by In 1992, Hudson Soft released Felix the Cat for the NES based on the cartoon character of the same name.
The premise is pretty simple. The Professor has kidnapped Kitty Cat and is holding her for ransom. The Professor wants Felix’s Magic Bag of Tricks. It’s up to Felix to rescue his girlfriend and stop the Professor from getting his grubby paws on the Magic Bag of Tricks. You do that by running, jumping, and fighting your way through 9 levels.
So, did Hudson Soft make a purrfect platformer, or should this cat have stayed in the bag? Let’s find out.
Gameplay
Let’s start with the controls. They are pretty much what you’d expect of an NES platformer. The D-pad controls Felix’s movement, the A button jumps, the B button attacks, and the Start Button pauses the game. The Select button does nothing.
The power-up system is more complex than I expected for a game like this. Gaining a heart increases your magic level. You get hearts when you collect 10 Felix heads. At any level above base power, you will see little hearts in the upper left corner next to the word Magic. These slowly drain over time. To refill the magic gauge, you need milk. Milk drops when you collect 5 Felix heads. However, because you can’t get hearts and milk at the same time, they have a pattern. 5, 15, 25, and so on drop milk. While 10, 20, 30, and so on drop hearts. If the magic gauge runs out, or you get hit, you change to the previous magic level. If you don’t have a previous magic level and get hit, you die.
Each magic level transforms you and gives you a new attack. Depending on the type of level, these transformations will be different. The sheer variety of forms and attacks is a real treat. It really helps keep the game fresh when you are changing between so many forms and level types.
The controls are very responsive, and the different attacks are a lot of fun to use.
I give the gameplay a 9/10.
Graphics
Felix the Cat doesn’t have the most detailed graphics, but they are a lot of fun. There are silly-looking enemies all over the place. Felix and his transformations are cool and rather expressive for an NES game. There are even little clouds shaped like the head of the Professor and Kitty Cat sprinkled throughout levels. The latter sometimes even drop helpful items if you jump into them.
The level designs are also varied and a joy to look at. We have dinosaur levels, Egyptian pyramids, and more standard fare like grass, underwater, sky, and ice levels. All of them look pretty good too.
My one complaint is that the colors don’t always fit that well. The pink they used for the UI is also used in the dinosaur level’s backgrounds. It doesn’t look bad; it just doesn’t seem like the best color choice.
I give the graphics an 8/10.
Music and Sound
The music is good, and it’s even quite catchy at times. I won’t be adding these tracks to my regular music playlist, but they are great for playing the game. A few tracks use the same underlying theme, but they are distinct enough to be noticeable.
The sound effects are pretty good too. They make me think of games like Duck Tales. I wish that the music was on the same level, but very few games reach those lofty heights.
I give the music and sound an 8/10.
Difficulty
You start with 3 lives and 3 continues. There are two ways to get extra lives. You get one for every 50,000 points and one for each extra heart collected when at max magic.
The rest of the game is fairly easy, especially early on. It’s not hard to collect some Felix heads to upgrade your magic to max and then blast everything with a literal tank, or the equivalent max-rank magic for that level.
Most enemies die in a single hit at base power. If you have max power, I haven’t seen a single enemy that wasn’t a boss that needed more than one hit.
Final Verdict
I give Felix the Cat an 8/10.
Felix the Cat is a simple but fun platformer with a cartoony art style. If you like platformers or the cartoon it is based on, look into this game. Currently, it’s about $89 for a loose copy if you want to buy it. It’s a better price than many I’ve reviewed here, but it might be a bit steep for the average person.
