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Puzzle games flourished on the Game Boy back in the day. The novelty of a robust, portable
video game system - not to mention the unbelievable popularity of Tetris - invited innovation
in every realm of puzzle gaming. It’s the perfect time killer. Catrap is one such puzzle
game. And, in the grand scheme of things, it seems kinda insignificant. But, like we
saw with Palamedes, sometimes you can find some real gems languishing in obscurity. Even
if it’s filled with cat-people. Who can become trapped. Hence the name.
As either Catboy or Catgirl - no, seriously - your task is to exorcise all the demons
and mummies and whatnot from each of a hundred stages. I believe this is supposed to free
the rest of their people from being cats, apparently ignorant of the wide range of employment
opportunities for cat-people in the coming millenium. Look, this is from 1990. Catgirls
weren’t bastions of moe exploitation, they were bastions of badass exploitation. Just
watch Dominion Tank Police. Anyway, you’ve got ladders to traverse, sand to burrow through,
and rocks to manipulate in order to dispense justice. And by “justice,” I mean “hip-check
the bejeezus out of ghosts.” Yes, for whatever reason, this Catgirl happens to be the reincarnation
of Arron Asham, which is alarming because he’s not actually dead. It seems kinda counterintuitive:
Normally, running right into the bad guys is the last thing you want to do, but here
it’s order of the day. Exorcise the entire stage, and you move onto the next, with more
rocks to drop, more monsters to run into the boards, and more... um. Sand. Ya dig?
Unfortunately, this being a puzzle game, it’s possible that you might do something completely
wrong. And that’s fine! It means the game isn’t a pushover. So, in said situation,
you could just reset the stage and try again... which might seem extreme if you’ve only
missed one movement, drop, or action. Fortunately, Catrap was ahead of its time! As you notice,
since all you do is walk around, push, and hip-check things, the A and B buttons don’t
actually... well, they don’t do much of anything, do they? So, just to keep ‘em
from feeling lonely, they’re loaded with action rewinding capabilities! On the Game
Boy! In 1990! And you can have it all, for the low low price of three bucks, delivered
direct to your 3DS! Much more convenient than picking up a physical copy.