Bad Cat Longplay (C64) [50 FPS]
100Developed and published by Rainbow Arts in 1987.
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Intro Music: 0:00
Gameplay: 8:15
It's 1984 and the Olympic Games are due to begin in Los Angeles. It would seem that the feline population of the city are preparing to hold their own take on the tournament and all manner of cats are lining up to take part and Bad Cat is determined to be top of the podium.
Similar in style to games such as California Games and Track n' Field, Bad Cat features four different events to compete in, allowing up to four players to take part in a head-to-head competition. Each event has a strict time limit in which the level must be beaten and each player scores more points the quicker they beat the level and for making the least number of mistakes.
The first level sees BC attempting to get from one end of the city park to the other in order to reach his motorcycle (yes, you read that right...). In order to do this, Bad Cat must jump over a series of deadly puddles and walls before attempting to balance atop a rolling beach ball if he is to make it to the finish line in time. Of course, you won't reach the finish line owing to the fact that the controls are terrible and the game punishes you at every turn. For example, it took me quite some time to realise that the reason why Bad Cat would sometimes die in a puff of smoke when landing on top of a wall, yet other times he would land safely without any issue was down to the fact that there were two types of jump: a somersault initiated by pressing fire and a regular jump that is performed by pushing 'up' on the joystick. Landing on top of the wall using the regular jump is perfectly acceptable, but doing so whilst somersaulting is not; I guess this must have made some kind of sense to the coder, but it certainly didn't make any sense to me.
Even if you do manage to get past the walls, I suspect that the beach-ball will probably be the furthest that most players will get before giving up in despair. The idea is that the player moves the joystick left or right to adjust Bad Cat's balance in order to stay on top of the ball, but this is made almost impossible by the fact that there is absolutely no indication (visual or otherwise) of his balance - you have to guess!
If you somehow manage to blunder your way to the end of the first stage, you'll be greeted by an over-head map of the city with the objective being to get Bad Cat to the city stadium for the next event in this farce of a game. This is if you can actually work out where Bad Cat actually is on the screen - try moving the joystick around and you might just notice a minuscule yellow dot moving around that is supposed to be Bad Cat on his motorcycle.
Stage two sees BC bouncing between a pair of spring-loaded platforms whilst trying to hit the symbols suspended above him without falling into the water below. The display board denotes which shape BC has to hit, but hitting the correct target is far from easy. As is the norm with this game, it takes quite some time to work out how to actually jump and hit the switches, so you'll end up falling it the water and making BC one soggy moggy. Even though I filled up the jar on the left-hand side after hitting many shapes, the game simply said that I'd "failed" the stage; I don't know if it's simply bugged or whether I was doing something wrong, but I couldn't seem to achieve any other outcome despite several attempts.
Following another drive around the city, BC faces another obstacle course set inside the city's sewers. As usual, the game delights in introducing new controls with zero explanation and there's plenty of frustration to be had in the form of pixel-perfect jump, falling masonry and a crocodile with a ravenous appetite.
The final stage sees BC taking on a bulldog in a game of bowling that has been turned into a drinking game. The objective is to grab a ball from the rack and bowl the ball down one of the lanes in order to hit your opponent with the first player scoring five strikes being declared the winner. Each time a player gets knocked over, they must go to the bar and knock back a pint before continuing; the more you drink the more drunk you become and the more difficult it is to control your character.
The fact of the matter is that Bad Cat is a frustrating mess with little fun to be had. Although the game does feature some fantastic title music by Chris Hülsbeck, those wanting a decent multi-event tournament game to play with friends are advised to avoid this and to pick up a copy of California Games instead.
Far from being the cat's whiskers, Bad Cat is just a bad game.
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