What it all boils down to is a platform game set within the confines of a very unusual mansion.

In place of stairs to higher levels, there are trampolines.

Thinking about it, Mappys one of the most delicate and defenseless heroes in 80s gaming.

He looks like it’s carrying a truncheon, but he never uses it.

Unlike Pac-Man, he doesnt have anything approaching a power-up pellet to even the odds.

What he does have, however, are doors.

Mappy can also use the doors as a kind of catapult.

LikePac-Man,Mappys all about the pursuit of a high score.

Its interesting, too, that whileMappycame out in 1983, its characters were conceived much earlier.

In fact, they werent designed as the cast of a video game, but as robots.

Goro and Mappy were originally designed specifically for solving mazes.

As youve probably gathered by now,Mappydidnt quite grab the worlds attention asPac-Mandid.

Its difficult to say.

Maybe the mechanics, the rules of the game, arent as easily understood at a glance asPac-Mans.

Maybe the character designs, cute as they are, simply arent as attention-grabbing as that 1980 maze game.

But neither port emerged outside Japan, where, it seems,Mappywas most popular.

Despite his growing obscurity, Namco has never quite forgottenMappy.