Mappy-Land

Mappy-Land
Developer: TOSE Publishers: Namco (JP), Taxan (US), Bandai Namco (EU/AU) Platform: NES Released in JP: November 26, 1986 Released in US: April 26, 1989 Released in EU: February 12, 2015 (Wii U Virtual Console) Released in AU: February 12, 2015 (Wii U Virtual Console) This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences. This game has a Data Crystal page

Mappy loses his police uniform and becomes a father in his first ever home console-exclusive game...even if it's only one of two console-exclusives...

CRC Test

There are a series of Namco games, made by the same programmers Haruhisa Udagawa and Kumi Hanaoka, that contains the same self-test for the data integrity (Babel no Tou, Dragon Buster, Family Jockey, Lupin Sansei: Pandora no Isan, Pro Yakyuu: Family Stadium, Sanma no Meitantei, Sky Kid, Super Xevious: Gump no Nazo, Valkyrie no Bouken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu). Only the Japanese version of this game contains such tests.

To enable any of these tests, you need a special device that should be plugged into the expansion port. The operation of that device is very simple. It should accept the data bit from the data input port and return it back inverted to the output data port. The device consists of a 4-bit shift register, working as some sort of FIFO buffer. The input bits go to the input and are then shifted to the output after four cycles.

At the game's boot, it tries to send some special data to the device. If the data output doesn't match the data input inverted, then the game continues the normal operation. But if all data (usually 32, rarely 64 bytes) matches, self-tests will be performed. The program calculates 24-bit partial checksums for the PRG (excluding the last 8K) and the CHR data, summing only every 15th byte, and comparing it against the etalon.

Before testing of the PRG data, the background color turns red, before testing the CHR data, it turns green. If any of these tests are failed, the program will jump directly to the reset routine. It means, one of these tests will be performed infinitely, but until the special device is unplugged, or until the tests are passed.

Normally, you'll see the red to green flash just before the game's boot. Or the static red screen if the PRG data is bad, or the flashing red to green screen if CHR data isn't good.

Using this Game Genie code GAVYNTEI, you can skip tests for the special device presence and jump straight to the integrity tests.

Regional Differences

There are a number of differences between the Japanese and North American releases of Mappy-Land.

Title Screen

Japan	US

The yellow letters on the title screen were changed to green in the US version.

Round Select

At the Japanese version's title screen, press Up, A, Down, B, Left, A, Right, A, Select + Start, the Round Select screen will appear. Press Up / Down to select the desired round, or Start to play. In the US version, the "Round Select" option is available right from the main game menu (though this menu is different than the Japanese original, in both function and design).

Japan	US

Counter

The NES version adds a counter in the top-right corner showing how many presents still need to be collected.

Japan	US

Ending

The humorously translated ending screens of the Famicom version were rewritten in better English for the NES.

Japan	US

Miscellaneous

• When the player reaches the bonus area with Mapico/Mappy Jr. in the NES version, it is played endlessly until it is successfully completed. This is entirely different in the Famicom release, in which the player only gets one attempt at completing it before the game automatically switches to the next world - leaving the family devastated at Mappy's actions.