Rolypolys no Nanakorobi Yaoki

Rolypolys' Seven-Downs Eight-Ups
Original name	ローリーポーリーズの七転び八起き
Release date	14 March 1997
Format	Game
Lost?	No

Rolypolys no Nanakorobi Yaoki (ローリーポーリーズの七転び八起き, Roriiporiizu no Nanakorobi Yaoki lit. Rolypolys' Seven-Downs Eight-Ups) is an educational point-and-click game developed by OutSide Directors Company and published by Shinko Music Entertainment. It was released as a hybrid CD-ROM for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows.

Opening

The game opens with a cutscene that follows Pon, the scatterbrained canine protagonist of the game, as he faces a series of inconveniences. Pon constructs a seesaw-like contraption in an effort to reach a piece of meat dangling from a tree. Cho, the mischievous fox, uses the contraption to launch Pon into the sky. Banaten, the computer genius monkey, is flying a hot air balloon, which Pon grabs onto. Banaten cuts the balloon's basket from the balloon and flies off in a jetpack, leaving Pon in the air. Las Vegas Akiko, the dancing queen peacock, flies onto the balloon and pecks a hole in it, causing Pon to fall.

Cho places a trash can underneath Pon, causing him to fall into it. Jumping Jack Bu, the karate champion pig, takes the trash can and dumps its contents into the furnace for his hot tub, unknowingly setting Pon on fire. Pon escapes the furnace and jumps into a river, which takes him away. George, the slothful ferret, makes a great effort to catch up with Pon and throw him a life preserver. However, Cho steals the life preserver with a fishing rod.

Pon eventually makes it shore, where he collapses onto the ground. He is met by the Del Montas, a trio of bagworm brothers, who are dangling from a tree. The Del Montas are cut down by Mr. Okhotsk, the famous chef crab. The Del Montas bounce on Pon's stomach, causing him to spit out a lobster, which Mr. Okhotsk takes and cooks.

After the opening cutscene, the player is taken to the main menu. All of the letters of the alphabet appear and come together to form the phrase "THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG" and the game's characters appear.

Gameplay

The gameplay revolves around learning a phrase for each letter of the alphabet. On the main menu, any of the letters of the phrase "THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG" can be interacted with to start a segment that teaches a phrase containing a word that starts with that letter. Additionally, each character on the main menu can be interacted with, leading to a room themed around the corresponding character.

Phrases

There are 27 phrases that the game teaches. There is one for each letter of the alphabet, except for W, which has two.

• A - "If you throw enough mud against a wall, some of it will stick."
• B - "A bolt from the blue."
• C - "To be caught between a rock and a hard place."
• D - "Little drops of water make the mighty ocean."
• E - "The eyes have one language everywhere."
• F - "Out of the frying pan and into the fire."
• G - "Easy come, easy go."
• H - "That which comes from the heart will go to the heart."
• I - "Necessity is the mother of invention."
• J - "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
• K - "The pot calls the kettle black."
• L - "A little body often harbors a great soul."
• M - "Practice makes perfect."
• N - "Nobody's perfect."
• O - "Every cook commends his own sauce."
• P - "Pudding before praise."
• Q - "In a quarrel both parties are to blame."
• R - "To see it rain is better than to be in it."
• S - "Let sleeping dogs lie."
• T - "Time flies."
• U - "It's no use crying over spilt milk."
• V - "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
• W - "He who pursues two hares catches nothing." / "Kill two birds with one stone."
• X - "X the Unknown."
• Y - "Look before you leap."
• Z - "The revenge of Z."

Development

The game was submitted to Macromedia's People's Choice Awards competition in 1996, and was selected as a finalist in the 'Kidsware' category. It appeared at the Macromedia User Conference in San Francisco that September, with Sato and representatives from Shinko Music in attendance. It was planned to release in Japan in November, but for unknown reasons, the date was pushed back. Additionally, North American and European releases were considered, under the name "The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog," but these ultimately never materialized.

Former Lost Media Status

For a long time, Rolypolys was not available to the general public. Several gameplay clips emerged over the years, but the game as a whole held its lost media status until July 2019 when an online store listing was discovered and posted on Reddit by community member VisualMenace. It was quickly snatched up by another member, Gohald, who later posted scans and a disc image with the assistance of DeeDyne on July 22nd.

External Links

• Complete asset rip of the game
• Disc image and scans on Internet Archive
• OST on Youtube
• April 1997 MacUser Japan coverdisc, which contains a demo of the game.