is a

multidirectional shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of charact ...

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

that was released by

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

in 1986. The game was later rereleased as part of ''

Namco Museum Vol. 1 is a 1995 arcade video game compilation developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation. The collection includes seven arcade games developed by the company that were originally released in the 1980s, such as '' Pac-Man'', ''Galaga'' and ' ...

'' for the original

Sony PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divi ...

in 1995.

Gameplay

''Toy Pop'' is a top-down multi-directional shooter that can be played both single-player or with two players simultaneously. The players venture through 44 floors (the game uses the toy-themed term "Box" as opposed to "Floor", to fit with the game's setting) collecting four gold hearts contained in jars on each floor in order to advance. Along the way, the players must open gift-wrapped containers concealing either weapons or score-increasing bonus items; these various weapons are used to defeat several different varieties of enemies (Heitai, Cars, Tanks, Domdoms, Trumps, Osaru, Robots and occasionally the evil wizard Mahou), with many typically vulnerable to only one type of weapon.

Development

''Toy Pop'' was developed by

and produced by Takefumi Hyodoh. He had previously directed ''

Battle City is a multi-directional shooter video game for the Family Computer produced and published in 1985 by Namco. It is a successor to Namco's 1980 '' Tank Battalion'', and would be succeeded itself by the 1991 ''Tank Force''. An arcade version for the ...

'' (1985), a well-received sequel to ''

Tank Battalion is a multi-directional shooter arcade video game that was released by Namco in 1980. The only direct home conversion is for the MSX, and in 1985 a similar game release is ''Battle City'' for the Family Computer. ''Tank Battalion'' received a ...

'' (1980). This led him being transferred to a higher-ranking development department within the company and assigned to produce a new

. Hyodoh, who hadn't taken the position of a planner before, struggled to adapt and worked slower than usual. Nonetheless, he created a prototype named ''Space Alamo'' where players fought enemy aliens in an open-world, science fiction-inspired setting, similar to Namco's previous game ''

Warp & Warp is a multidirectional shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco in 1981. It was released by Rock-Ola in North America as ''Warp Warp''. The game was ported to the Sord M5 and MSX. A sequel, ''Warpman'', was released in 1985 fo ...

'' (1981). Hyodoh's colleague, Yoshiro Kishimoto, suggested making it a fantasy game with characters and visuals that appealed to young girls. He took his suggestion and turned the game into one based around fairy tales and Christmas, making its characters toys and renaming it ''Toy Pop''. The characters and artwork were created by Hiroshi Fuji, the artist and character designer for '' Valkyrie no Bōken'', while the in-game sprites were drawn by Hiroshi "Mr. Dotman" Ono. Its

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

-inspired soundtrack was composed by Junko Ozawa. ''Toy Pop'' was released to arcades in Japan in April 1986, using the same hardware as ''

Libble Rabble is a 1983 puzzle arcade game developed and published in Japan by Namco. The player is tasked with using two colored arrows, Libble and Rabble, to wrap them around pegs and surround small creatures known as Mushlins to "harvest" them under a time ...

'' (1983). A conversion for the

Sharp X1 The , sometimes called the Sharp X1 or CZ-800C, is a series of home computers released by Sharp Corporation from 1982 to 1988. It is based on a Zilog Z80 CPU. The RGB display monitor for the X1 had a television tuner, and a computer screen c ...

was produced by Dempa Shinbunsha in 1989. ''Toy Pop'' did not garner much attention until 1995, when it was ported to the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

through the compilation ''

'', alongside six other Namco arcade games from the early 1980s. The PlayStation version uses the original

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...

running through a

JAMMA The (formerly the , abbreviated JAMMA) is a Japanese trade association headquartered in Tokyo. JAMMA is run by representatives from various arcade video game manufacturers, including Bandai Namco, Sega, Taito, Koei Tecmo, Capcom, and Konami a ...

emulator, making it a near-perfect conversion. ''Toy Pop'' is also included in ''Namco History Vol. 1'' (1997), a similar compilation released for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

in Japan. In 2009, the game was digitally re-released for the

Wii Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Unix ...

in Japan. In 2022, the game was digitally re-released for the PlayStation 4 and

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

internationally.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Toy Pop'' as being the country's twentieth most popular arcade game of May 1986.

Legacy

A theme based on ''Toy Pop'' is featured in ''

Pac-Man 99 is a maze video game with battle royale elements developed by Arika and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for the Nintendo Switch. It was released through the Nintendo Switch Online service on April 7, 2021. Part of its ''Pac-Man'' franc ...

'', as special DLC.

Notes

References

External links

*{{KLOV game, id=10179 1986 video games Arcade video games Namco games Namco arcade games Shoot 'em ups Sentient toys in fiction Video games about toys Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists Virtual Console games Video games about witchcraft