I'll go over a couple of games I have submitted:
I'll make more description later.
Soup the Cat was released in 1986 by Anthill as an exclusive for their first handheld, Blue Formica.
Soup the Cat is a 2D platform game where the player takes control of the eponymous protagonist, Soup the Cat, in her quest to save her child, Rondo the Kitten, by the evil Vespasian (yet another cat). The game has eight levels (called "stages"), through which Soup will find a plethora of enemies and obstacles to avoid, such as Alleycats, Jackhammers, Workers, and other similar stuff. The game is set in New York City (Soup's hometown), so all stages are very urban-like: skyscrapers, construction sites, busy roads, and Central Park are all themes that commonly appear in the eight stages of the game. Most interestingly, the final stage of the game has Soup the Cat climb the Empire State Building, on top of which she finds Rondo and defeats Vespasian (in a cutscene). Then, the game starts again from the beginning.
The control scheme is very simple: Soup is able to walk around and jump. Jumping onto enemies defeats them. While running around NYC, Soup can collect stray balls of wool: collecting 50 of them results in her gaining a new life. If Soup is hit by an opponent or an obstacle or if she falls in a pit she loses a life: losing all lives results in a game over and forces the player to start over.
Much like other games at the time, Soup the Cat prominently featured a score system: defeating enemies, collecting balls of wool, avoiding obstacles and completing levels without losing lives grants players points. The game manual even encourages players to take note of their score, to confront with friends and rivals.
Plot
The game's plot is very simple and is explained in the game's manual:
It looks like it's another peaceful day for our lazy, cuddly Soup the Cat! The sun shines over New York City and her bowl of food seems to be anything but filled to brim. It's the perfect time for a nap, right Soup? Now, let's see where Rondo is: that adorable rascal always hides and makes a lot of mischief... Rondo? Rondo, where are you? Oh no! Outside the window: isn't that the evil Vespasian? Wait! Why did he kidnap Rondo? There's no time to answer these questions: go after Vespasian, Soup, and rescue the little Rondo before your master notices you went missing!
Reception
Soup the Cat was a good success, both critically and commercially. Players had never imagined that such a dynamic game could be featured on a handheld console, as it was seen to be almost on par with mainstays such as Winstann the Gnome.
The main weaknesses of the game were definitely its subpar graphics (even for a handheld game, it was hard at times to recognize what was going on on screen), especially when compared with home console games, and its shortness. DiNoto and other developers at Anthill claimed that they were ready for the latter criticism and they made the game extra hard to accomodate for a shorter duration of it, though the difficulty of the game was sometimes cited as another weakness of it.
Critics however praised the creativity of the purpose, the decently unique level design, the challenging experience and, particularly, the final level, the Empire State Building: in fact, the way that the developers created the effect of Soup going around the skyscraper while climbing it was considered revolutionary.
Despite its shortcomings, Soup the Cat sold very well: it quickly became Anthill's most popular game and spawned a franchise that went over the boundaries of gaming, with merchandise, plushies, and even a cartoon being made though the '80s and, especially, the '90s. Soup the Cat in particular became the mascot of Anthill, especially after the release of this game's sequel.
Remake
As a launch title for the Rainbow Formica, Anthill launched a remake of Soup the Cat, named Soup the Cat: ReMASTER. The game was a faithful remake of the original experience, though it was full on color (taking advantage of the Rainbow Formica's much more powerful hardware) and it had more intelligible graphics (shoring up one of the main criticisms made to its prequel).
Other than a graphical overhaul, ReMASTER introduced a new collectible item, the Fishy Cookie. Each level has its own Fishy Cookie: collecting one rewards the player with an extra life. Collecting all eight Fishy Cookies unlocks a secret stage (playable from the main menu) called Soup's Dream, where Soup has to travel across a colorful and dreamy landscape to rescue Rondo yet another time. Soup's Dream itself features a Fishy Cookie: collecting it rewards with the final extra stage of the game, To the Moon, where Soup has to climb a tower that leads to the moon. This stage, which is mostly a bonus with very few challenges, is the only one that lacks a Fishy Cookie.
Despite its advancements, ReMASTER was, generally, seen as a cheap attempt to capitalize on the growing success of Soup the Cat and her franchise. The two bonus levels were not deemed very interesting and players generally felt that ReMASTER was not a genuine attempt at moving the series forward. Still, it saw moderate success, especially because the launch lineup for the Rainbow Formica was seen as rather poor.
