Final Score: 8.3 / 10
Space Cat feels nostalgic from the very beginning. It features 8-bit art (with a bit of modern cheating) and music which harkens back to arcade boards like Pac Man and Dig Dug, with the modern flair afforded by progressive technology and design. It feels like a Game Boy game being enhanced on the Super Game Boy; this comes from its customizable SGB-like border, in the presentation of cutscenes, and the simplicity of its colors and shapes. It doesn't chain itself to the limitations of the past, though! It has beautiful but simple parallax effects, comical detail (just wait until you meet Biggie Frost!) and clearly distinguishes between over a dozen enemies through color and function.
Under the hood Space Cat contains simple and intuitive mechanics, which combine into a deceptively challenging experience in Adventure Mode (the hot young star of the game). The titular hero Space Cat can run, double jump, cling to walls and jump from them, attack enemies with his claws, and use a jet pack which recharges fuel when you are on the ground. He can also choose from a few items littered throughout the level: a melee-range hammer to deflect bullets, a gun to shoot enemies at range in four directions, or an umbrella to slow his descent. If you plan to see Space Cat through to the end of his adventure, you'll need to learn to do it all.
Levels scroll automatically, which adds both tension and difficulty to the experience. Instead of being able to rush past enemies, you have to deal with them, at least for a short amount of time. Some enemies are beyond reach, others are hiding in the background and waiting to pounce. Then at the end of each level Space Cat must learn the mechanics of the unique stage boss. None of the levels ever feel unfair, because the way forward is clear and there is milk spaced throughout the stage that space cat can use to recover his health. The bosses can be stressful because if you die, you have to start the whole level over. But I was never frustrated with the game for anything but my inability to complete a level.
On the technical side, this game is far from perfect. On more than one occasion keyboard inputs were dropped, but it thankfully never made anything impossible - the versatility of the character makes it easy to work around this. There are no control customizations, so multiplayer on a single keyboard is tough, and not all controllers are supported so you will need to manually map controls to the given keyboard controls. There is also no netplay, so if you want something like that you'll have to get REALLY creative.
Even with everything I've highlighted, there's so much to this game worth praising:
* A traversable menu, where you move Space Cat around to access its modes and customizations
* Like 100 unlockable hats
* A 2-player basketball game and a playable game in the credits menu
* Arcade mode, with all the same mechanics present, formerly known as Space Cat 1.0
* 4-player local co-op or competitive play in adventure and arcade modes
* Stage Select mode after you beat the adventure for the first time
At the end of the day for the content, price, and the care and dedication put into it, Space Cat is a lovely gem for arcade enthusiasts, indie lovers, and nostalgia hunters alike.
