Rockin' Kats (1991)

I’ve had this game in my collection for a good while as a hand me down and it’s gained a LOT of value recently. I decided to actually try to get into it on a whim and I was seriously disappointed.

The level design is awful and boring, the game suffers a lot from platormer-itis, with everything wanting to kill you. Enemy designs have no rhyme, reason or stylistic uniformity. They also tend to spawn out of nowhere catching you off guard. They respawn the millisecond they’re spawn point gets off screen. The music is incredibly mediocre and i just tuned out and played a podcast while playing it. Lives are pretty much meaningless as you can get them in the mini games very easily. Transitions between different parts of the level are not always obvious and clunky.

The game itself is also pretty easy, but having reached level 3 outta 5, i honestly don’t care much about getting any further. I might just sell it for the 300$ that it’s worth because i lost all interest in keeping it. If i ever finish it, it’s heading towards 2 stars. My save code for later: 7zCbC 3FΩ$V

During my recent NES kick, revisiting some of the titles later in the console's life has revealed to me some great games that were overshadowed by the new Super Nintendo. Rockin' Kats is one such game. Developed by Atlus, better known later for the Persona series, in this game you play a cat, who uses a boxing glove both as a weapon and as a jumping mechanic, whether like the arm in Bionic Commando, or the pogo stick in DuckTales. You have to play different TV channels, each a level, that you can choose. Like most NES games at the time, each level has a boss you take on. Once you beat the six main channels, you get the special final channel.

Overall, the graphics for the NES are great, the music is awesome, the challenge is fair, and the game is loads of fun. Sometimes the controls can get a little gnarly, especially if you have to pogo and then do a bionic commando move to progress.

Another great late gem on the NES that I recommend.