Yes, I know there’s something going on today with Nintendo, and Switches, and Mario Kart, and a bunch of other things BUT let me direct you to the other most exciting news of the day which is that Ratatan, the spiritual successor to the beloved Patapon series, is launching its first public demo today, June 5th, at noon BST. Given that the series relies on timing, perhaps they should have picked another day? Still, if you’re not about to fill your house with the noises of blue shells going up plumbers’ bottoms, perhaps you’d like to fill it with the crazy sounds of creatures blowing trumpets to direct their pals to attack giant monsters. Doesn’t that sound good?
It’ll only sound good if you get the timing right, as Ratatan, like Patapon before it, is a rhythm action game, that has you pressing buttons in time to the music and beat to direct your diminutive army to attack, retreat, defend and run. It sounds simple, and in theory, it is, but as compelling gaming goes, few things have you reaching the same level of zen as Patapon does., If Ratatan can achieve that same trick, we’re in for a treat.
Ratatan pulls in some of that lovely modern roguelike progression, so you can assume that you’ll be levelling up, growing your team’s abilities and adding new troops and weaponry to your army while failing or dying a few times along the way. In fairness, that sounds a lot like the progression from the original Patapon games, but I don’t think I ever thought of them as roguelikes…
The side-scrolling 2D action can be enjoyed by up to four players in co-op, which sounds chaotic. I have little idea how that’s going to work, but the listing for the game says that there can be up to 100 characters on screen, so maybe, you’re just all there?
There’s not long to wait, as you can get ready to download the demo on Steam now, with a later link coming for Nintendo Switch (and presumably Nintendo Switch 2 as well).
