Toypop

Toypop (トイポップ, *Toipoppu*, in Japan) is a 1986 multi-directional shooter game, developed and distributed by Namco in arcades. Players control Pino and Acha, two dolls who try to save their friends from the witch Majyo. The game was known for allowing two player simultaneous co-op, with both Pino and Acha having different playing styles. The game was released in limited quantities and is only known to have been released in Japan, making it very rare. The game may have received a release in Europe, but that is currently unconfirmed. The game would later be ported to the Sharp X1, Sharp X68000, Windows, Wii Virtual Console, and the PlayStation as apart of Namco Museum Volume 1. Namco Museum Volume 1 was the only instance of Toypop ever being released in the United States.

## 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. On the 44th floor, the players battle the evil witch Majyo, who can only be defeated by finding all eight gold hearts scattered around the room.

## Development

*Toy Pop* was developed by Namco and produced by Takefumi Hyodoh. He had previously directed *Battle City* (1985), a well-received sequel to *Tank Battalion* (1980). This led him being transferred to a higher-ranking development department within the company and assigned to produce a new arcade game. 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* (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-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* (1983). A conversion for the Sharp X1 was produced by Dempa Shinbunsha in 1989. *Toy Pop* did not garner much attention until 1995, when it was ported to the PlayStation through the compilation *Namco Museum Vol. 1*, alongside six other Namco arcade games from the early 1980s. The PlayStation version uses the original source code running through a JAMMA emulator, making it a near-perfect conversion. *Toy Pop* is also included in *Namco History Vol. 1* (1997), a similar compilation released for Windows in Japan. In 2009, the game was digitally re-released for the Wii Virtual Console in Japan. In 2022, the game was digitally re-released for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch internationally.

## Gallery

Instructions CardInstruction Leaflet2nd Sheet of Instruction CardTitle Screen