by
Evan Norris
, posted 2 hours ago / 298 Views
Modern audiences probably aren’t overly familiar with Felix the Cat. A cartoon character from the silent film era, he has a long and storied history lasting over a century — although not much productivity over the past 30 years. There was a small flurry of activity in the early 90s, when Felix the Cat: The Movie arrived on VHS in the US in 1991 and a video game based on his adventures launched on NES the following year. That game, Felix the Cat, is the subject of a new, updated release from Limited Run Games, in collaboration with Konami and Universal Games & Digital Platforms.
The modern Felix the Cat is a bundle of three titles: the NES game from 1992; its Game Boy version from 1993; and, most surprisingly, the unreleased Famicom version. Planned for release in late 1992, the Japanese variant of the game has never seen the light of day in a proper, official release until now. It’s an unexpected gift from Limited Run Games, although it plays exactly like the NES version, minus some language changes.
The unquestionable highlight of the compilation is the NES version. A lot of Nintendo fans probably weren’t paying attention to a licensed platformer on NES in 1992, more than a year into the lifespan of its technologically-superior successor SNES, but they missed out on one of the most charming and entertaining games on the platform. Developed by Shimada Kikaku and published by Hudson Soft, it deserves to be in your collection if you’re a fan of 8-bit platforming.
What makes it so special is Felix’s magic bag, which, in the lore of the cartoon, can summon an infinite number of objects at the cat’s request. Felix starts the first stage with a punching glove that emerges from the bag — essentially a short-range melee attack to fend off enemies. If the heroic cat picks up 10 Felix tokens (scattered throughout each stage), he’ll earn a heart from his girlfriend Kitty, which upgrades his magic item. The punching bag becomes a magic wand that attacks in several directions; the magic wand becomes a motorcycle with a projectile; and the motorcycle becomes a tank with an arcing cannonball. As a result, there are many different ways to experience, and conquer, each stage.
Kikaku didn’t stop there, though. He also created many different types of levels to accompany this central mechanic, and unique transformations for each. There are aerial levels, in the vein of Balloon Fight, where Felix glides with an umbrella, floats in a hot air balloon, or pilots a fighter plane. There are underwater sections where the feisty feline relies alternatively on a snorkel, a sea turtle, and a submersible. And there are above-water areas where Felix either floats lazily in an inner tube or rides a dolphin. Because of all these variations, the game boasts a big amount of creativity and charm.
Not everything is perfect, though. The game is on the easy side and rather short; there are nine levels and multiple stages per level, but they could all be finished in a single sitting. Still, it’s absolutely a game that should be on your radar, particularly if you enjoy licensed platformers of the NES era.
As for the Game Boy port, well, it’s decidedly less impressive. It contains the same story and mechanics as the NES iteration, but with less impressive graphics and fewer levels. It also suffers from frame rate issues that don’t appear at all in the home console version.
So, while Felix the Cat includes three games, it really includes only a single essential one. The Game Boy version is an inferior port, and the Famicom version, while momentous, is more or less identical to the NES offering.
Unfortunately, Limited Run Games doesn’t do much with special features to make up for this. The compilation has most of the standard quality-of-life upgrades — save states, border and filter options, rewind — but not much else. You can’t remap the controls, and there are no instructions whatsoever. Since Felix the Cat relies on a rather novel transformation and scoring system, the game demands some sort of how-to-play section. It could also use some historical context, achievements, a leaderboard, or any kind of bonus content to elevate the proceedings. As it stands now, this is a rather bare-bones collection.
Still, it might be a worthwhile investment, if you just have to play the original games. On eBay, the NES and Game Boy cartridges sell for around $100 apiece.
Felix the Cat won’t catapult the cartoon feline to stardom once again, but it should shine a light on an underplayed, underappreciated licensed game from the waning days of NES. With inventive transformations, diverse levels, and charm to spare, it’s one of the better platformers on a system defined by them. It’s just a shame this modern release doesn’t do more to contextualize, enhance, and celebrate it.
This review is based on a digital copy of Felix the Cat for the NS, provided by the publisher.
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