The Battle Cats
The Battle Cats is a free-to-play tower defense game developed by the PONOS Corporation for iOS and Android, which was originally released in Japan under the name Nyanko Daisensou (Nyanko Great War). The Battle Cats debuted on the Japanese iOS App Store in November 2011 under the name of Battle Nekos, with Android support following in December of that same year. It sustained immense popularity in Japan and Korea. It later was deleted in both the US Google Play stores and App Store, with an improved version of the game released on September 17, 2014.[2] A PC port release was available for download until late 2018, when PONOS Corporation cut support for it.
| The Battle Cats | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publisher(s) | PONOS Corporation |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | Mobile Devices September 17, Nintendo Switch December 20, 2018 [1] |
| Genre(s) | Tower Defense |
The Plot
In the future, the world will fall into wars, pollution, inflation,... In Japan, scientists discovered the fighting ADN of normal cats, so all the cat in the world are very combative. The cats planned to conquer all the universe. Nothing in the world can stop the cats because they're so cute. Finally, people thought a way. They will create other cute animals to fight against the cats. The story of "The Battle Cats" started from here.
Gameplay
The Battle Cats is a tower defense game where the player selects a team of cats with different stat amounts to kill enemies to protect a base (called "Cat Base"). The gameplay involves sending a wide roster of cats out onto a 2D battlefield to defend the Cat Base. The enemies may have traits such as Red, Floating, Black, Metal, Alien, Starred Aliens (which fall under the Alien category), Angel, Zombie, Aku, Relic. Enemies without a trait are considered "Traitless" enemies. These enemy types also have cat units who can counter them.
The Battle Cats contains 3 main stories: Empire of Cats (EoC), Into the Future (ItF) and Cats of the Cosmos (CotC). Each main story contains 3 chapters. Additionally, it contains two extra chapters: The Legend Stages and the Catclaw Dojo. The Legend Stages contain multiple stages filled with new enemies and some event stages (including collaborated stages). The Catclaw Dojo contains a stage to test how many enemies you can kill within a given period of time, with an addition of some collaborated stages of the same premise, except with collaborated enemies.
The Legend Stages are further divided into two stories: Stories of Legend (SoL) and Uncanny Legends (UL), with the latter being unlocked after completing the former. There is also an additional category for scheduled and general event stages, and another category for Collaboration stages. The Stories of Legends take place within the same dimension of the three previous Stories, except it was back in time; before the Legends/Legend Cats were sealed. Uncanny Legends takes place even before Stories of Legend timeline wise, with some of the Legend cats you get from this chapter being indicated to be the ancestors of some Stories of Legend cats.
The cats are the protagonists that the player deploys throughout the game. The cats are all unique in their own sense, design, and ability. Many cats may not look like a typical cat (and sometimes are not or are equipped with external objects like machines) or are characters earned in collaboration with other games. All units in the game have a distinctive cat face, cat or cat shaped object/being somewhere on their sprite. The cats can be upgraded with XP to initially level up to the level cap of 10 and the player can eventually increase the cap to 20 + 80 for basic cats by levelling up their User Rank (UR) by upgrading cats, reaching milestones and using duplicate cats, and 50 + 80 for other cats using the same methods, however level cap increasing Catseyes allow the boost to 50 rather than just 20 (or 30 for these cats). All the cats change their appearance and gain abilities after being upgraded to certain levels (10 and 20, with 30 sometimes needing an external object such as Catfruit and evolutions from evolution stages). The cats are divided into six categories: Basic, Special, Rare, Super Rare, Uber Super Rare (commonly shortened to Uber Rare or just Uber), and Legend Rare (??? Rare before you unlock one). The Battle Cats frequently has collaboration events (colloquialised as collabs) where players can earn cats called collaboration units. The nine basic cats are the first cats available and are the easiest to upgrade. They have a max upgrade level of 20 but can be increased with Cat Capsule duplicates. After upgrading to level 30, the player can evolve the cat into what is called its True Form. True Form for other units are obtained by having the required Catfruit and XP and having them on a certain level. The Special Cats are the second type of cat unlocked. They can be unlocked by certain stages, be bought by cat food (the premium currency of the game), or just by simply collecting the unit by opening the game at certain times. The Rare, Super Rare, Uber Super Rare and ??? Rare (Legend Rare) cats can be unlocked with a rare cat capsule, which requires golden or platinum tickets to operate or to be unlocked in special stages. They are relatively expensive to upgrade but are usually stronger than the basic cats (not to mention "crazed" cats and "manic" cats (the latter being the true forms of the crazed cats), which are immensely buffed versions of the basic cats in the Super Rare Tier, which can be unlocked in special levels).
Fighting in battle requires energy, which slowly regenerates overtime. Every one minute, 1 (one) energy is recovered (the energy recovery rate can be sped up with treasures, up to 1 energy every 30 seconds). The app requires an internet connection in order for energy to update, but if the app has already been opened, the energy amount increases without internet. Max energy can be raised with upgrades and treasures. The player can bring items into the battle that assist such as "Sniper the Cat," a tool that pushes enemies back from the base and deals small damage, and "Cat CPU," a tool that automatically deploys cats as soon as money is available, and so on. Some of the stages have special restrictions such as "Special and Rare Cats only." The battle takes place on a 2D plane with the player’s base on the right, and the enemy base on the left. The player gains a steady stream of money, which can be spent to either deploy cats or to upgrade the money production. Deploying cats requires a cooldown, which can be reduced by upgrades and treasures as. The battle ends when one of the bases is destroyed. Winning the battle gives the player a chance to get a treasure, which is in the main story chapters (1-9). Collecting all of them can buff cats' abilities and can also enhance other game mechanics, such as decreased energy recharge time. There are three levels of treasure: Inferior, Normal, and Superior, with an Inferior treasure being the weakest and Superior treasure being the strongest. Players can replay stages to get all the treasures. Players can also use a Treasure Radar powerup to have a 100% chance to get a superior treasure if they complete the battle.
