Review: Super Catboy

Developer – PixelPogo

Publisher – Assemble Entertainment

Platforms – PC (Reviewed)

Review copy given by publisher

Super Catboy from PixelPogo is a 90s 16-bit action-packed platformer that takes you on an adventure being a badass cat fighting against your worst enemies, dogs. Your main goal in this game is to eliminate Dr. Ungefug and Catboy must run, jump, dash, and fight his way through the snow-capped mountains to derelict factories to defeat him. You are joined by a crazy sidekick named Weapongirl who comes with you on this journey to destroy Catboy’s creator.

Super Catboy’s gameplay resembles that of a typical platform game. To progress through levels, you must jump on enemies, navigate challenging platforms with spikes and other obstacles, and combat foes using your gun or Super Catboy claws for close-range attacks. The game has a dashing feature that allows players to quickly move between platforms or avoid enemy fire.

During my experience, I found that the dash control works only when standing on platforms and not when midair. When fighting enemies besides the Dogs like Bats, the melee feature wouldn’t be as useful compared to the gun you are equipped with. For my playthrough, I used an Xbox wireless controller and at times the controls felt delayed when in a battle like if I wanted to melee an enemy that flew or like I’ve said with dashing.

The art style for Super Catboy provides great nostalgia for those who are a fan of classic 90s platformers and the game has a lot of similarities to TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge. The art for this game peaks as you go further along in the levels where you’ll play missions on a motorcycle, mining cart, in a haunted mansion, and a lot more.

Let’s discuss the sounds and music in Super Catboy. The music is exceptional for a 16-bit platformer produced by an indie studio. From the main menu to boss fights and level progression, the music is motivating and never becomes repetitive or boring. The only sound element I got frustrated at was when you are getting hurt on spikes or other obstacles in the game Catboy constantly meows which can make players rage if they’re having a tough experience at a part of the game.

Super Catboy is not the easiest game in the world either. You’ll enter Boss Fights throughout the game that can provide a challenge and just fighting through some levels like the Haunted Mansion where you have to run through many obstacles can provide a large challenge to players not too experienced with platformers.

There aren’t many checkpoints when it comes to this platformer so when your health bar runs out you’ll find yourself at the start of the level most of the time. You are equipped with 9 lives when you start a level and of course, you can find canned cat food throughout the game to heal yourself up. If you use up all nine of your lives, you will be taken to a Game Over screen. From there, you will proceed to a cutscene at home with your sidekick, Weapongirl. From there no matter where you were the game will start you from the start of that level.

At the end of every level in Super Catboy you’ll be graded on completion such as how many collectible pieces have you found, coins collected, and other statistics. I like that this game has you focused on side objectives other than killing enemies and going to the finish line. You can collect all the coins and collectible pieces that will form a cat sculpture.

I wish there were options for customization for your character as you play through the same costume in the game. But given the small development team we’ll cut them some slack for features not in the game, but that are usually in larger games.

Overall, Super Catboy is a fun and engaging 90s 16-bit platformer that allows you to be the badass cat you’ve always wanted to be. At times the game can become repetitive making you want to take breaks in between, but for its price at $9.99 on Steam it’s worth the shot for anyone into 2D platformers.