- "Supreme Pizza Delivered! Still Hot!"
Pizza Pop! Is a Platform Game released for the NES in 1992 developed by Arc System Works and published by Jaleco.
You play as a nameless delivery boy who wants to buy a new diamond ring gift for his girlfriend Betty. But he's broke, so he embarks on a quest to deliver as many pizzas as he can to raise enough money to get it. The goal of the game is to guide the player to the end of each stage and deliver the pizza to customers and score big tips.
So naturally, everything is trying to stop you. The hero also has a delivery boy rival named Nick who also constantly tries to interfere with him. Forget the diamond ring, can this delivery boy even make it out of his job alive?
Our hero runs and platforms through seven distinct and unique stages in his mission to deliver the pizzas, that will take him to different and crazy locales, like a Construction site, a beach, and even a Haunted House. The Delivery boy can defend himself with the good ol' jumping stomp, or whack enemies with his pizza pan.
Despite the fact that this game was only released in Japan, Pizza Pop! has a distinct cartoon-y look, reminiscent of American newspaper comics. An English fan translation
for the game was released in 2019.
This Game contains examples of:
- Animesque: Inverted. The game boasts a distinct newspaper comic/cartoon style ala Archie. The entire game takes place in an American-like metropolis. Dollar signs and English writing are used on signage, and the game's soundtrack is full of swinging jazz.
- Big Boo's Haunt: Stage 5 has our hero delivering a pizza to a spooky house for a Witch. Floating Pumpkin Ghosts block his progress.
- Collision Damage: Collision with enemies hurts.
- Construction Zone Calamity: Stage 3 has our hero delivering a pizza to a dangerous construction site. In Stage 4, he has to climb to the top of an unfinished building in the middle of construction, where he fights a Construction worker as a boss.
- Courier: The main character is a pizza delivery boy.
- Crate Expectations: Stage 3 and 4 has lots of classic wooden crates.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: As is typical of a game from its era. Delivery boy is attacked by stray animals, construction workers, fish and ghosts.
- Excuse Plot: Our hero takes a job delivering pizzas to buy a diamond ring for his girlfriend.
- Expy: The main characters are near-blatant expies of Archie Comics Characters. The hero bears more than a passing resemblance to Archie Andrews, Nick mirrors Reggie Mantle, and Betty appears to be amalgamation of both Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge. She even shares the same name as the former.
- Goomba Springboard: Enemies can be jumped on for extra jump boost.
- Inconveniently-Placed Conveyor Belt: Blue conveyor belts appear in stage 3. Unusually, some conveyor belts are oriented diagonally.
- Metropolis Level: The entire game takes place in a major urban metropolis, so it's theme usually mixed with something else.
- No Name Given: While Nick and Betty are given names, out hero doesn't have a name.
- Palmtree Panic: The sixth stage has our hero racing Nick on a motorski, which takes him to the beach.
- Racing Minigame: Stage 3 opens with the player riding a motor scooter, dodging obstacles as well as Nick, who rides along and tries to crash into him.
- The Rival: Nick. A fellow delivery boy who wants to win Betty's heart as well, so he shows up in every stage trying to trip you up.
- Roaring Rapids: Stage 6 has our hero riding a jetski to a beach. As in Stage 3, Nick rides along on his own jetski throwing objects at him.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Our hero's mission is complete, so he takes Betty to the Jewelry store, but the Diamond ring he wanted is already sold. He's naturally disappointed, but Nick hands him some flowers to give to Betty instead.
- Timed Mission: You have a time to limit to complete a stage. Makes sense, considering you're delivering a pizza. The customers wouldn't appreciate cold pizza.
- Weaponized Offspring: The dog boss uses puppies to attack the player.