There is a huge roster of enemies all of different stats and types, with more being added with each new update. Certain types of enemies can have advantages over others. For example, while all the non-white enemies usually have higher stats than their white counterparts, black and angel enemies have much higher speeds and knockback counts (times it bounces back before dying), while zombie enemies can burrow past cats and can revive themselves a number of times. While it now seems like the enemy has an unfair advantage, victory is still possible as certain cats have advantages over certain types of enemies. For example, Weightlifter Cat inflicts massive damage against black enemies (while the damage is less for non-black enemies).
Gamamoto Expedition
Gamamoto is an expedition minigame where the player sends out servant cats to search for different treasures such as XP, Cat Food and items which can use in the battle for many purposes, like Treasure Radar, which helps you to get the treasure with high chance.
Cat Capsule
Cat Capsule is an area where the player can spend Cat Tickets, Rare Cat Tickets, Lucky Tickets and Cat Food to obtain Cat Units and Ability Capsules. The rewards earned are then either immediately used, immediately exchanged for XP/NP, saved in the Cat Storage to be used later, and exchanged to get a Rare Ticket.
The Battle Cats POP! release
The game was released for Nintendo 3DS under the name of The Battle Cats POP! (often abbreviated to BCP) on June 27, 2016, and later made its release on Nintendo Switch in December 2018.[3][4][1]
Reception
The Battle Cats POP! generally received positive reviews.[5] CJ Andriessen of Destructoid gave the game a 7 out of 10 and wrote: "The Battle Cats POP! is a game that's as fun as it is weird. When it's not putting you in time out with the energy meter, it can be addictive like Pokémon. Too much of its free-to-play roots are still present, but even with these elements, it's still a worthwhile time killer."[6] Matt S. of Digitally Downloaded gave 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote: "Ultimately what sets Battle Cats apart from the many (many) similar games of similar depth and strategy is that hugely creative edge. This game is the distinctive and memorable example of the genre, because the artists had the sense to do something that makes no sense, but we end up looking forward to each new level just to see the insanity that it brings. That, right there, is some good design principles for mobile gaming, and it perfectly translates across to the 3DS."[7]
First editions and origins
Nyanko Daisensou
The game first emerged in Japan under the name Nyanko Daisensou (Nyanko Great War).
Battle Cats
The Battle Cats started out being under the name of Battle Cats, including some of the main cats and enemies, but it only included the Empire of Cats.
Afterwards, it changed its name to The Battle Cats, and some of the characters changed their names.
Spinoffs
Battle Cats Rangers
On April 27, 2017, Battle Cats Rangers, a spinoff game developed by MEMORY Inc and published by MEMORY Inc, PONOS Corp, and YD Online Corp, was released. The game is completely different than the original; It is a clicker/idle game rather than a 2D tower defense. The main gameplay involves tapping the screen to attack enemies that endlessly stream towards your team. You don't take any damage from enemies and there is no time limit to defeat them, except when fighting bosses, which must be defeated within thirty seconds or the player will be knocked back to the previous enemy. As the player collects more in-game currency, Normal Cats from the original game can be unlocked, which improve tapping power and provide special perks. Teammate Cats that do damage to enemies without requiring tapping can also be unlocked. Cat Combos may be unlocked and used by selecting certain cats, which gives certain bonuses to the team. There are treasures to collect, which give cats damage multipliers and other small bonuses. These treasures are gained through "Prestige," which resets the game. Cat Food is a special currency that can be used to purchase boosts for small periods of time or special cats. There is a daily bonus of Cat Food, and ads can be viewed to earn Cat Food or coins as well. This game has since been removed from the public market.
Go! Go! Pogo Cat
Go! Go! Pogo Cat is a spinoff game developed by PONOS Corp released in September 2019. It is a simple infinite platformer similar to Flappy Bird. You collect gems as your character jumps with a pogo stick. Pixies can be picked up to obtain extra midair jumps. There are challenges to complete and every so often a challenge will give you a reward in The Battle Cats if you have already downloaded the app. Like The Battle Cats, there are multiple characters to obtain, but players start off with Pogo Cat. Pogo Cat did not get any updates after its release.
References
- Romano, Sal (12 December 2018). "Together! The Battle Cats debut trailer". Gematsu. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- "PONOS The Batlle cats". ponos.net. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
- "The battle cats pop! arrives on nintendo 3ds". hardcoregamer.com. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
- "The Battle Cats Pop! on Nintendo 3DS". Nintendo. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- "The Battle Cats pop! Metacritic". metacritic. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
- "The Battle Cats Pop! Review". desrtuctoid. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
- "The Battle Cats Pop! Review". digitally download. Retrieved 25 April 2017.