Mappy by My Arcade Mini Arcade Toy Review
Having picked up one of these, My Arcade Mappy units at my local Walmart for $19.99, and having just reviewed the Atari 2600 Mappy homebrew, I thought I would do a quick review of this device.
First off about the price. I don’t know if it was an error but most of the time when I see these devices they are sold for $34.99. I think about $15-$20 is about the right price point. I really like how well it emulates an actual stand up arcade machine. The artwork on the front, sides, and bezel of the device is terrific.
On the front of the device, there is a reset button which will reset the game at any point and return to the menus. There is a start button that will start up a game, and finally, there is a door open and close button which will open or close a door on any platform in which Mappy is facing.
I appreciate how the door button is significantly larger than the reset and start buttons. You control Mappy with the joystick on the left side of the device. The joystick “bat” can be unscrewed allowing you to control Mappy with a d-pad. On the top backside of the device are volume up and down buttons with a 3.5 mm. headphone jack sandwiched in between. The bottom of the device has a battery compartment requiring 4 double-A batteries. Alternately you can power the unit with a 5v micro USB hook up (not included).
I am going to show the gameplay to conclude this video in a few seconds here, but I wanted to give my overall thoughts on the game. This is the NES on a chip version of Mappy and if you are a fan of that version of Mappy, then will love it. Having recently spent a lot of time with the new Atari 2600 homebrew Mappy, this version for me pales in comparison. There is no obvious difficulty setting. A lot of the attention to detail is missing, such as the game over animations, there no point in entering your initials as the high scores are not saved. Amazingly the sound effects in my opinion are also better on the Atari 2600 homebrew. The screen size is small, which could pose a problem for the older generation.
Having said all that, there are a lot of things this device got right such as the overall design of the box, the high score is displayed on the screen at all times along with your current score. The graphics are surprisingly detailed for being displayed on such a small screen, which measures 3 inches diagonally. You can pause gameplay by pressing the start button at any time. It feels a little bit heavy and seems sturdy, indicating a nice build quality. I love the LEDs which display behind the on/off power button in the front, under the cabinet, which intentionally resembles the arcade coin door. It is challenging to play, although I did nearly double the default high score. Overall this is a nice solid release and I am looking forward to checking out the other “My Arcade” minis.
Youtube Description:
Today is all about Mappy!! This is my review of the My Arcade Mini arcade toy version of Mappy.
Vendor link:
https://www.myarcadegaming.com/collections/mini-arcades
Youtube Original Post Date: 12/24/2018
