Even though the cat is made by simple pixel art, i can see that he
is adorable.
Because my childhood is filled with reading Peyo's "Poussy". Without
doubt, i call him Poussy. The graffiti on left side is dubbed as
Hi-score while the right one are your current score and how many lives do you
have. No, you don't start with 9 lives (that way too generous for any game). It
always shows number 9 at the title screen as refer to a
rumor/legend/superstition that a cat has nine lives because most cats have
ability to survive from high-elevation falling. You only get 3 lives (which are
just 33.333% from the superstition) and that's quite not enough especially in
the game that can be unforgiving as "Alley Cat". But the game is points-grinding
type like "Pole Position" and i like that. So there is neither story
nor ending in this game. Only a cat, his targets, and vicious environment. How
about the "Love Them Moussies" graffiti? What i can think of is
that's what Poussy and other cat think about mice. They love rats...as snack!
But before you can start the game, there is brief configuration
option first. It asks whether you use joystick or not (if not the control is
keyboard) and difficulty setting. The numbers of difficulty is even so there is
no exact medium. Thing that piques my further-interest is Tomcat difficulty. My
though immediately decipher it as 1) Tom the cat that keep having problem with
Jerry the mouse, or 2) F-14 combat airplane. Certainly, none of them are truly
what the game implies at. For instance, as you probably know that Tom has bad
time with Jerry's routines for almost half century. So he should be referred as
the hardest difficult.
I start with "House Cat" difficulty. Player's 1st
objective: guide Poussy to eventually-opened
window. So, Poussy has to climb garbage barrel & fence, cling onto
laundries, and finally either drop or jump to an opened window. Simple, isn't?!
Theoretically easy but practically cumbersome. Initially, Poussy's jump is so short
(twice his standing height) that he can't just simply jumps near the 4th level
barrels (2 on left side and 1 on right side) to climb them then he can climb to
the top of fence. Poussy can either 1) climb the 3th level barrel first or 2)
he can run first then jump resulting in higher jump. The sensible option will
be the option 1) because you can't control Poussy's meowvement while he's jumping. So jumping then try to alter his
landing spot is absolutely no-go. By the way, there is other cat
frequently poke their head on those barrels that makes Poussy falls to the
ground. When he's on the fence, Poussy can just walk around it or just start
jumping to laundries/an open window. The clothesline are periodically moving,
by the way. Also there are Nazrin's henchmen, i mean rats that you can lunge to
for extra points. But if Poussy is clinging on laundry that near below a rat,
the rat will "Squeak!" loudly resulting Poussy's downfall. If Poussy
falls because of either loud "Squeak!" or failure jumping, he has to
start from bottom. Is that it? No! There are more obnoxious thing. From the
opened windows, there is always a garbage being thrown away. If Poussy get hit
by it, not only he starts from bottom again but also lose a life. The worse is:
if Poussy taking time too long or too often on the ground, a vile bulldog
appears to gnaw on poor cat, destroying his 1 life. SynSoft think that it will
be too violent to explicitly show a dog viciously bites a cat. So they show the
player a cartoonish brawl cloud instead, thankfully.
Miraculously, i manage to make Poussy enters a window within a
minute or so. Actually, i practice play this game few times so it's reasonable
that i can do that. But i suspect my luck plays bigger role on it than my skill.
Whenever Poussy enters a window, he will be in one of several trials that is
randomly chosen. This time is "Bird Catching" trial. Bump the bird
cage repeatedly to either left or right until it fall and the bird (more looks
like a butterfly to me) flies away then (obviously) Poussy has to catch
him/her. Thus proving that Poussy is better at catching a bird than Sylvester.
Off course things won't go that smooth. There is a broom that is animated by
Mickey Mouse's magic like in The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Fantasia). He may fail
to clean Yen Sid's rooms but soon he discover that selling autonomous-by-magic
brooms could be brooming business
because it's cheaper to buy one of them than hire a housemaid. Moreover it
doesn't require 3 meals a day and healthcare. The armless version of them is
the cheapest one. Back to gameplay: the broom will chase after Poussy then
punts him hoping that he get out this room through the window. But you can make
it busy sweeping the floor by telling Poussy to make dirty trails on the
most-bottom floor. Just walk Poussy left and right to make them. Simple. By the
way, there is a chance that the bulldog appears here. So be careful!
I can accomplish this task with relatively easy also fast (aside
nudging the cage). You get more scores when you can accomplish the trial faster.
How much scores you get is indicated by these cat's heads gauge. Their
expression tell us smugness. As if the cats say "Is that your best
effort?"
Next phase is guide Poussy to heed a mating call from female cat. According to my real-life
observation, it's the male cat who do the mating call, loudly. By the way, you
can pause paws the game by pressing 'Esc" key. At this phase there
is no thrown garbage from opened window, thank goodness. Once Poussy
enters that window...
...he's in "Love" trial. The objective is simple: grab
romantic gift on most bottom platform and make his way to the cat on most top
platform. Full hearts are solid platform while broken hearts are gap. Other
cats are Poussy's love rival. Should he bumps them, he will falls 1 level. Actually,
that's the extend of what they're doing as love competitor. Not one of them try
to climb to the top. Maybe this is harsh remainder to us human as well that: it's
lot easier to make someone else fails than try to make yourself succeed. The
cupids on walls and ceiling aren't just decoration. Some of the will fire arrow
that 1) will make Poussy falls 2) change full heart into broken heart or 3)
change broken heart into full heart. I got mixed feeling toward these
love-division angel's interference. They prove helpful but most of the time
it's the opposite.
