The goal
You play Mappy, a police mouse. Cats have hidden ten stolen items around their mansion, and you clear a round by collecting all ten. The items come in five matching pairs: in the arcade original they're stereos, televisions, Mona Lisa paintings, computers and safes. Getting caught by a cat costs a life, and the game ends when you run out.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | NES button |
|---|---|---|
| Walk left / right | ← → | D-pad |
| Steer while bouncing | ← → | D-pad |
| Open / close a door | Z | A |
| Start game / pause | Enter | Start |
| Select (title screen menu) | V | Select |
| B button | X | B |
On phones and tablets, touch controls appear after the game starts. Gamepads work too. Details are in the Mappy controls section on the game page.
Trampolines: moving between floors
The mansion has several floors, and the only way up or down is a trampoline in one of the gaps. Walk off the edge to drop onto it and you'll bounce. Hold left or right as you pass a floor to step off onto it.
Each trampoline changes colour every time you bounce on it without landing on a floor. If you bounce on the same trampoline four times in a row it breaks and you fall. Landing on any floor resets the count, so don't ride a trampoline longer than you need to.
Doors and microwave doors
Stand next to a door and press the A button (Z) to open or close it. Cats open and close doors too. A door opened into a nearby cat stuns it briefly, which is your main way out of a tight spot.
Flashing doors are special. When Mappy opens one it releases a wave that travels along the floor and carries away any cats in its path. Only Mappy can open a flashing door, and it turns into an ordinary door afterwards. Waiting until several cats are lined up earns more points.
The cats
- Meowkies are the small pink cats that chase Mappy around the floors.
- Goro (Nyamco in Japan) is the big boss cat. He sometimes hides behind one of the stolen items. Grabbing that item while he's there stuns him and pays a bonus.
If you take too long on a round, a warning plays, extra cats appear and everyone speeds up.
Scoring
- Every stolen item scores points.
- Collecting the two items of a pair one after the other boosts the score for the second item. Chaining several pairs in a row raises it further.
- Cats caught in a microwave wave give bonus points, more for several at once.
- Later rounds add bells hanging over trampolines. Knock one loose to drop it onto the cats below.
Bonus round
Every so often a bonus round replaces a normal one. Instead of collecting items, you bounce around popping balloons for extra points. It's also good practice for steering on the trampolines.
Mappy tips
- Plan your route before you jump. Clear one side of the mansion at a time instead of crossing back and forth.
- Land often. Touching any floor resets the trampoline count.
- Keep a door between you and the cats. Stand beside a closed door and open it as a cat walks up.
- Save flashing doors for groups. One wave can carry away several cats.
- Take pairs back to back when it's safe, but don't risk a life for a pair bonus.
- Don't stall. Waiting too long brings extra, faster cats.