Super Cat Tales
A super-cute game for Mario fans
Free Developer FDG Entertainment, fdg-entertainment.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 7 or later
Super Cat Tales is an affectionate homage to Nintendo’s SNES classic Super Mario World, and it isn’t afraid to show it. It’s a charmingly cartoonish, detailed, and bright game, in which – as in Super Mario World – you have to make your way to the end of a 2D level by jumping over things, swimming through dangerous waters, and using a bunch of power-ups to get past obstacles. Unlike in Super Mario World, you can’t vanquish enemies; bumping into them incurs a time penalty or death.
The platforming, then, becomes more a test of skill, but it’s made difficult by the controls. Tap once on the right to walk, once on the left to jump, and twice to run, but bear in mind that running is sometimes detrimental to what you’re trying to do, such as wall jumping. In water levels, you’re unable to move forward – only diagonally upwards, which makes it incredibly hard to progress.
What’s more, the central concept of the game is that you can unlock cats with new abilities to get past obstacles. That’s sweet, but it would have worked better to power up your main character instead.
The controls make it hard to really feel like you’re good at the game, and the cat-switching mechanic is ultimately tedious. Still, if you can get your head around both of those elements, the Mario influence serves the game well, and it’s still really charming. the bottom line. A cute, good-looking platforming game that requires a level of skill made difficult by unintuitive controls.