Motos is an Arcade Game developed by Namco and released in 1985. The game's original arcade version was only released in Japan, but various ports have since been released worldwide. The game runs on the Namco Super Pac-Man hardware system.
In the game, you take control of a vehicle called the Motorspanner and are tasked with protecting your base by removing all of the space bugs that have attached themselves to it. You accomplish this by ramming into the bugs in order to push them off the edge and send them falling into space. You must be careful, as you are just as vulnerable to falling off the base. Throughout the game, you can collect two different kinds of parts that you will be allowed to cash in at the beginning of subsequent stages to temporarily improve the Motorspanner's abilities. The Power parts increase your power, allowing you to push enemies back further, while the Jump parts grant the Motorspanner the ability to jump, useful for overcoming enemies or holes.
A remake titled Motos Arrangement was released in 2006 as part of Namco Museum Vol. 2 for the PlayStation Portable. The Wii title Namco Museum Remix featured another remake featuring Namco's Pac-Man as the player character, titled Pac-Motos. Both Pac-Motos and the original Motos are playable in Remix's Updated Re-release, Namco Museum Megamix. Pac-Motos would also make a return as an unlockable title in 2022's Pac-Man Museum +.
Motos contains the following tropes:
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: The main enemies are space bugs that have attached themselves to your base. Early on, many just resemble colored orbs, but as you progress, more that resemble actual insects begin to show up.
- Elite Mooks: Certain stages have one more powerful enemy that has several weaker enemies that surround it in a specific formation. The lesser mooks will always try to return to their leader as long as they are active, but eliminating the leader will cause them to return to their more randomized movement patterns.
- Every 10,000 Points: You gain an extra life at 10,000, 30,000, and 50,000 points, after which you gain a new life after every subsequent 50,000 points.
- Kaizo Trap: Even after the final enemy has fallen off the stage, you can still lose a life before moving on to the next stage if you fall off as well. A Mutual Kill between you and the final enemy will result in you losing a life before moving on, as will simply driving off the stage during the victory jingle.
- Mook Maker: Certain stages have large machines that dispense a number of regular bugs. The number of bugs inside them is not infinite, so keep pushing them off until they're all gone.
- Ring Out: The main objective of the game is to defeat all the enemies by bumping into them to push them off the stage, all the while avoiding being pushed off yourself.
- Temporary Platform: By technicality, every platform in the game is only temporary, as after enough time passes, shooting stars will begin to rain down and break them one by one. Beyond that, though, jumpin will cause cracks to appear in whatever tile you land on, potentially breaking it apart if you land on it too many times.
- Timed Mission: While there is no definitive on-screen timer, taking too long to clear a single stage will cause shooting stars to start raining down onto the field, gradually destroying the panels making up the stage and giving you less room to move around.
- Wrap Around: Jumping off one side of the screen will result in the Motorspanner appearing on the opposite side. Make sure there's somewhere you can land over there before you try it.
- A Winner Is You: Upon clearing the final stage, the game gives you a message that reads "Congratulations , Great Game Fanatics !" before showing credits followed by the game over screen.
