The Cat Game

Since I'm not generally on the down low when it comes to things going on the internet or around the world, it's perhaps no surprise that I missed this by a few months. But hey, this absolutely deserved canonization, as soon as possible, so we might all feel the feline love.

The game is called Sukeban Sachou Rena Wii, which, according to the description in some random Wii Now blog post, means President Rena. Rena, apparently, is some sort of mascot for something, and according to the game fiction, president of Cat Queen inc. Hence the game generally being referred to as "the Cat Game," sometimes modified as "that Japanese Cat Game," so as not to get it confused with all those other cat games currently available for the Wii
According to GameFaqs, the aforementioned Cat Game was developed by Jorudan, (who, incidentally, worked on a hamster related entry in the Petz franchise) and sadly, is very not likely to see a release outside of Japan, possibly because it's a bit too... erm... quirky... yeah, let's go with that... it's a bit too quirky for the west to handle, and because there won't be any sort of mascot recognition in our region... but mostly because Sukeban Sachou Rena Wii might actually go down in history as one of the worst selling Wii game ever made!

Think about that for a moment. This is the same console that recently saw the "definitive version" of Mad Dog McCree.

I'll do a Mad Dog McCree post one of these days.

Well, like I said, this is the sort of thing I tend not to find out about these things until it's already old news, the Cat Game around which this post revolves was enthusiastically imported by 1up's Ray Barnholt and name-dropped on a couple podcasts, which is how I found out about it.

But this is all a bit beside the point. What, you ask (or rather I claim you ask) is the game like? I'm glad you asked.

Well, according to the same blog post I've scalped all my information from thus far, you play as an entry level cat, trying to make your way to the top of Rena's corporate cat empire, though the videos sure make it look like you're a person employed by a cat. (Maybe the guy on Wii Now meant "cat" in the slang sense. You know, like Rasputin; there was a cat that really was gone... which is a confusing choice of words to say the least.) Either way, from there, I can only guess what you actually do in the game, though the videos up on youtube give the impression that it's a collection of mini games. Gasp as you will at the thought that a poorly selling, product tie-in shovelware Wii game, of all things, is just a collection of mini games, but that's what it looks like. I mean, I could still be wrong about that.

These games include:
Trying to grab money off a table
Playing the Piano
Driving while collecting glowy things with a vacuum cleaner
Walking a tightrope
and
Whatever the Hell is going on here

but the game that seems to have made the biggest impression is this one, in which a horde of cats fling themselves toward you, some want to hurt you, and others want to give you a hug, and you need to react accordingly.

Not being a big fan of modding expensive electronic things for which I barely understand how the power button works, I've not really had a chance to assess this game outside of watching youtube videos, so I can't really comment on how the game actually handles, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say probably not very well, but if you're reading this, right now, chances are you're aware that poor play control is likely a small price to pay for a game of such creative liberty.

Cat Game also known as Sukeban Sachou Rena Wii; Camp Kusoge salutes you.

(shouts to Goemonboy for posting all the videos)