Advertisement for the arcade game Mappy by Namco and Bally/Midway from the Fall 1983 issue Creative Computing’s Video and Arcade Games.
Source: Video & Arcade Games – Volume 1, Number 2 – Fall 1983
Mappy is a 1983 arcade game released by Namco in Japan and distributed by Bally/Midway in the U.S. It is a static screen platform style came common to the era (Popeye and the original Mario Bros. are other examples of the genre). You play the role of a police mouse trying to recover stolen goods from a mansion. You must use trampolines to get to the various floors of the mansion and must avoid cats and other obstacles.
While there was a Japanese home release for the Famicom in 1984, there were no contemporary home releases in North America. The first U.S. home release came for the Sega Game Gear in 1991. Those in the U.S. would probably be more familiar with the console only sequel Mappy-Land that was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Despite not having any contemporary releases in the U.S., the original Mappy has been featured on a number of compilations and standalone units. The first experience with Mappy that I can recall was with the Ms. Pac-Man collection by Jaks Pacific. This was a Joystik that plugged directly into the TV and included a number of emulated arcade classics. It was also included in Microsoft Revenge of Arcade for the PC in 1998, Namco Gallery Vol. 1 for the Game Boy, Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Collection released in 2005 for the Xbox, GameCube, PC and PlayStation 2 and Namco Museum DS among other collections. It’s not one of my favorite examples of the genre but it’s worth checking out. Try it via one of the later collections (e.g. Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Collection) or via MAME for the best results.
The ad above is from the Fall 1983 issue of Video & Arcade Games.