In
Supermarket Mania, you play as Nikki, who gets a job at the Torg Corporation (where Mr. Torg wants to run everything with robotics), only to be fired unjustly, in lieu of robots performing her job. What's a girl to do? Well, she and her friend Wendy (also fired) band together and find Mr. Clarence, an elderly store owner who needs some young and energetic new blood to kick start his business.
There are 5 Stages, with each containing levels totaling 50 in all. You'll have customers ranging from the patient old lady to the average young woman, to the hurried yuppie and even the annoying teenaged girl who runs through your store, knocking things over and forcing you to clean up after her. You'll have visiting celebrities from time to time and they'll be super demanding and buy everything in a particular bin, so be sure to stay well stocked when you know they are coming. You'll even have thieves who come to steal your goods. Fortunately, you've got Officer Barefist standing by and if the teen girls get out of hand or you see a thief stealing, a simple tap on him and he'll blow the whistle, restoring order and, sometimes, getting your goods and some money back out of the thief. You can also shout at the microphone to get him to act. I had a cold while I was playing this game and my coughing had Barefist blowing his whistle a lot. It was kind of funny, actually.
The name of the game is pleasing your customers and you do this by keeping the shelves filled with merchandise and keeping the store clean. You can only fill so many shelves with a basketload of goods, so you'll have to run to the storeroom to reload, which takes time. Since you'll hear a bell when someone enters the store and you'll see a thought bubble above them with what they want to purchase, its a good strategy to wait to see what the first few customers want, fill those bins, then reload your basket, since all shelves start a level off empty.
As customers mill about, they spill things and Nikki has to pick them up and throw them away, but she can pick up several at once before dumping them off. If a customer sits too long waiting for you to refill a shelf, their patience runs out and their meter (which begins as a happy face) turns red and angry, they finally throw their items on the floor in a crash and huff and leave the store, costing you money and making you clean up after them. It's a really funny audio cue, but one you don't want to hear too often.
If you'd rather not play on Story Mode, there's also Endless Mode, were you simply last as long as you can. You can't buy upgrades, but rather they appear for you to click on and will be something temporary like all shelves being refilled or Super Shop, where the customers buy an entire shelf of whatever item, or a cup of coffee that makes Nikki super fast. Super Shop also shows up in Story Mode sometimes and eventually, you'll have the option to purchase the coffee machine in Story Mode as an upgrade to have for each level.
