Munch Mobile

Munch Mobile, also known in Japan as Joyful Road, is a top-down driving game developed by SNK and released in arcades in 1983.^[1] It was licensed to Centuri for the US release. The player controls an anthropomorphic car that uses extending arms to grab items from alongside the road. In 1984, Texas Instruments published a port for its TI-99/4A home computer.^[2]

Munch Mobile
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)	SNK
Publisher(s)	SNK (Japan) Centuri (US) Texas Instruments (TI-99/4A)
Platform(s)	Arcade, TI-99/4A
Release	1983: Arcade 1984: TI-99/4A
Genre(s)	Racing

Gameplay

The game is viewed from a top-down perspective and automatically scrolls forward. The goal is to reach a house at the end of the road and park in the attached garage; the otherwise unseen driver of the car reunites with the occupant of the house.^[2]

The player drives a car with a large hand attached that is used to collect objects to the left and right of the road.^[3] The left 8-way stick steers the car and the right two-way stick controls the hands.^[4] Fruits, fish, and bags of money give points and gas containers provide more fuel. Extra points are awarded for disposing of the inedible remains of food into trash cans.^[3] Trees and other obstacles injure the hand, making it temporarily unusable. Lives are lost if the player runs out of fuel or collides with the side of the road or other cars.^[3]