Must Learn Japanese #2

Zig Zag Cat (1994)
By: Suntory / Den'Z Genre: Bat 'n' Ball Players: 1 Difficulty: Hard
Featured Version: Nintendo SNES First Day Score: ???,???
Also Available For: Nothing

ZIG-AH! ZAG-AH! CAT-OH!!

While it's true there's only so much you can do with the bat 'n' ball (or 'brickbreaker' if you prefer) genre, there have certainly been some interesting attempts to breathe a bit of life and originality into them over these long years. This one is a rather obscure example, to Western gamers at least, not least because was it a Super Famicom exclusive, but it was also a late release meaning many players, even in Japan, may have missed it. It's also one of those really weird games that probably wouldn't have received an overseas release anyway! Lord only knows what the backstory is about (for there is indeed one) but you play as a young boy who has a pet cat - a cat that apparently has shape-shifting abilities! As most of us would probably do if we found ourselves with the companionship of a shape-shifting pet, this boy makes use of his unique cat (who we'll call Rex and Freep respectively for the purposes of this review) by having him turn into a ball who he then hits with his green bat into an apparently-invading octopus horde. Obviously.

These pirouetting dough-boys are numerous...

I imagine some semblance of sense might come from the backstory if I could understand it, but alas, all I can do is trudge forth in the hope that Rex and Freep do not have nefarious intentions. Their noble quest takes in what appears to be a series of buildings which are viewed from above, much like a Zelda-style RPG. Each building has a few NPC's hanging around with whom you can talk (assuming you can understand what they say) and several rooms - one to save your game and another for access to a bonus round on the ground floor, or you can pop upstairs to visit a shop (where you probably won't understand what anything is) or enter some sort of dormitory (no idea what this is for). Once you've finished pootling around, head for the north wall of the building where you'll find an exit - head through this to begin the main stage which scrolls vertically, usually through several sets of blocks and octopuses until you reach the end. Then you'll enter the next building.

These three guys keep turning up. No idea who they are...

I have actually had a surprisingly difficult time even finding out how many stages await players here, but since I'm dedicated to my non-existent readers, I have done my best to find out. However, since this basically meant playing the game all the way to the end, it was easier said than done, and the results of my exhaustive research are inconclusive accordingly. It was all a waste of time, in other words, assuming the game itself wasn't enjoyable to play. That's actually not an easy question to answer either, but I will attempt to do so. The audio/visuals are very nice for one thing, though you may perhaps expect that given the year of its release. The backgrounds and scenery graphics are simple, sometimes plain, and often repetitive, but the colours are nice and there are some interesting stage themes - the snow/wind stage is nice, for example, as is the gloomy castle grounds stage. The best thing about the visuals, though, is the various creatures that inhabit the stages.

Here they are again. They keep running away though...

The sprites are about as weird as you might expect from a game featuring a shape-shifting cat, but they are well-drawn, varied, and amusing, not to mention plentiful, although I'm not sure what many of them actually are. The music is really nice too - catchy, soothing, and suits the action well, and the effects are also great. As pleasant as the game may be for your ears and eyes, though, it is frequently the opposite of pleasant for your limbic system, and this is due to its high difficulty. I suppose an easy Breakout-style game would be more boring than trying to balance a carrot on your wrist, but having played through at least most of this game, I can't imagine a world in which I could get even halfway through it without cheating. As mentioned, the stages scroll vertically and the playfield is populated by the odd bricks (which are mainly coloured blobs here) and a few characters walking/flying around, but the scrolling stops every time you reach a sizeable grouping of blobs and/or enemies, and it's here that the aforementioned octopuses are found.