Soup the Cat is a 2D platform game where the player takes control of the eponymous protagonist, Soup the Cat, in her quest to save her child, Rondo the Kitten, by the evil Vespasian (yet another cat). The game has eight levels (called "stages"), through which Soup will find a plethora of enemies and obstacles to avoid, such as Alleycats, Jackhammers, Workers, and other similar stuff. The game is set in New York City (Soup's hometown), so all stages are very urban-like: skyscrapers, construction sites, busy roads, and Central Park are all themes that commonly appear in the eight stages of the game. Most interestingly, the final stage of the game has Soup the Cat climb the Empire State Building, on top of which she finds Rondo and defeats Vespasian (in a cutscene). Then, the game starts again from the beginning.
The control scheme is very simple: Soup is able to walk around and jump. Jumping onto enemies defeats them. While running around NYC, Soup can collect stray balls of wool: collecting 50 of them results in her gaining a new life. If Soup is hit by an opponent or an obstacle or if she falls in a pit she loses a life: losing all lives results in a game over and forces the player to start over.
Much like other games at the time, Soup the Cat prominently featured a score system: defeating enemies, collecting balls of wool, avoiding obstacles and completing levels without losing lives grants players points. The game manual even encourages players to take note of their score, to confront with friends and rivals.
Plot
The game's plot is very simple and is explained in the game's manual:
It looks like it's another peaceful day for our lazy, cuddly Soup the Cat! The sun shines over New York City and her bowl of food seems to be anything but filled to brim. It's the perfect time for a nap, right Soup? Now, let's see where Rondo is: that adorable rascal always hides and makes a lot of mischief... Rondo? Rondo, where are you? Oh no! Outside the window: isn't that the evil Vespasian? Wait! Why did he kidnap Rondo? There's no time to answer these questions: go after Vespasian, Soup, and rescue the little Rondo before your master notices you went missing!
Reception
Soup the Cat was a good success, both critically and commercially. Players had never imagined that such a dynamic game could be featured on a handheld console, as it was seen to be almost on par with mainstays such as Winstann the Gnome.
The main weaknesses of the game were definitely its subpar graphics (even for a handheld game, it was hard at times to recognize what was going on on screen), especially when compared with home console games, and its shortness. DiNoto and other developers at Anthill claimed that they were ready for the latter criticism and they made the game extra hard to accomodate for a shorter duration of it, though the difficulty of the game was sometimes cited as another weakness of it.
Critics however praised the creativity of the purpose, the decently unique level design, the challenging experience and, particularly, the final level, the Empire State Building: in fact, the way that the developers created the effect of Soup going around the skyscraper while climbing it was considered revolutionary.
Despite its shortcomings, Soup the Cat sold very well: it quickly became Anthill's most popular game and spawned a franchise that went over the boundaries of gaming, with merchandise, plushies, and even a cartoon being made though the '80s and, especially, the '90s. Soup the Cat in particular became the mascot of Anthill, especially after the release of this game's sequel.
Remake
As a launch title for the Rainbow Formica, Anthill launched a remake of Soup the Cat, named Soup the Cat: ReMASTER. The game was a faithful remake of the original experience, though it was full on color (taking advantage of the Rainbow Formica's much more powerful hardware) and it had more intelligible graphics (shoring up one of the main criticisms made to its prequel).
Other than a graphical overhaul, ReMASTER introduced a new collectible item, the Fishy Cookie. Each level has its own Fishy Cookie: collecting one rewards the player with an extra life. Collecting all eight Fishy Cookies unlocks a secret stage (playable from the main menu) called Soup's Dream, where Soup has to travel across a colorful and dreamy landscape to rescue Rondo yet another time. Soup's Dream itself features a Fishy Cookie: collecting it rewards with the final extra stage of the game, To the Moon, where Soup has to climb a tower that leads to the moon. This stage, which is mostly a bonus with very few challenges, is the only one that lacks a Fishy Cookie.
Despite its advancements, ReMASTER was, generally, seen as a cheap attempt to capitalize on the growing success of Soup the Cat and her franchise. The two bonus levels were not deemed very interesting and players generally felt that ReMASTER was not a genuine attempt at moving the series forward. Still, it saw moderate success, especially because the launch lineup for the Rainbow Formica was seen as rather poor.
Determined to improve sales for the Rainbow Formica, in 1996 Anthill released the long-awaited sequel of original Soup the Cat, aptly named Soup the Cat 2.
