Toy Story

This week’s Arcade Archives entry is coming to tug each your heartstrings and your marionette strings — Pulled out from Hamster Corporation’s large bag of Namco classics, it’s cartoonish obscurity Toy Pop, now accessible to obtain on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Released to Japanese arcades in 1986, earlier than later making its solution to the Sharp X1 residence laptop, Toy Pop is a top-down, multi-directional shooter set inside a colourful toy-based kingdom. Our heroes, Pino and Acha, are two dolls who should rescue their buddies from the spell of the depraved witch, Mayjo. The two puppets climb the 44 flooring of Mayjo’s fortress, liberating their buddies and gathering meals, treasures, and hearts in jovial, single-screen motion.

Various particular talents could be discovered hidden inside reward packing containers, and each few phases gamers are handled to an apple-catching bonus spherical to assist increase that all-important rating. Save your folks, defeat Mayjo, accumulate the apples, and restore order to toybox city. It ain’t Lies of P, that’s for rattling certain.

Check out the eye-watering, lovable motion within the video beneath, courtesy of YouTuber Were1974.

Toy Pop was one thing of a rarity, not often seen outdoors of its native Japan, it was additionally one of many few mid-’80s arcades to not discover its means onto the Nintendo Famicom platform. It is, undeniably a really charming and irrepressibly cute title, with fantastic little heroes, enjoyable enemies, and spritely visuals, designed by the dearly departed “Mr. Dotman” Hiroshi Ono. All of this motion is backed with a enjoyable ragtime rating composed by arcade veteran Junko Ozawa. It’s a really pleasant little package deal.

It’s fairly unhappy, on reflection, that the Toy Pop model didn’t evolve, as Pino and Acha seem to be loveable characters who may have turned their picket arms to a wide range of totally different arcade genres. If you’d like to take a look at their enjoyable little odyssey, then Toy Pop is on the market to obtain now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at round $8.

Chris Moyse

Senior Editor – Chris has been enjoying video video games because the Nineteen Eighties. Former Saturday Night Slam Master. Graduated from Galaxy High with honors. Twitter: @ChrisxMoyse