These are usually shielded by the blobs and enemies which are all destroyed when Freep hits them but the objective is always to hit the octopus which takes multiple strikes. Once it has been bested, the screen starts scrolling again until you get to the next one. This continues until you reach the end of the stage where a boss awaits. These are not always octopuses but are similarly surrounded by blobs and enemies. The boss takes even more hits but once defeated, you'll enter a doorway and find yourself back in the building you started in (or one just like it). I think they are meant to be inns but whatever they are, you have the option of saving your game, visiting the shop, entering the bonus round, or moving on to the next stage. The number of stages in each of the game's areas differs but the most is eight I believe. The number of areas in the game is the part I had problems confirming.

This nice beach area has crabs scuttling around...

Through many long lunchbreak and evening sessions did I attempt to battle my way through to the end, and I thought I had finally done it when I reached and defeated a terrible boss at the end of the fifth area and was then treated to what looked like an ending sequence, but after this I found myself in a mysterious cavern. There was an exit here which could possibly have been to a sixth area, but it was blocked. There was also a warp room that could, if I so desired, take me to the start of any of the five previous areas. This strange sequence of events leads me to believe that maybe I didn't do something in one (or all) of these areas that I was supposed to that might've then unlocked the next (last?) area. Sadly, due to the prevalence of Japanese text, I really can't tell. However, assuming there are only five areas, and assuming also that each area has six stages, and each stage has a mere three sets octopuses/blobs, that still means there's effectively a staggering 90-odd screens to clear, not counting the stuff between sections and bosses.

Here's a bonus round - they have octopuses too!

I've probably been generous in my assumptions there too, I expect there's even more, but even if I'm accurate, that makes Zig Zag Cat one long and challenging game! The length is a major reason for its difficulty but there's also the design of the stages. I like that they're based in 'real' areas that Rex and Freep are basically walking through such as beaches, caverns, normal pathways, and castle courtyards and the like, but they naturally all have walls or barriers at the sides to stop Freep from flying away. Sensible enough I know, but these walls are very, very rarely straight vertical sides. Mostly they are angled walls or even just jagged, irregular rockfaces, and this means the ball (Freep) pings around at all sorts of odd and unpredictable angles. Add to this the fact that, like most bat 'n' ball games, the ball speed gradually increases the longer you play, and that you will often find blobs or enemies very close to the bottom of the screen, and you'll find lives are lost very frequently!

A split-path on the way to the scary castle...

Neither the blobs nor the enemies themselves can hurt Rex by touch, but some of the latter can fire projectiles at him, particularly in later areas, and these do hurt. He does have an energy-meter but it doesn't last long when you're also trying to concentrate on tracking Freep's movements. There are a few things that help you though, of course. The controls are fairly reliable and there are two buttons used - one makes Rex run faster along the bottom of the screen and the other will thrust the bat up the screen a short distance. The latter will also destroy any blobs and/or enemies that have strayed too close to your bat, although collectibles are only gained when Freep destroys blobs, not your bat. These will often include large gold coins but the power-ups are more valuable which include many of the usual ones found in games of this type - wider bat, sticky bat, power-ball, multi-ball, slower ball, smart bomb, etc, and some power-ups change the colour of the ball (sorry, Freep) and give it sparkly trails, although I'm not totally sure what this does to be honest.

Things do not get any easier in this scary castle...

Overall though, this is definitely the toughest game of this type that I've played. I'm confident it would be next to impossible without the save-game feature, but even with that you're going to spend a lot of time trying to get through some sections. It's great to see such character and innovation in what is one of the oldest game styles around, and if you've got the patience for it this game will last you a looong time. Most normal players, however, especially these days, just won't bother. It is worth spending at least some time with if you have an interest in this genre as I do though. It looks and sounds nice and isn't consistently tough until the later stages, and it's pretty funny too. I'd love to know what the text/dialogue is saying and I'd love even more to know if I actually finished it or not! I might do a Game Gallery at some point so you can see what I mean about that. It's an obscure one anyway, and would be a great one for collectors in any case.

RKS Score: 6/10

Gameplay Video: There aren't too many videos of the game on YouTube but this is about the best one I could find. Yes I know it doesn't look that hard here but it is the very beginning!