Gato Roboto — 8-bit Metroidvania Impressions (Nintendo Switch)
Here, kitty kitty.
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Gato Roboto is an indie Metroidvania released on Switch, Xbox and PC in 2019 and is an absolute blast, successfully boiling down the Metroidvania formula into its most basic components: the exploration, the power-ups and of course, the bosses.
Combined with its no frills Game Boy style 8-bit graphics, Gato Roboto is able to provide a focused and satisfying gaming experience.
You also get to play as a cat who pilots a mech suit, replete with machine guns and a rocket launcher — what other game lets you do that!?
It was a derelict spacecraft
The story begins similarly to Ridley Scott’s classic Alien — a ship in deep space detects an unusual signal from a research facility on a desolate planet and is sent in to investigate. After a crash landing, our human pilot, trapped in the ship, naturally decides to send in his cat, Kiki, to investigate and find some way for them to escape.
After some initial poking around, our feline hero finds a mech suit which she’s able to pilot, giving her increased abilities such as a machine gun and shields. More power-ups are discovered later, but the initial upgrade is a big improvement already. Kiki then sets about exploring the game’s maze-like levels, unlocking different areas, defeating bosses, and revealing the mysteries of the planet.
Very similar to Samus
While it’s not the most original premise, it has just enough of a spin to ensure the game feels fresh. Exploration takes centre stage here as the levels are large, interconnected corridors which are explored non-linearly. There are many areas which are initially unreachable, but are unlocked either through Kiki activating a switch or defeating a boss, or through new…
