"Of course." the Namcoator replies. "The tenth challenge is the Mappy challenge. Gus Wilde will be undertaking this challenge."
Gus nods. "Let's do this!"
The Namcoator snaps his fingers and Gus dematerialises.
We cut to what seems to be a large mansion with the walls painted a vivid red, positioned against a jet-black sky. Gus materialises in front of the building, which immediately catches his eye. "Ooo… this place looks fancy!"
"It is." he replies. "Welcome to the Mappy challenge, player. Go ahead and enter the mansion, and I will bring myself into the game world to explain what's going on."
Gus walks up to the door, opens it and steps inside. The Namcoator materialises inside the building. "So what am I going to do?" Gus asks.
"Great question. I need to give a bit of context first. This game took the 'cat-and-mouse' idea of a chase game quite literally, so it had a mouse as the hero and cats as the villains."
"I see…" Gus understands. "So I'm up against villainous cats."
The Namcoator nods. He pulls out a piece of paper with two illustrations - one showing a small pink cat and another showing a large red one. "The red cat is called Goro, and the pink cats are the Meowkies - his lackeys. They've been stealing goods from around town and hiding them in this mansion. Your goal is to retrieve all of the stolen goods across 15 rounds."
"Got it. So I'm basically a policeman?" Gus assumes.
"Yes you are - and that's what the mouse was in the game." the Namcoator responds. "However, you won't be able to make any arrests - this is a solo mission. You need to get in, fetch the goods, and get out."
"Understood." says Gus. "But I see the mansion has multiple floors. Hope will I get between them? I don't see a single staircase or elevator..."
"The answer to that is a bit more creative. Do you see that hole in the floor?" The Namcoator motions over to a gap in the floor that Gus was unaware of until now. Walking over, the blonde boy sees that a blue trampoline is stretched over the gap.
"Is that a trampoline?" Gus questions, confused. "What is a trampoline doing here?"
The Namcoator shrugs. "Apparently the cats use these trampolines to get between the different stories. You will be doing the same thing. Why don't you have a go?"
"Okay then." Gus takes a deep breath and leaps onto the trampoline. His weight depresses the fabric sheet, and soon the springs recoil and send him flying into the air. Gus then throws his body forward and lands on another floor.
"Alright, I think I've got that figured out."
"Do be aware that you can only bounce on a trampoline three times in a row before it breaks, although the durability will reset every time you land."
"Mmhmm."
"Another tool you have at your disposal are the doors. There are two types of doors - standard doors and flashing doors."
Gus notes the door in front of him is a standard wooden door with the word "PULL". He walks up to it, grabs the doorknob and pulls the door open. "Got that down."
Jumping off the floor, Gus bounces on the trampoline and lands on another floor of the masnion, where he sees a door flashing between pink and cyan. "This door looks fancy."
"Indeed. When opened, flashing doors will emit a wave will sweep away any cats it catches and award you points for each of them."
Gus decides to test the flashing door. He opens it and a red, green and blue WiFi symbol-like wave flies out, past him and down the corridor. "I see."
After a bit more explaining, Gus, now standing at the bottom-right corner of the mansion, feels he is ready. "Call me ready!" he exclaims.
"And ready you are." the Namcoator replies. "The Mappy challenge shall now commence!"
The Mappy intro jingle plays.
NOW ON TO THE STORY
GUS WILDE - READY!
As soon as Gus is released from the 'freeze' at the beginning of the round, he dashes forward to seize a television, before bouncing on the trampoline and ascending to the top floor. Opening the flashing door to sweep away the cats behind him, Gus grabs a radio before bouncing on the rightmost trampoline and seizing a safe on the third floor.
The boy then travels to the ground floor to collect a computer before gathering up the other radio on the second floor. The Meowkies are proving persistent in chasing him, but Gus doesn't let this cloud his mind as he bounces on a trampoline and collects the other television on the third floor.
The next item he collects is a painting on the fourth floor. The boy then leaps down to the ground floor to gather the three remaining items - but first he waits by one of the flashing doors for the cats to draw closer before he opens it and sweeps them all away, earning 600 points. He then dashes in to collect the three remaining items. The other painting is first, followed by the other safe, and then the other computer.
As soon as Gus collects the other computer the cats disappear, and after a few seconds the round clear jingle plays. "Alright, First round done!" Gus cheers to himself.
"Indeed." The Namcoator replies. "I shall now transport you to the second mansion."
Jackie is watching Gus complete one of the challenging stages. Just before the music ends Gus breaks through the final trampoline and bursts the large blue balloon, releasing Goro and ending the round. His score is tallied up - the red balloons give him 3,000 points, the Goro balloon gives him 2,000 and he also has a perfect bonus of 5,000, making 10,000 points altogether. Then, he spawns in the next mansion, and starts to complete it.
"How is it that these games are so creative?" Jackie wonders.
"I suppose it was to try and gain an advantage over other gaming companies of the time such as Atari and Taito." the Namcoator explains. "You wouldn't wanna be stuck shooting aliens 24/7, right? Get some other games out there for diversity, if you know what I mean."
"Understandable." Jackie confers. "Why was the mouse called Mappy, anyway?"
"It's from mappo, a slightly insulting Japanese slang term for a policeman.
"Okay then." Jackie states. "But why an insulting term?"
The Namcoator shrugs. "Don't know."
"Oh." Jackie then turns back to the monitor to cheer Gus on.
Fifteen rounds have come and gone. Gus opens a flashing door to sweep away the cats hot on his tail and then collects a painting, the final object of this round. The cats freeze and disappear, and the round clear jingle plays.
"That's it! Fifteen rounds done!" Gus declares.
"Well done player!" the Namcoaotr replies. "You have completed the Mappy challenge! You know the drill - allow me to recall you so you may receive your trophy!"
Gus dematerialises, leaving the mansion empty.
Jackie's boyfriend rematerialises inside the monitor room, where the Namcoator already has the Mappy trophy prepared, showing Mappy himself. Gus takes it and admires it for a few seconds, before placing it on the trophy shelf along with the others.
"That got surprisingly hectic." Gus comments.
"Yeah." Jackie agrees.
The Namcoator nods. "Indeed. Are you ready for the next challenge?"