MEGA CAT STUDIOS
This developer/publisher’s cart is brimming with indie brilliance
OLD TOWERS
MEGA CAT STUDIOS COLLECTION 1, MEGA DRIVE, 2019
■ Mega Cat’s cart is home to numerous fun puzzlers, but this remains our favourite. It’s a slick offering by Denis Grachev that has you dashing around deviously designed levels as you attempt to clear it of coins, whilst avoiding traps and racing to the exit. Later stages are further complicated by the addition of a second controllable character.
JUSTICE DUEL
MEGA CAT STUDIOS COLLECTION 1, NES, 2019
■ This Joust clone is an odd inclusion as it really comes to life as a four-player game and Blaze’s handheld doesn’t offer multiplayer play. Luckily, single-player remains plenty of fun and sees you playing as a cybernetically enhanced American patriot who has to fight off increasingly frantic waves of enemies whilst riding an engineered eagle.
CREEPY BRAWLERS
MEGA CAT STUDIOS COLLECTION 1, NES, 2017
■ This diverting Punch Out!! clone pits you against iconic movie monsters rather than comical pugilists, but the results are the same as you fight your way to greatness. Just be mindful that the controls are currently reversed, so you might want to use the new firmware update that’s been released.
SUPER PAINTER
MEGA CAT STUDIOS COLLECTION 1, NES, 2018
■ Retro Souls’ colourful platformer has been eating up a lot of our spare time recently. It charges you with colouring grey blocks by running over them; once every block is highlighted you can head to the level’s exit and tackle the next stage. Watch out though, as cute monsters ensure your painting mission becomes extremely perilous.
LITTLE MEDUSA
MEGA CAT STUDIOS COLLECTION 1, MEGA DRIVE, 2018
■ Mega Cat’s Mega Drive puzzler is essentially a spiritual predecessor to
Irem’s Kickle Cubicle, but dresses up the block-pushing with a distinctively charming Olympian theme. Retrieving the stars, which are scattered about each stage, will require a fair amount of head-scratching, while the boss encounters are challenging but never unfair.