Munch Mobile, known as Joyful Road in Japan, was an obscure arcade cabinet that debuted in 1983. Even today, very few working cabinets are known to exist among collectors. During that time, overhead racing games like Spy Hunter and Rally X were popular for capturing the excitement of high-speed chases. When it came time for SNK to join the fray, they released Munch Mobile with a shrug, unsure if their quirky, cartoonish car game would resonate with players. Most gamers are unaware of this title’s existence, but now it’s time to see if it was worth the wait for Hamster to bring it back. So buckle up, buckaroos, and get ready to chow down on some live fish, because this is Munch Mobile!
Like most arcade games from the 80s, Munch Mobile doesn’t have a narrative. The player controls an anthropomorphic car with extendable arms that is on an endless road trip. The car is perpetually hungry and low on fuel. The main gameplay involves navigating a scrolling highway, collecting food items and fuel cans scattered along the roadside. Simply jamming food into the car’s food pipe isn’t enough; players must also be environmentally conscious and dispose of all litter in garbage cans along the way.
The controls are straightforward but require a careful balancing act: players must maintain their fuel, avoid obstacles, collect food, and hit trash bins for extra points. This risk-reward loop kept players inserting quarters to chase high scores, especially as the game’s difficulty escalates endlessly. The Arcade Archives 2 edition allows movement to be controlled using the d-pad or analogue stick, which works reasonably well. Extending the arms is mapped to the face buttons, which also functions adequately. There isn’t much else to Munch Mobile; it is about as complex as a browser game made in Flash during the early 2000s, but it features 80s-era sprites.
Munch Mobile‘s main issue is its tedium. The primary gameplay loop quickly loses its appeal. The never-ending road and a constantly racing car devouring quarter-pounders become monotonous within minutes. The absence of music, the lack of varied graphics, and the dull sound of the car sputtering along create an experience reminiscent of arcade purgatory. Munch Mobile isn’t visually appealing, and it certainly wasn’t back in 1983. Just a year earlier, Pole Position was captivating arcade patrons with its pseudo-3D graphics and racing wheel cabinet. In comparison, Munch Mobile felt outdated, resembling video games from the 1970s.
The best aspects of Munch Mobile are that it is indeed a video game and won’t cause the console to malfunction. Despite its tedious and dull gameplay, it’s functional and performs as well as it possibly can. The emulation is faithful, like all of Hamster’s works, and includes standard features and modes such as Time Attack and Caravan. The aspect ratio is preserved in its original vertical format. However, Munch Mobile is an extremely difficult game and not rewarding at all. The action lacks rhythm or tempo, and putting items in the garbage feels unsatisfying since grabbing food is already challenging enough.
