We here at MKAU Gaming are passionate about gaming, and let’s be honest, if you’re here reading this review, you’re a lover of video games too. Regardless of how old you are or what generation you grew up in, your introduction to video games will always hold a nostalgic place in your heart.

Specifically, if you’re an 80’s child, you will know the joy of arcade games., making your way to the local arcade to play classics like “Pac-Man”, “Frogger”, “Tron”, “Galaga”, “Dragon’s Lair”, “Gauntlet”, “Double Dragon” and many more. These coin-guzzling machines stole many hours and many allowances as a “Paper Boy,” inevitably fostering a passion in all of us so strong that not even the mighty “Donkey Kong” could break.

Developer Hiulit and publisher Flynn’s Arcade have brought us “Murtop,” an arcade game that would not feel out of place with the aforementioned games.

“Murtop” has you playing as Murti, a white bomb-pooping rabbit tasked with saving the world by stopping the moles. That’s right, you read correctly. bomb-pooping. I shit you not, but if you’re willing to play a game about a “Centipede” that turns into mushrooms when you shoot it, this is to be expected.

The objective is simple, earn points by digging underground to collect carrots and kill the moles all within the time limit. To complete the level and move on to the next stage, all the moles have to be killed, and the faster you complete the level, the more points you will earn. The carrots add an extra way to earn points but are not required to complete the stage, and points will not only allow you to enter your name on the leaderboards at the end of your run, but they give you more lives to continue playing longer.

When your run ends, you will have the option to continue from the level you reached with your score reset to zero. Continuing is also classically set up in the 80s style, requiring credits, which adds to the coin-guzzling motif of arcade games.

With 256 levels to play, the game, unfortunately, outstays its welcome. You will play five levels and then play a bonus level, and they slowly build in difficulty before starting the bonus stage. Once the bonus stage is complete, the difficulty will revert back to an easier difficulty and build up again. The two-dimensional field of play is easy to navigate as you can move in any direction., but the bonus stage has you set in a platform mode of moving left and right. Controlling Murti is simple with the Joy-Con or Directional Pad, and there’s only one button command to poop a bomb, so the controls are very basic and very easy to learn.

Graphically, “Murtop” is perfect for an arcade game of its time. The 16-bit colour pixel art is bright and poppy, which is something that all arcade games needed to attract players in the 80s. With so many competitive games around, you had to look exciting, and “Murtop” delivers a “Punch Out” with all the nostalgia. With its own attractive mode of previewing the gameplay, it also comes with nostalgic options you can add, nine different colour mode options, a CRT filter for that authentic old-school look, and two bezel arts to border the game like on the old tabletop machines.

The audio is just as impressive as the graphics with the classic 8-bit chiptune sounds and music. Within a sea of arcade machines, that sound was all important, and the bombastic sound base has to ring loud and clear to get your attention. Once you’re paying attention and playing the game, all the sights and sounds meld perfectly together. This amalgamation instils recognition amongst all the other machines in the arcade so that you can find the one you’re looking for. “Murtop” nails all these important components so it can easily “Dig Dug” its way into your heart.

If you’re looking for a classic 80s arcade game that you haven’t tried yet, then “Murtop” is for you. Though it lacks replayability, it will always be a great trip down memory lane and a nostalgic hit if you ever looking for one.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove