In the game, the player controls a small yellow creature, Chack'n, with the objective being to retrieve hearts from a cave, all while avoiding the enemies contained within them.
It is considered to be a spiritual predecessor of Bubble Bobble due to the shared characters and similar game structure.
The player controls Chack'n, a small yellow creature with extendable legs, through a series of single-screen mazes.
[1] He is also capable of throwing hand grenades to his left or right which, after a short period, explode into a cloud of smoke.
[4] Chack'n Pop was released by Taito around April 1984 in Japan, despite the copyright notice of the game saying 1983.
[6] However, the home ports, specifically the Family Computer and MSX versions of the game, sold much better and became one of Taito's "top IPs".
[2] PC Zone said the game "isn't much fun", despite the ideas it presented for the time, and the fact that it was Bubble Bobble's predecessor.
[4] Chack'n Pop is often considered to be one of the spiritual predecessors to Bubble Bobble, mostly due to the similar gameplay structure and shared characters.