According to the Giant Bomb game website "Space Mouse" was created in 1984 as a "type-in" program in the Japanese computer magazine I/O. The following blurb from Giant Bomb regards a modern 2016 re-make of the game in celebration of its 25 Anniversary:
Space Mouse: 35th Anniversary Edition is a deliberately-retro vertical-scrolling sci-fi maze game developed and published digitally by Mindware for the PC on November 8, 2016.
The sixth game in the studio's "Video Game Classics" series, Space Mouse is a remake of the NEC PC-8001 game of the same name, which was originally created by Takanari Suzuki as a "type-in game" for the September 1981 (Vol. 6, No. 9) issue of the Japanese microcomputer magazine I/O.
In the game, players must guide Alice up each floor of a tall building to its roof while avoiding being caught by space vermin. She is under a time limit (with a limited air supply), but can make use of power-ups to smash through walls and ceilings.
This version features numerous enhancements from the original, including smoother gameplay, additional levels, a key/door system, chiptune audio, and redrawn 8-bit pixel art. Additionally, players can play a port of the original PC-8001 version and an alternate arrangement (based on the Sharp MZ-700 series of computers).
If I recall correctly, I made my variation of the game in BASIC back in 2016 too, inspired by some online images I had seen of a version for the NEC PC6001. I somehow (perhaps asking my son to translate some Japanese description) came to the conclusion that the game was by a fellow named "Seiji" from 1983. Perhaps this was simply a NEC PC6001 remake of this "classic" of the Japanese home computing era. But it is hard to confirm the facts of the original game, including the author's name. The site strategy wiki mentions that the author also went by the name "Geimu Kyoujin." But I can't locate the source in the magazine proposed by Giant Bomb to confirm whether it was a BASIC program or some kind of machine language listing.
The date provided in the quote doesn't seem to point to a scan of I/O with an obvious listing of Space Mouse. I even asked my son Charlie, who knows the Japanese alphabet systems, and can use Google translate to do searches, to look for it. Here's the link for where I think the volume can be found on the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/IO198109/mode/2up
It states in the top corner of the front page that it is Vol. 6, No. 9. for 1981. But I can't find any article in it that would seem to be for Space Mouse. And my son did a search for the Japanese for "space" and "mouse" and only came up for the word "space" in a few adds for space-themed games.
The Youtuber Highretrogamelord provides a playthrough of a NEC PC-88 version of the game:
In his description he states that it:
Also came out for: PC-6001 mkII and PC-8000.
Game description:
Space Mouse is a vertical-scrolling maze game. The player controls a cat who is travelling up through an infinite maze. The player gains points as they travel, and the goal is to travel as far as possible. Space mice travel down throughout the level, blocking the player's progress; the player must dodge the mice, and loses a life if they come in contact [with] them. The mice have simple movement patterns but move quickly, and there are often several on-screen at a time.
Space Mouse was released as a type-in BASIC game in a 1981 magazine, and was later included in other type-in software books. A port was bundled with a number of enhanced remakes as a part of Space Mouse 35th Anniversary Edition for Windows in 2016.
He suggests that the original game was in BASIC, but as I said, I have not been able to confirm that. I think his reference to PC-8000 is probably for the original PC-8001 mentioned in the Giant Bomb quote. There seem to be a lot of versions of the game out there, including one for the FM-7 home computer. On the P6ers web site (retro users of the NEC PC6001) there are multiple entries. It suggests that the program has been made available by the author. I think this refers to the PC-6001 version that might have been the inspiration for the version I made back in 2016, but I can't seem to find any video playthroughs for the PC6001 version now.
This site mentions that the game was very popular:
http://tiny-p.cocolog-nifty.com/log/2013/07/7-c58f.html
This is a link to a 40th anniversary celebration conference for the PC-8001. In addition to mentioning that Space Mouse was one of the systems most popular games it also mentions Heiankyo Alien. Both are included built for a modern mini-emulator version of the PC8001. Although the game was popular, today this popularity mostly extends to later variations of the game. Once again, we might have an example of a "classic" game that had its beginnings as a humble type-in, maybe even a BASIC type-in, but for which the majority of the historical recollection focusses on the professionally published commercial versions and not the type-in that inspired the entire family of games.
My Recent Update of the Game
I have been editing my version to improve it. I have added key sensing using the PEEKS provided to me by Greg Dionne. They give better response, don't get "stuck" and allow multiple key presses to register, so you can use diagonal directions. I have also added the feature of Power Boosts that move you upwards at a fast rate, including smashing through floors. However, I have made some changes to the backstory. The Japanese call the game "Space Mouse" but it should probably be "Space Mice" because in the original the antagonists are mice moving downward as you try to move upward. You are supposed to be a cat climbing a tower/"building." When you reach the top, you enter a rocket ship and blast off becoming the first cat in space. I suppose the fast moving downward objects are kind of like scurrying mice, but in my version I chose to change the premise. This is mostly because I am using orange blocks for the energy objects that you need to collect as you climb. For technical reasons I want to use orange blocks (they're at the end of the ASCII character list of the MC-10). Orange reminds me of cheese, so I think of the player as a mouse scurrying to the top of the tower chasing a trail of cheese left by workers. Meanwhile, Taby cats living in the tower are trying to thwart your assent. The small orange pieces renew your energy and allow you to continue to ascend. When you have a run-in with a cat, you lose energy. You need one energy unit for each new stage, so don't let if fall too low. If you collect the large orange block, you will shoot to the top of the stage, so don't select it if it makes more sense to simply eat more ordinary cheese blocks on that level.
Use WASD to move.
