Felix the Cat Assessment – Assessment

Felix the Cat is a set of two video games of the identical identify initially launched on the NES and Sport Boy in 1992 and 1993, respectively. The compilation features a few quality-of-life enhancements that we’ve change into accustomed to seeing in retro re-releases, together with a single save state, a rewind function, and a CRT filter. There’s additionally an unreleased Famicom model right here (for some purpose). Whereas Felix could have been round for 100 years, there’s a purpose these two titles haven’t: they provide little in the best way of distinctive or above-average gameplay. They’re virtually as barebones as a platformer could be.

The NES recreation consists of about 10 worlds, and most of those have 3 separate phases to finish. The degrees are typically fairly brief; those that do have a bit extra size are largely simply repetitive. You’ll come throughout the identical primary enemies for a lot of the recreation’s abbreviated runtime, and even the boss fights really feel extra like palette swaps than handcrafted challenges. One feather in Felix’s fur-covered cap is the totally different transformations that he undergoes in sure phases, like these the place he takes to the sky or goes underwater. Amassing Felix tokens, like cash, award hearts that imbue you with new magic units and autos, virtually like power-ups in a Mario recreation. They usually provide you with projectiles to launch or added maneuverability, but in addition can help you take harm at the price of dropping right down to the earlier power-up stage. All in all, although, the playthrough remains to be a short and largely forgettable one, and for some purpose, my excessive rating didn’t even save after ending the sport.

Felix the Cat on Sport Boy is actually the identical expertise however with fewer worlds and phases and fewer of the interstitial content material from the NES authentic. The entire transformations are current right here, however what does sadly get added to this moveable iteration is a healthy dose of slowdown, making a number of the jumps and different obstacles extra irritating to navigate. That mentioned, it is nonetheless sort of spectacular how trustworthy the sport is when shrunk right down to Sport Boy proportions.

Whereas neither a part of the package deal is all that eye-catching, the upbeat soundtrack from the NES recreation particularly is kind of nice and enhances the playthrough properly. The sound results, although–just like the one for Felix’s soar–generally is a little on the grating aspect, so I used to be pleased to succeed in segments of the sport the place much less leaping was required. There’s a neat visible aptitude to the rewind perform that I did respect, however that is one of many few attention-grabbing presentation parts.

Felix the Cat could have been a bit extra of a novelty on the ‘90s platforms it arrived on, however time hasn’t been sort to this comedian feline’s pixel-based adventures. Regardless of starring a cat with a magical bag, these two video games have virtually no methods up their sleeves. The addition of the Famicom model yields little or no when it comes to noticeable gameplay variations, so its inclusion is a little bit of a thriller. I do know the reply, however why couldn’t these two video games have simply been added to NSO as a substitute? What’s extra, the general problem will probably be markedly mild for anybody with platforming expertise, and there’s no scarcity of additional lives to earn and power-ups to maintain you from hazard and propel you thru the largely pedestrian stage design. If this 2024 assortment had a number of extra attention-grabbing extras thrown in, it could be price a decide up, however because it stands, that is simply one other black cat you don’t need crossing your path.