Smash Cat Heroes
|
3DS
| Smash Cat Heroes

An imposing, cocksure samurai warrior strides alone onto a field of battle.

Unsheathing his katana, he narrows his eyes as waves of foes charge towards him.

Undeterred, he unleashes a series of precise, devastating strikes - sending his foes hurtling back hundreds of feet in the air.

He then pauses, coughs up a furball, and looks for someone to scratch his belly.

Welcome to the world of Smash Cat Heroes.


A famous battle from Japan's lesser known Nyan period

This oddball eShop title from Tom Create is a completely bonkers, casual arcade romp from start to finish.

You play as one of six adorable - and adorably named - samurai cats that dispatch waves of other samurai cats until they're the last tabby left standing.

This feline genocide is accomplished mainly by mashing the Y-button for basic attacks, but you can charge up your Spirit Gauge and loose a devastating, screen-clearing special attack if you're feeling particularly saucy.

And, at the risk of oversimplification... that's really it.

There's no backstory or deep character-driven narratives to concern yourself with here - you just smack things with your kitten-sized sword until you make it to the boss, then repeat the process all over again on him.

You might get a rush of adrenaline here and there as the screen gets particularly crowded, but enemies are generous enough to walk directly into the path of your slashes - so whatever tension Smash Cat Heroes delivers fades rather quickly.


Yoshitsune Mewmew stands alone

But this isn't a condemnation of Smash Cat Heroes - it does what it does very well, and it even makes some bold decisions with the 3DS's hardware along the way.

While there are no 3D visuals to speak of in Smash Cat Heroes, the action takes place on both the top and bottom screen as the field for each stage stretches across both.

It's hard not to smile as you run back and forth between the screens, laying waste to waves of enemies, but you'll quickly realize why more games don't opt for this style of gameplay once you starting hanging out around the hinge - you easily lose track of enemies as they cross between screens.

This is a major pain for later levels, which put a firm focus on building up combos that reset whenever you take damage.

But if you're crafty with your crowd control or dashing - your only real defensive maneuver - you'll be rewarded with a completely mental invincible spin attack as soon as your combo chain hits 50.

Smash Cat Heroes could definitely have benefited with a bit more variety, as the enemies become repetitious in short order, as does the upbeat, synthetic koto on the soundtrack which never delivers anything close to a memorable track.

Worse, the difficulty jumps around from laughably easy to incredibly frustrating in the span of a single level.

But if you're willing to overlook those issues and are in the mood for some fun gameplay that goes about as deep as Sakura Samurai / Hana Samurai, chances are good you'll find something to like in this $3.99 button-masher.

Smash Cat Heroes

One-half Dynasty Warriors and one-half Hamtaro, Smash Cat Heroes delivers casual-friendly, button mashing fun in an adorable little package
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Matthew Diener
Matthew Diener
Representing the former colonies, Matt keeps the Pocket Gamer news feed updated when sleepy Europeans are sleeping. As a frustrated journalist, diehard gamer and recovering MMO addict, this is pretty much his dream job.