Felix the Cat Overview – Overview

Felix the Cat is a set of two video games of the identical identify initially launched on the NES and Recreation Boy in 1992 and 1993, respectively. The compilation features a few quality-of-life enhancements that we’ve grow to be accustomed to seeing in retro re-releases, together with a single save state, a rewind characteristic, and a CRT filter. There’s additionally an unreleased Famicom model right here (for some purpose). Whereas Felix could have been round for 100 years, there’s a purpose these two titles haven’t: they provide little in the best way of distinctive or above-average gameplay. They’re nearly as barebones as a platformer could be.

The NES recreation consists of about 10 worlds, and most of those have 3 separate levels to finish. The degrees are typically fairly brief; those that do have a bit extra size are largely simply repetitive. You’ll come throughout the identical fundamental enemies for a lot of the recreation’s abbreviated runtime, and even the boss fights really feel extra like palette swaps than handcrafted challenges. One feather in Felix’s fur-covered cap is the totally different transformations that he undergoes in sure levels, like these the place he takes to the sky or goes underwater. Accumulating Felix tokens, like cash, award hearts that imbue you with new magic gadgets and automobiles, nearly like power-ups in a Mario recreation. They usually offer you projectiles to launch or added maneuverability, but additionally help you take harm at the price of dropping right down to the earlier power-up degree. All in all, although, the playthrough remains to be a short and largely forgettable one, and for some purpose, my excessive rating didn’t even save after ending the sport.

Felix the Cat on Recreation Boy is actually the identical expertise however with fewer worlds and levels and fewer of the interstitial content material from the NES authentic. All the transformations are current right here, however what does sadly get added to this transportable iteration is a hearty dose of slowdown, making among the jumps and different obstacles extra irritating to navigate. That stated, it is nonetheless sort of spectacular how devoted the sport is when shrunk right down to Recreation Boy proportions.

Whereas neither a part of the package deal is all that eye-catching, the upbeat soundtrack from the NES recreation particularly is sort of nice and enhances the playthrough properly. The sound results, although–just like the one for Felix’s leap–is usually a little on the grating facet, so I used to be completely happy to succeed in segments of the sport the place much less leaping was required. There’s a neat visible aptitude to the rewind operate that I did admire, however that is one of many few attention-grabbing presentation components.

Felix the Cat could have been a bit extra of a novelty on the ‘90s platforms it arrived on, however time hasn’t been variety to this comedian feline’s pixel-based adventures. Regardless of starring a cat with a magical bag, these two video games have nearly no methods up their sleeves. The addition of the Famicom model yields little or no by way of noticeable gameplay variations, so its inclusion is a little bit of a thriller. I do know the reply, however why couldn’t these two video games have simply been added to NSO as an alternative? What’s extra, the general problem can be markedly gentle for anybody with platforming expertise, and there’s no scarcity of additional lives to earn and power-ups to maintain you from hazard and propel you thru the largely pedestrian degree design. If this 2024 assortment had a number of extra attention-grabbing extras thrown in, it might be price a choose up, however because it stands, that is simply one other black cat you don’t need crossing your path.