The Battle Cats is a free-to-playtower defense game developed by PONOS Corporation for iOS and Android mobile devices, which first emerged in Japan under the name Nyanko Daisensou. The Battle Cats debuted on the Japanese iOS App Store in November 2011 under the name of "Battle Nekos", with Android support following in December of that same year. It has sustained immense popularity in Japan and Korea, with an English version briefly appearing on the English-language iTunes/Google Play stores in 2012. However, it later was deleted in both the US Google Play Stores and App Store. An improved version of this game was later released on September 17, 2014. A PC port release was available for download until late 2018, when PONOS Corporation cut support for it.
Gameplay
The Battle Cats is a tower defense game where the player selects a team of cats to fight enemies in multiple settings. The gameplay involves sending a wide roster of cats out onto a 2D battlefield in order to defend a base equipped with a cannon, which is referred to as the "cat base". The cannon is by default a laser cannon but can be developed in order to obtain different effects that use materials collected from SoL to build different abilities such as freeze, slow, knockback, barrier breaker, holy blast, water blast The Battle Cats contains 3 main story, Legend Stages and Catclaw Dojo. Each main story contains 3 chapters. The cats are the protagonists the player deploys throughout the game. The cats are all unique in their own sense, design, and ability. Many cats may not look like a typical cat or are characters earned in collaboration with other games. The cats can be upgraded with XP to initially level up to the level cap of 10 and the player can eventually increase the cap to 20 + 80 "duplicates" for basic cats, and 50 + 80 "duplicates" for other cats. All the cats change their appearance and gain abilities after being upgraded to certain levels. The cats are divided into six categories: Basic, Special, Rare, Super Rare, Uber Super Rare, and ???, or Legend Rare. The Battle Cats frequently has events where players can earn cats called collaboration units. The nine basic cats are the first cats available and are the easiest to upgrade. They have a max pay-to-upgrade level of 20 but can be increased with cat capsules. After upgrading to level 30, the player can evolve the cat into what is called true form. The special cats are the second type of cat unlocked. They can be unlocked by certain stages, be bought by cat food, the special currency of the game, or just by simply collecting the unit by opening the game at certain times. The Rare to Uber cats can be unlocked with a rare cat capsule, which requires golden or platinum tickets to operate or to be unlocked in special stages. They are relatively expensive to upgrade but are usually stronger than the basic cats. Fighting in battle requires energy, which slowly regenerates over time. Every one minute, 1 energy is recovered. The app requires an internet connection in order for energy to update, but if the app is opened, the energy amount increases without internet. Max energy can be raised with upgrades and treasures. The player can bring items into the battle that assist such as "Sniper Cat," a tool that pushes enemies back from the base, and "Cat CPU," a tool that automatically deploys cats as soon as money is available. Some of the stages have special rules, like “Special and Rare Cats only”. The battle takes place on a 2D plane with the players base on the right, and the enemy base on the left. The player gains a steady stream of money, which can be spent to either deploy cats or to upgrade the money production. Deploying cats requires a cool down, which can be reduced by upgrades. The battle ends when one of the bases is destroyed. Winning the battle gives the player a chance to get a treasure, which is in the main story chapters. Collecting all of them can buff cats' abilities and can also enhance other game mechanics, such as decreased energy recharge time. There are three levels of treasure: Inferior, normal, and superior, with an inferior treasure being the weakest and superior treasure being the strongest. Players can replay stages in order to get all the treasures. Players can also use a Treasure Radar to have a 100% chance to get a superior or normal treasure if they complete the battle. There is a huge roster of enemies all of different stats and types, with more being added with each new update. Certain types of enemies can have advantages over others. For example, while all the non-white enemies have higher stats than their white counterparts, black and angel enemies have much higher speeds and knockback counts, while zombie enemies can burrow past cats and can revive themselves a number of times. While it now seems like the enemy has an unfair advantage, victory is still possible as certain cats have advantages over certain types of enemies. For example, Weightlifter Cat is a massive damage anti-black enemy, which means that he inflicts massive damage against black enemies.
Release
It was released for Nintendo 3DS under the name of The Battle Cats POP! on June 27, 2016, and was later released on Nintendo Switch on December 2018.
Reception
The Battle Cats POP! received generally positive reviews. CJ Andriessen of Destructoid gave the game a 7 out of 10 and wrote: "The Battle Cats POP! is a game that's as fun as it is weird. When it’s not putting you in time out with the energy meter, it can be addictive, like Pokémon. Too much of its free-to-play roots are still present, but even with those elements it's still a worthwhile time killer." Matt S. of Digitally Downloaded gave 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote: "Ultimately what sets Battle Cats apart from the many similar games of similar depth and strategy is that hugely creative edge. This game gets to be the distinctive and memorable example of the genre because the artists had the sense to do something that makes no sense, but we end up looking forward to each new level just to see the insanity that it brings. That, right there, is good design principles for mobile gaming, and it translates across to the 3DS perfectly."
''Battle Cats Rangers''
On April 27, 2017, Battle Cats Rangers, a spinoff game developed by MEMORY Inc and published by MEMORY Inc, PONOS Corp, and YD Online Corp, was released. The game is completely different than the original; It is a clicker/idle game rather than a 2D tower defense. The main gameplay involves tapping the screen to attack enemies that endlessly stream towards your team. You don't take any damage from enemies and there is no time limit to defeat them, except when fighting bosses which you will only have 30 seconds to defeat them. If you are unable to, you are kicked back to the previous enemy and farm until you level up enough to challenge the boss again. As you collect more in-game currency, you unlock Normal Cats from the original game, which improve your tapping power and give special perks. You also unlock "Teammate Cats", which do damage to enemies without you having to tap. Cat Combos may be unlocked and used by selecting certain cats, which gives certain bonuses to your team. There are treasures to collect which give your cats damage multipliers and other small bonuses. These treasures are gained through "Prestige", which resets your game. Cat Food is a special currency which you can use to purchase boosts for small periods of time or special cats. There is a daily bonus of Cat Food, and there are many opportunities to watch ads in order to earn Cat Food or coins as well.