Did i mention that the "Love" trial is really hard? Because
it is. Too many factor that will make Poussy falls even though the only way to
fail this trial is to fall below the most bottom level. If he fails this trial,
he plummet to darkness abyss then swearing. I kind of wonder what cat's
swearing sounds like.
But that doesn't result to lose Poussy's live. You can try this trial
again after you have passed the 1st-phase-random trial again, each every time.
SynSoft intentionally puts additional romantic gift each time you manage to get
here again. From this screenshot, you can tell how many times i manage to get
here. Showing you how persistent and lucky i am.
Finally! I manage to make Poussy meet his lover. Then they are
kissing and live happily ever after.
Then you will be greeted by these bipedal-y cat cheerleaders doing
can-can dance. Maybe they relay message "Believe in power of love!
Although you meet hard time to get it. In the end you shall be triumph" or
they just simply to cheer the player. I don't feel cheered, instead they
unsettle me. Yes, i'm cat liker. But toward these anomaly critters, i feel
uneasy. It's quite normal, okay?!
Then you start at the beginning again with increased difficulty. The
garbage barrel has been reduced and the bastard dog appears more frequently. At
previous difficulty setting, i make Poussy runs to rightside and jumps so he
can lands purrfectly on most right
barrel. But this time, that trick won't work anymore as the barrel is meowved slightly to the left. "Why
don't you try to adjust the cat's jump start then?" Easy for you to say.
Worth to mention that: whenever you succeed a trial at higher difficulty
setting, you net more points albeit harder to do.
Because the "Love" trial is so hard (and barely
interesting) and if you finish it the game will automatically increase its
difficulty, elementary-schooler me intentionally fails that trial and just goes
for other trials. That's really understandable. So what's are those beside
"Bird Catching" trial?
The goal on this trial is to climb those shelf and grab those 3
plant while avoid the spider who creeps on ceiling and slowly descend whenever
Poussy is below him/her. As Poussy isn't Peter Pawrker, spider's byte
(the game intentionally writes that way) are lethal to him instead of making
him Spider-Cat. It occurs to me recently that the plant could be Catnip. So
this is "Catnip Snatching" trial. I think this is the easiest trial
because the spider is easy to be baited and Poussy can snatch more than one
Catnip at one swoop.
This is "Rat Hunting" trial. Holy Smack! That cheese is
so big. What kind of person that treats mouse as animal pet? I know that white
mouse is treated as Laboratory's test subject but other rodent's species are
just dirty vermin. Oh, i get it! This is homebase of Nazrin's underling. That's
makes sense. You just have to tell Poussy to climb cheese's holes to hunt those
mice who occasionally show themselves inside those holes. Once Poussy done with
this trial, Nazrin will be upset knowing that her subordinates are decreasing
by handful number.
Hi! Here is a black cat who will foolishly/recklessly drinks dog's
milk and this is Jackass. I mean this is "Milk Sipping"
trial. The goal is simple: emptying those bowl of milk (until they all vanish) without waking any of
this canine that will deprives Poussy's 1 life. This is the only occasion that
you can use "Alt" button and that's to make Poussy sips nearest milk
bowl. If he's near the dogs, they will begin to open their heavy-lidded eye.
After any of them open two lazy eyes, he/she will beat the hell out of Poussy for
(understandably) draining his/her sweet drink.
Spy_specialcompleted06. Poussy is so cute though he does no-good
act. The strategy will be: drink the milk until the canine almost awake then
leave them for awhile by drinking other milk bowl or littering floor so the
broom keeps busy. Luckily this place is free from that roaming Bulldog so Poussy can takes time as much as he needs.
And this is "Fish Grabbing" trial. All Poussy needs to
do is to jump to aquarium bowl above.
JRPG's rules # 35: Inside of a
building is larger than the building looks from outside. Oops, sorry! Wrong game's
genre. At least you know what i mean, right?! Next step is: navigate Poussy
that he get all the fishes and dodge what supposed to be electric eels. But judging
by how thin their bodies is, electric water-worms are more appropriate term to
describe them. You have to mind about Poussy's breathing. There is no air gauge
to indicate that. Instead his color turns from black to blue, pink, then red to
show how much air supply that he has. Simply makes him swim to surface to
replenish his O2 need. The last fish usually swims happily at the
bottom, but Poussy can makes daring dive toward the fish ignoring his breathing
and finish the trial safely. Not much else i can talk about this game. But maybe,
i show you some special occasion during my play.
Demoman_gibberish01.wav. Damn drunkard keep makes Poussy falls
from garbage barrel to evil dog's territory and eventually his doom.
Scout_specialcompleted03.wav. Yes, Poussy get hit by Scout's trash.
What else explaining that "Bonk!" effect. One of his trash is: a
rotary-dial phone. "I want new phone. Apple's Iphone 8! Not this stupid
crap, ma." Freak you, Scout! -_-
Why, you son of a bitch (literally). Everytime Poussy get caught
with the bastard bulldog inside a room (or a dog in "Milk Sipping"
trial), this skinny dog mocks the player. Feels like i want to bash this git with
a Mace of Contrition so hard.
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