The game, much like its prequel, was still a 2D platform, but it featured a lot of changes in its gameplay: first of all, Soup could now attack her opponents by scratching them. Indeed, certain enemies could not be jumped on but could be scratched or vice versa. She also now had the ability to tank two more hits before being defeated and losing a life. Soup started every stage with three hits points, but she could not recover them. Players were also able to collect Superpowered Yarns, in order to give Soup some power-ups. These were the Boomerang (a projectile that travels in a straight line), the Super Jump (a vertical leap with a damaging hit-box), and the Scratch-nado (a hit-box covers Soup as she spins an scratches frantically). These three power-ups also gave Soup the ability to tank another hit, though getting hit means that Soup loses the power-up.
Unlike the first title, Soup the Cat 2 featured a larger amount of stages: 24 stages, divided into six world (called "levels"), each representing a city or an area of the world: New York City, the Australian Outback, Kyoto, London, Paris, and Cairo. The final stage of each level feature a boss:
Balls of wool make a comeback, as well as Fishy Cookies, though they don't unlock any secret level and merely cap to 50 the count of balls of wool (meaning that, for example, if the player collects a Fishy Cookie when they have 2 balls of wool, the Fishy Cookie will be worth 48 balls of wool).
Much like its predecessor, Soup the Cat 2 retained the score system, but now the ending of the game (which, unlike its predecessor, doesn't loop back to the beginning) is moderately affected by it (as explained in the Plot section).
Plot
Soup the Cat 2's plot is, yet again, very simple, though it features a few twists at the end: Vespasian is at it again, kidnapping Rondo. It's up to Soup to rescue him once again. This time around, however, Vespasian came prepared, because he is ready to fly though the world to keep Rondo away from her mother. But he is oblivious that Soup is very good at flying planes, so the chasing can become worldwide!
At the end of the game, when Soup finally reaches the Great Pyramid of Giza and is ready for the final showdown with Vespasian, sees the final plot twist: in fact, Vespasian has kidnapped Rondo because he was able to reawaken Vespasian's long lost master, the evil Pharaoh Nefertasi, whose only desire was to conquer the world. It's up to Soup (and Rondo!) to defeat Nefertasi and Vespasian for good.
As anticipated, the ending changes depending on the finishing score:
Soup the Cat 2 was a groundbreaking success and it's considered to be the first killer application for the Rainbow Formica. Everything from the predecessor was improved: from the graphics, to the game's length, including the sometimes unfair difficulty spikes. Critics found the new additions to the gameplay to be very refreshing and fitting, especially the three power-ups, which completely revolutionized the way Soup travels through the stages. The presence of different places of the world as the game's levels was seen with enthusiasm, as it made the game more visually appealing and more varied.
Someone however criticized the game for being too easy, especially when compared to the original Soup the Cat. This was done on purpose by the team of Anthill, as they believed that a longer game had no business being as hard as its predecessor, though it was not universally appreciated.
Bosses were also seen as a bit underwhelming, especially when compared to other encounters in other games. The Wrecking Crew however became a phenomenon in the series fandom and they would make an appearance in every subsequent title of the series.
Overall, Soup the Cat 2 is considered to be a complete improvement over its predecessor. It launched the series into a whole new direction and fleshed out its identity as a platform game that was more accessible to less experienced players. It's the best selling title for the Rainbow Formica and cemented Soup the Cat's status as the main mascot for Anthill.
Following the success of this game, Soup the Cat became especially a phenomenon in the US (her homeland), where she became a common mascot even for governmental programs aimed at children, and Japan, where the merchandise depicting her would end up becoming extremely common.
The game, much like its prequel, was still a 2D platform, but it featured a lot of changes in its gameplay: first of all, Soup could now attack her opponents by scratching them. Indeed, certain enemies could not be jumped on but could be scratched or vice versa. She also now had the ability to tank two more hits before being defeated and losing a life. Soup started every stage with three hits points, but she could not recover them. Players were also able to collect Superpowered Yarns, in order to give Soup some power-ups. These were the Boomerang (a projectile that travels in a straight line), the Super Jump (a vertical leap with a damaging hit-box), and the Scratch-nado (a hit-box covers Soup as she spins an scratches frantically). These three power-ups also gave Soup the ability to tank another hit, though getting hit means that Soup loses the power-up.
