t contained to one screen but what’s on screen still gives the player a lot of information, like where enemies, items, and doors are located. This gives the player enough information to strategically traverse the mansion, while withholding both the position of items on a level’s first run and where off-screen enemies are. This withheld information, among other things, gives the player a constant sense of tension in trying to deal with the enemies.

This tension is the core challenge and fun of the game. As the levels progress, there is an escalating tension that only truly gets released until each level is finished. There are also smaller releases of tension within each level when a player reaches the trampolines, since they’re immune to the Meowkies there. There are some bonus levels in between the normal ones that help alleviate the player. All of this prevents the game from becoming too stressful as its main objective is to be enjoyable.

This video shows game-play from levels 1 through 12

Much like Centipede, there’s an interconnectedness between all the elements of the game. For instance, the doors serve as weapons for the player. If a Meowky or Goro open a door from the doorknob side — or if a player opens it while they’re there — they’ll be knocked out temporarily. Players can leave doors closed in order to stun enemies, or use the momentum of closing a door (while right next to it on the doorknob side) to slide away from them, or use the “rainbow” doors’ microwaves to wipe out a group at once. The player can either play aggressively and earn more points to get an extra life, or simply stunt the enemies while they try obtaining all the items. As we see, the doors can be used as a means to an end. But they also have to be managed by the player, which can only be done by traversing through the floors via the trampolines (which each jump gives points). The “tension” between all the elements of the game in the end allows it to be a perfectly balanced experience.