I’m a fan of the original Mappy, and it’s the first game I test whenever I set MAME up on yet another device, but I’d never heard of Mappy Kids.
I was expecting it to be similar to the original, but actually it’s totally different. Instead of being some hybrid of Bonanza Bros and Burger Time, it’s a side scrolling platformer where you have to collect money and valuable items. At the end of each level you play a minigame against a cat – some flag game, a spot the difference game, and a bum-bumping bizarre fight thing – and win, or lose, more money or get extra lives. With this money, you buy items for your house and garden, and presumably to get the good ending (which I did) you have to buy everything.
The platforming itself isn’t anything special, but it’s fine. The bum-bumping game is nearly impossible, and collecting all the money needed to buy everything is very easy and I had loads left over by the end of the game. All that said though, I did enjoy playing it: simple but quirky.
