Rompers (Japan, old version) - MAME machine

Arcade Video game published 35 years ago:

Rompers © 1989 Namco.

The player must take up control of Chap a gardener wearing a straw hat, who must collect all the keys in sixty-one maze-inspired gardens in order to rescue his girlfriend, Rumina. He can push the walls in the gardens over to crush the various enemies that pursue him, but they are immediately be resurrected in the form of eggs which hatch after a few seconds. Each round also has a preset time limit to ensure that the player does not dawdle - and once it runs out, a green-haired female vampire known as Tsukaima who cannot be crushed by the walls appears. The game's enemies include white blobs known as Pyokorin, flame-breathing pink Triceratops-esque creatures known as Kerara, armadillos known as Gororin which can roll over Chap, purple seals known as Todorin which can breathe ice, sponges known as Bekabeka, which can push walls onto Chap, turquoise blobs known as Fumajime Pyokorin, which occasionally pause to take a long drag on their cigarettes, helmet-wearing creatures known as Nachibo, which take two crushes to kill, wolves known as Taggus which can throw bombs at Chap, spiders known as Oogumo, which can spin webs for Chap to run into - and this game's main antagonist, an evil scientist named Gurerin who only appears in the final round, where players not only have to collect all the keys, but also push the walls onto his four clones (two of whom can breathe fire, the other two can breathe ice).

A cutscene called "The Rompers Show" also appears after every tenth round, and once Chap has rescued Rumina at the end of the game, they both go back to free Tsukaima (who, ironically, is trapped under a wall, given that she cannot be crushed by them in the game), and wrap her feet up with bandages; Chap then starts to carry Tsukaima off on his back, which angers Rumina as he went through a lot to save her.

TECHNICAL
Namco System 1 hardware
Game ID: RP

Main CPU: Motorola M6809 (@ 1.536 Mhz)
Sub CPU: Motorola M6809 (@ 1.536 Mhz)
Sound CPU: Motorola M6809 (@ 1.536 Mhz)
MCU: HD63701 (@ 1.536 Mhz)
Sound Chips: Yamaha YM2151 (@ 3.57958 Mhz), Namco advanced 8-channel stereo WSG, stereo DAC

Screen orientation: Vertical
Video resolution: 224 x 288 pixels
Screen refresh: 60.61 Hz
Palette Colors: 24-bit RGB palette

Players: 2
Control: 4-way joystick
Buttons: 1

TRIVIA
Rompers was released in February 1989 in Japan.

Victor Entertainment released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Namco Video Game Graffiti Vol.6 - VDR-5301) on October 4, 1989.

STAFF
Team chief: Chacha
Superviser: JJ Page
Producer: S. Norimatsu
Programmer: Yukiniko Yagi
Assistant programmer: MinMin Nakayama
Graphic designers: Takky, Y. Shinozaki, Naoko Hanazawa, M. Kimura, J. Anzai
Title designers: A. Usukura, S. Takigami
Character designer: C. Taga
Original sound creators: Yoshie Takayanagi, Yuri, Thunder

PORTS

• CONSOLES:

[JP] Sony PlayStation (oct.30, 1997) "Namco Museum Encore [Model SLPS-01050]"
[JP] Sony PlayStation (oct.30, 1997) "Namco Museum Encore [Shokai Gentei Special Box] [Model SLPS-00765]"
[JP] Sony PlayStation (oct.28, 1999) "Namco Museum Encore [PlayStation the Best] [Model SLPS-91163]"
[JP] Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console Arcade] (dec.1, 2009)

• OTHERS:

[US] Arcade (2018) "Pac-Man's Pixel Bash"

CONTRIBUTE
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