Unlike the first title, Soup the Cat 2 featured a larger amount of stages: 24 stages, divided into six world (called "levels"), each representing a city or an area of the world: New York City, the Australian Outback, Kyoto, London, Paris, and Cairo. The final stage of each level feature a boss:
- New York City: the Wrecking Crew (Randy, Tandy, Andy, and Kyle, four construction workers that became iconic in the series)
- The Australian Outback: Mama Spider (a giant tarantula)
- Kyoto: Phantom Shogun (the ghost of a samurai that infested his old armor)
- London: the Hound of Baskerville (the giant hound that appears in a novel of Sherlock Holmes. Besides that, cat vs. dog...)
- Paris: L'Empereur (a villain inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte himself)
- Cairo: Vespasian and Pharaoh Nefertasi (the latter being Vespasian's ancient master, now revived as an evil mummy determined to conquer the world)
Balls of wool make a comeback, as well as Fishy Cookies, though they don't unlock any secret level and merely cap to 50 the count of balls of wool (meaning that, for example, if the player collects a Fishy Cookie when they have 2 balls of wool, the Fishy Cookie will be worth 48 balls of wool).
Much like its predecessor, Soup the Cat 2 retained the score system, but now the ending of the game (which, unlike its predecessor, doesn't loop back to the beginning) is moderately affected by it (as explained in the Plot section).
Plot
Soup the Cat 2's plot is, yet again, very simple, though it features a few twists at the end: Vespasian is at it again, kidnapping Rondo. It's up to Soup to rescue him once again. This time around, however, Vespasian came prepared, because he is ready to fly though the world to keep Rondo away from her mother. But he is oblivious that Soup is very good at flying planes, so the chasing can become worldwide!
At the end of the game, when Soup finally reaches the Great Pyramid of Giza and is ready for the final showdown with Vespasian, sees the final plot twist: in fact, Vespasian has kidnapped Rondo because he was able to reawaken Vespasian's long lost master, the evil Pharaoh Nefertasi, whose only desire was to conquer the world. It's up to Soup (and Rondo!) to defeat Nefertasi and Vespasian for good.
As anticipated, the ending changes depending on the finishing score:
- Fewer than 50,000 points: after defeating Nefertasi, Soup falls asleep due to the fatigue piled up in the long journey. The Pyramid is flooding with sand and Rondo can hardly push Soup away. At the end, it's revealed that Rondo miraculously managed to save himself and Soup, but Soup is still sleeping...
- Between 50,000 and 250,000 points: Soup and Rondo run away from the Great Pyramid of Giza as sands starts flooding it. The two fly away on Soup's airplane. It's considered the default (and canon) finale.
- Between 250,000 and 500,000 points: Soup and Rondo run away from the Great Pyramid of Giza, when Rondo finds a treasure chest. They retrieve it and find that it's filled with gold and jewels. Soup and Rondo return to New York with this valuable treasure.
- More than 500,000 points: this finale is similar to the previous one, but instead of gold and jewelry inside the treasure chest Soup and Rondo find the most comfortable cat's bed in the world. They sleep inside it and have the best dreams. This is considered the best ending.
Soup the Cat 2 was a groundbreaking success and it's considered to be the first killer application for the Rainbow Formica. Everything from the predecessor was improved: from the graphics, to the game's length, including the sometimes unfair difficulty spikes. Critics found the new additions to the gameplay to be very refreshing and fitting, especially the three power-ups, which completely revolutionized the way Soup travels through the stages. The presence of different places of the world as the game's levels was seen with enthusiasm, as it made the game more visually appealing and more varied.
Someone however criticized the game for being too easy, especially when compared to the original Soup the Cat. This was done on purpose by the team of Anthill, as they believed that a longer game had no business being as hard as its predecessor, though it was not universally appreciated.
Bosses were also seen as a bit underwhelming, especially when compared to other encounters in other games. The Wrecking Crew however became a phenomenon in the series fandom and they would make an appearance in every subsequent title of the series.
Overall, Soup the Cat 2 is considered to be a complete improvement over its predecessor. It launched the series into a whole new direction and fleshed out its identity as a platform game that was more accessible to less experienced players. It's the best selling title for the Rainbow Formica and cemented Soup the Cat's status as the main mascot for Anthill.
Following the success of this game, Soup the Cat became especially a phenomenon in the US (her homeland), where she became a common mascot even for governmental programs aimed at children, and Japan, where the merchandise depicting her would end up becoming extremely common.
I'll make more description later.
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