Rockin' Kats (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
188A playthrough of Atlus's 1991 NES game, Rockin' Kats.
As a kid, I was so hyped up about this game. I remember reading about it in Nintendo Power (if I recall correctly, it was the issue that had Robin Hood Prince of Thieves on the front? It's been years, so don't quote me on that), and I read the Rockin' Kats feature over and over again - along with the Altered Space feature, which I also believe was in that issue. Unfortunately, no matter how much I wanted either of those games, they both seemed impossible to find in stores, and while my parents were willing to get them for me, you can't buy what's not available to buy - even if the stupid thing just came out. So, suffice it to say, it was a good few years before I got to play either of them.
Rockin' Kats did somehow live up to expectations that I had built-up over the years before I got to play it. It was super colorful and goofy, and it played pretty well. I really liked the TV channel idea for a stage select, and the game overall felt similar to a Mario game, but at the same time differentiated itself with the extend-o-punch gimmick.
The glove is used in all sorts of creative ways in each level, but let me tell you - for as cute and kiddie-friendly as this game looks, the last few stages are absolute murder. Among other things, the glove can latch onto stuff to swing from (like the whip in those rotating rooms in Super Castlevania IV), and it can be used to hit a surface in order to propel you in the opposite direction. If you haven't mastered both of those techniques by the final stage, you'll be seeing the Game Over screen a lot. I thought the mechanic was a great idea, and it's used well in the game. But still, they could've dialed back the difficulty just a bit.
Rockin' Kats also might sound like a super-lame title (it is, no question), but the Japanese title was even funnier/lamer. It was called NY Nyankees - obviously a word play for the NY Yankees, but "nyan" is the Japanese-language's equivalent of "meow." So yeah, take a minute to let that one digest.
Somehow, this one also was made into a PlayChoice-10 title, which I always thought was incredibly random.
If you liked Atlus's other NES platformers like Wacky Races or Widget, you'll probably like this one quite a bit. It's a well crafted platformer that's worth the attention of any fans of the genre.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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