Wiping/Gameplay

Controls

 * Joystick: Use the 4-way joystick to direct Cleaner around the room; he moves faster around it when he is not cleaning the floor tiles than when he is.
 * Bubble Button: Use this button to make Cleaner blow bubbles at the germs to temporarily stun them; once he has done it, he can suck the germ up.
 * 1 or 2 Player Buttons: Push these buttons to begin a 1 or 2 player game.

Cleaner
The protagonist of the game; he starts each room on the ninth tile of its bottom row, and will receive 10 points for every tile of the floor he cleans. As he is cleaning the tiles, any germs who are also in the room shall chase him round it - but he possesses the ability to kill them by either blowing soap bubbles at them to stun them and sucking them up, or by moving onto a rug, waiting for them to follow him onto it and moving off its other end (once he has done so, it shall roll up squashing any germs on it for an increased point value, and roll across the entire horizontal or vertical length of the room before rolling back to its original position and unrolling again). If Cleaner manages to collect all four of the hidden bonus items on a stage (their positions are shown briefly at the start of each one) without being killed, he will turn magenta and all remaining germs will immediately become stunned; he can then suck them up for twice their usual point value (his speed will be increased for its duration as well).

''Note: In the rereleased version ("Rug Rats"), there are only three bonus items on each stage and their positions remain visible for the entire duration of them; once Cleaner has collected all three, a crown will appear in the room's centre which he must collect to turn magenta and immediately stun all the remaining germs. However, if he gets attacked by a germ or squashed by an unrolling rug after the crown has appeared, it will disappear for that stage.''

Germs
There are three types of germs in this game: Baddons (pink, 400 points), Bilbolas (green, 500 points), and Bigimbas (blue, 600 points); Baddons and Bilbolas only possess the ability to kill Cleaner by touching him, but Bigimbas can also extend their spears towards him when they turn red. When there is only one germ remaining on a stage, it will start flashing red and yellow as it heads for the nearest rug - and if Cleaner manages to stun it and suck it up before it does so, it'll be worth 3000 points instead of its usual value (but if he does not, nothing happens, and the game just goes to the next stage).

Rugs
In every stage, there are three rugs (sometimes only one of them is horizontally-oriented while the other ones are vertically-oriented, and other times it is the other way around); when Cleaner moves onto one from either side and moves off its other one, it will roll up squashing any germs on it, and roll across the entire horizontal or vertical length of the room before rolling back to its original position and unrolling again. Squashing one germ with a rug is worth 1500 points, while killing two, three or four is worth 3000, 6000 and 10000 points respectively - but as mentioned above, if Cleaner is squashed by a rug when it unrolls it will cost him a life.