There are four different mansion layouts and one bonus round layout. You will encounter all four of them through the first 16 rounds, which repeat from round 17 on.
Round
Mansion
Starting Cats
Features
1
First
3 Meowkies + Nyamco
2
First
3 Meowkies + Nyamco
3
Bonus
4
Second
4 Meowkies + Nyamco
5
Second
4 Meowkies + Nyamco
6
Second
4 Meowkies + Nyamco
7
Bonus
8
Third
5 Meowkies + Nyamco
Bells
9
Third
5 Meowkies + Nyamco
Bells
10
Third
5 Meowkies + Nyamco
Bells
11
Bonus
12
Fourth
6 Meowkies + Nyamco
Trap Doors
13
Fourth
6 Meowkies + Nyamco
Trap Doors
14
Fourth
6 Meowkies + Nyamco
Trap Doors
15
Bonus
16
First
7 Meowkies + Nyamco
Beyond round 16, the rounds repeat, although they will always start with 7 Meowkies and Nyamco.
After a set period of time, which decreases each round, a "Hurry!" alarm sounds. At this time, the Meowkies speed up, and two more Meowkies enter the mansion.
Some time after the "Hurry!" alarm sounds, the Gosenzo will enter the stage and chase Mappy.
The position of the loot is constant throughout every mansion.
The multiplier awarded for collecting loot in pair increases with each pair, starting at x2 and ending with x6 if every item is collected as a pair.
Collecting every item in the proper order can yield a maximum score of 8,500 points. That's 100 + 100x2 + 200 + 200x3 + 300 + 300x4 + 400 + 400x5 + 500 + 500x6.
Be greedy in the first couple of rounds but prepare to change strategies after round 4 or 5 because the Meowkies will speed up, making it more difficult to keep them at bay.
Any time Mappy collects loot that Nyamco is hiding behind, Nyamco awards Mappy 1000 points and lets him pass harmlessly, before he starts to move again. Nyamco in this case can be affected by flashing doors however.
The bonus rounds occur in rounds 3, 7, 11, and 15.
During the bonus rounds, you must collect every balloon, including the final large blue Nyamco balloon, before time runs out.
There is no on-screen timer. Instead, time is measured by the passing of the bonus stage music. When the music ends, your time is up.
In order to collect all of the balloons, you must break through all of the mid-level trampolines to collect the balloons underneath. It is usually the fastest method of collecting those balloons.
In the third and fourth bonus stage, one of the balloons must be popped by the Nyamco that bursts out of the large blue Nyamco balloon when you break it. In the third stage, Nyamco will break the balloon at the top of the left column. In the fourth stage, he will break the balloon at that is one column to the right of the left edge.
You are awarded 200 points for every red balloon, and 2000 points for the large blue balloon. You are awarded a 5,000 point bonus for a perfect performance, which ultimately yields 10,000 points.
Unlike the loot, the position of the doors change from one round to the next.
Both flashing doors and non-flashing doors alike can be used as weapons to stun and push the cats out of your way while you move through the mansion.
Doors can be opened from a short distance away, you do not need to be right on top of them.
When the flashing doors are opened, the wave they emit can catch and push cats off of the screen for bonus points. The points awarded are as follows:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
200
400
800
1200
1600
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
When the boss cat Nyamco is caught in the wave, not only does he count towards the number of cats captured, he also doubles the score.
The most number of points you can be awarded is 12,000, which is awarded for catching 10 cats, including Nyamco. Be careful, a glitch occurs in the Arcade version that gives only 1,010 points when 6000x2 points is earned. Be sure that the glitch is fixed in your version.
The cats can open non-flashing doors. However, they can only open doors right in front, and as such, they may stun themselves when opening a door from knob side.
Gosenzo is the only enemy able to open a flashing door.
While Mappy is jumping on a trampoline, he is safe from being captured by the cats.
Mappy can jump on a trampoline three times in a row without touching the ground before the trampoline breaks.
The color will change from green, to blue, to yellow, and to red every time that Mappy jumps on a trampoline. If Mappy jumps on a red trampoline, it will break. Mappy will lose a life unless there is another trampoline beneath him.
The trampoline will change back to green as soon as Mappy touches any ledge. Since there are no ledges in bonus rounds, they will not return to green.
Be careful landing on a ledge when a cat is right on top of you while you are rising or falling. If you move to land on the ledge quickly, the cat may have enough time to react and follow you.
Mappy is not safe in mid-air from the Gosenzo.
When you have to get of the trampoline because it turns red and a Meowky is attached to you jump left; Meowky nearly always jump right.
Jumping left doesn't always apply on Nyamco, he runs his own schema.