I am going to start off this article by saying that this is a bit different than what we normally do here at The Otaku Authority. This is still a review, but first I wanted to give a bit of insight into the company behind publishing the game that will be featured in this piece.
Today we are going to shed a bright light onto a little company called Yi tai youxi Software Company, formerly known in the West as Indie Taiwan Gaming Software (ITG Soft). They chose to change the name because they have shifted their focus from publishing only Famicom games to publishing games on a multitude of retro platforms in the coming years and even some hardware. This is to embrace this new direction as well as their mission statement.
Yi tai youxi Software Company is a company in Taiwan whose mission statement in a nutshell is to be a gaming publisher for the people. This is a non-profit video game publisher in Taiwan that publishes some really high quality products, the first published game of which I will be going over in a bit. They want to see your project succeed no matter how big or small your project is. You could be a kid in high school, or a team of developers just looking to get your game onto a retro platform. Regardless of who you are, they want to get your game out there.
Yi tai youxi Software Company is a rare presence in the gaming space and I am very happy that we have a company that is not driven by profit and just wants to see you succeed with your project and getting into the hands of gamers.
So that was a little bit about the amazing company behind the game I am about to tell you about, let’s dive right in and check it out.
The game I am referring to is called Biocats. Biocats is a unique game for a few different reasons. Firstly, the game is the first retro indie game that Yi tai youxi Software Company ever published that wasn’t their own title. Secondly, this game was developed by Pedan Bros Games, a developer based in Ukraine.
The story of Biocats is that you’re a biocat in the year 2049 and are somewhere outside of Chornobyl. You’re essentially a science experiment created by the ZUBR Organization. Now you have to rescue your brother and get out of the region and take down the person responsible for you and your brother’s existence in an effort to stop the cycle of experimentation and save the world.
Biocats plays like an action platforming game with run and gun elements. The game features five stages with the sixth stage being the final boss fight. The first stage is The Laboratory. In this stage, you have to hit all of the switches and then you move on to stage 2. The second stage is called Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. In this stage you have to collect all of the fish, either dodge or take out enemies, and make it to the exit and reach the next stage.
The third stage is The Hanger. In this stage, you have to find all of the nano-mosquitoe boxes, destroy them and then move on to stage four.
The fourth stage is Dementsy City. This fourth stage is similar to the second stage in that you have to collect all the fish, choose to dispatch enemies or not and make it to the next stage. The fifth and final stage before the boss fight is Earls of Black. The goal in this last stage is to stop the spread of the mutating virus by navigating the floors and removing all of the bombs planted on each of the floors.
The final stage of the game is the boss battle and that’s as much as I am going to describe the stage. I don’t want to give anything further away when it comes to the story behind the game, you will just need to pick up the game for yourself if you want to check it out.
Graphically, Biocats is pretty impressive for an NES/Famicom game. Because of its premise, it uses very bright and beautiful colors in every stage with a surprising amount of detail. Lots of bright blues, greens, and yellows punctuated with darker colors, really help everything to stand out. Objects in the stages have a surprising amount of detail to them which isn’t something you typically find in an NES/Famicom game.
Performance wise, the game runs with absolutely zero slowdown or even flicker of any kind. I believe the reason for this is because there aren’t a lot of moving objects on each screen and therefore, the game performs a lot better than it would say if you had a lot of moving components on a single screen. Now that’s not to say that the game isn’t optimized really well because I think that is another aspect that plays a significant part here.
Music in Biocats is a bit lacking. There is a single music track that plays in each stage, though it did seem to be arranged differently a little for each stage. Now normally I would fault a game for this and say that I wished there were more than a single track that was slightly arranged when it comes to the background music. The thing about it is though, that it fits the game really well. Not only does it fit the game well, the track is really nice to listen to and really helps to hype up the action in the game. The only aspect of the sound elements in the game I really don’t like is the sound a door makes when you open it. I would have liked to have had it sound more like a click. Instead it sounds more like a metallic thud. Not a huge deal, and given how good the game is overall, easily overlooked.
Before I close out this review and give my final thoughts, I wanted to take a minute to appreciate the physical release of this game, of which Yi tai youxi Software Company sent for the purposes of this review.
The physical release is for the Famicom with a small form factor box which houses the cart, the manual, and a plastic tray that the cart and manual sit inside of. The cart is a nice yellow color that really helps the game stand out when placed in a console or sitting on a shelf among other carts. One of the most interesting aspects of this physical release is that the box and the entirety of the manual are in Ukrainian and not in English. In fact the only bit of English in this release is the name Biocats on the cart label. I will point out though that the entirety of the game is in English, only the box text and manual is in Ukrainian.
Given that there is an English release available as well, it is my belief that the Ukrainian release was sent for review to be authentic. I think the Ukrainian release was the initial release and the English version is offered just because it would likely be the one people in the West would want to purchase.
I definitely appreciate the thought and deliberate nature that went into being sent the Ukrainian release of Biocats on Famicom.
In conclusion, Biocats is a short, addictive, fun, and very unique action game that is available now for your Famicom. I encourage you to check out Biocats for the Famicom, it’s a wonderful game that needs to be experienced by every Famicom owner!
If you want to learn more about Y Tai Youxi Software Company and pickup Biocats, you can chekout the following links:
Biocats: https://pb-games.itch.io/biocats/devlog/797885/-biocats-is-now-available-on-cartridges
YI Tai Youxi Software Company: https://itg-soft.tw/
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.