Arcade Video game published 37 years ago:

Rompers (c) 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).

Player layout in our catalog: 2P alt.

If you are exploring by feel rather than by title, jump from the tags above into the matching genre rooms, or return to the Arcade hall for the full wall.

Open Play on this page to start Rompers (Japan, new version (Rev B)). Keyboard, USB/Bluetooth pads, and the on-screen touch gamepad all work inside the emulator bar. Save states and fullscreen live on that same bar so you can pause mid-session and resume later.

Rompers (Japan, new version (Rev B)) is filed in our catalog as a 1989 release.

Player layout on this cabinet: 2P alt.

Genre tags on Classic Arcade Games: Maze.

Credit line lists Namco as developer.