Onyanko Town

Onyanko Town
Box art
Developer(s)	Micronics[1]
Publisher(s)	Pony Canyon[1][2]
Version	R49V5901 (PNF-OT)
Platform(s)	Family Computer
Release date(s)	JP November 21, 1985[1]
Genre(s)	2D action[1][2]
Mode(s)	Single-player
Media/distribution	320-kilobit cartridge

Onyanko Town (おにゃん子ＴＯＷＮ, Nyanko TOWN^?, lit. "Kitten Town")^[3] is a Japan-exclusive video game for the Family Computer. ROM images of this game are sometimes known as Dog Town or Cat Town.^[4] The game has no Japanese text at all; everything is perfectly understandable to an English-speaking Westerner.^[5]

Gameplay

This is Milky the mother cat on an adventure through the mostly pedestrian-friendly city to rescue her son Michael.

Players must play the role of a mother cat called Milky who lives in a dangerous metropolis full of dogs.^[5] The dogs want to kill Milky before she can rescue her son Michael who wandered out into the city on his own (and became lost).^[5] Players must catch the fish for temporary invincibility.^[5] However, the other enemies can still kill the mother cat like the fish merchant (who is the only humanoid bad guy in the game),^[5] the automobiles on the road, along with the manholes and the pylons. The city is divided into roads for automobile traffic and sidewalks for roaming pedestrian dogs in overalls. The fish merchants completely replace the dogs after the 30th level; causing the invincibility icon (fish) to become redundant.

Unlike the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series of video games (especially the first NES release which would come out four years later in 1989), open manholes kill the player instead of helping her evade the roaming dogs. Sewer snakes also come out to kill the player with its poisonous venom. Triangle cones can momentarily block progress for the player. The game was targeted to a much younger audience than was considered to be "average" in the Nintendo Entertainment System community during that era.^[5] Using the classical music song Ballet des poussins dans leurs coques (composed by Modest Mussorgsky) as the background music, there is a common theme throughout the game of "dog catches cat; cat catches fish" - emulating the food chain.

Characters

Milky

She is the mother cat and the player's character. Finding feminine articles like a dress, some rings, and high heels can give the player bonus points. Milky can also open manhole covers to send the dogs to their death below.^[5]

Michael

He is a lost kitten that is wandering the metropolis without a care in the world. Michael is Milky's son and is very young explorer who won't always want to travel straight into his mother's arms.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Release information". GameFAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/578255-onyanko-town/data. Retrieved 2010-05-31. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Additional release information". allgame. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=14797. Retrieved 2010-06-02. 
3. ^ "Japanese title". JPNES. http://kurx.net/game/gamebook/fc/JPnesHe.txt. Retrieved 2010-05-31. 
4. ^ "International NES and Famicom Cartridge List". Gamer's Graveyard. http://www.gamersgraveyard.com/repository/nes/nesgames.html. Retrieved 2010-06-02. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Game overview". Retro Gaming Times. http://www.retrogamingtimes.com/rtm29/. Retrieved 2010-05-31. 

See also

• おにゃんこTOWN Overview (Japanese)