Hello, people, this is Kenneth$2 and I'm going to review Koneko Monogatari - The Adventures of Chatran for the Famicom, made by FCI/Pony Canyon (or, as some of us call it, The Adventures of Milo and Otis in the United States).    Now, I thought to myself, "wouldn't it be cool to have a game based on The Adventures of Milo and Otis on the NES (or Famicom)?    Well.....you'll see.    Let's read on.


Graphics - 5

The graphics for Koneko Monogatari - The Adventures of Chatran look pretty average for 1986 (then again, it IS an early game, so I can excuse the graphics).  I will say one thing though: the HUD looks a LOT like Super Mario Bros's HUD (if you played Super Mario Bros and then Koneko Monogatari - The Adventures Of Chatran you will probably see the comparison between the two HUDs in those games.    There are day and night stages in this game, but those have blue and black backgrounds.

Sound - 2

Oh boy.....this game has some of the WORST sound/music I have ever heard on ANY 8-bit console.   I mean, it's REALLY irritating to have listen to the music in this game for more than MAYBE five minutes at max.  Actually, I think five minutes is too generous for how irritating this game's music is - It takes TWO minutes at best for me to shut the music off, because it's irritating on your ears.   I mean, there's maybe THREE main tracks at max in this game.....and they're ALL borderline ear-bleeding music at best.   Technically, I have heard WORSE from other NES/Famicom games, but this is not a good soundtrack at all to listen to.   Fair warning: if you want to play this game, TURN THE VOLUME DOWN TO EITHER LOW OR OFF, BECAUSE IT WILL MAKE YOUR EARS BLEED.

Story - ?

You SHOULD know the story of The Adventures of Milo and Otis by now (or, in this case, Koneko Monogatari, so I'm not even going to explain this to you.   

Depth - 3

This is where the game takes a u-turn into mediocrity.   Now, the game (Koneko Monogatari - The Adventures of Chatran) has some depth, but not very much, due to the fact that there's hardly anything to do in this game.   It doesn't offer much of anything, unlike Super Mario Bros.  Speaking of which, THAT'S the one comparison that this game is compared to: people say it's a poor clone of Super Mario Bros.   While I don't think it's a clone of Super Mario Bros, it seems that the inspiration of Super Mario Bros is perhaps heavy and thick in this game.   There is a difference between THIS game and Super Mario Bros, though; you can't jump on enemies.  Well, you can't jump on MOST of the enemies.  You CAN jump on the bears, though.   That's fine.....IF Chatran (or Milo) had any attacks in this game (you know, like claw attacks, meowing or anything that a cat would do).   The funny thing is, though, YOU DON'T HAVE TO ENTIRELY JUMP ON THE BEARS TO DEFEAT THEM! If you jump on them enough (but not jump on them to the point where they sink into the ground), YOU CAN STILL BEAT THE LEVELS!  I mean, really, these bears are REALLY anti-climatic boss battles at beast (if you can call them boss battles).   Now, the bears DO stars to throw rocks later on in the game, but it doesn't change the fact that YOU CAN BASICALLY BYPASS THEM AFTER JUMPING ON THEM ENOUGH TIMES.   Now, the bears in this game don't do anything aside from stand still and take a swipe at you every now and then (and throw rocks at you later on).   THIS is all you do throughout this game (avoid enemies, jump on bears and get items)......well, that's MOSTLY all you do throughout this game.  You do actually ride a crate (from the movie, no less) for a fair bit of the game, but again, it's just avoiding enemies and collecting power-ups.   Another thing is that the levels really don't change that much (meaning that the later levels will start to look similar from earlier levels).     The enemies in this game are: rats, birds and.......fighter files that burrow out from underground?    There's also horned beetles and chickens that can come out of trees if you bump into them.   Again, doesn't bumping into trees sound similar to how you bump question blocks and bricks with Mario's head (or hand)?  Again, though, you can JUMP onto the trees and STILL release items (or enemies) onto the ground.   Speaking of which.....an invincibility potion can come out of the trees (which makes you invincible, obviously), apples (which you can collect 100 for an extra life (or use them to kill enemies)), white eggs (you can also use these to kill enemies OR defeat the bears), red eggs (these give you an extra life) or the H-E-L-P eggs (which summon Otis).   Now, Otis CAN kill enemies......but he CAN kill you as well in 1 hit (which doesn't happen in the movie The Adventures Of Milo and Otis, because Milo and Otis are friends).   Then again.......EVERYTHING can kill you 1 hit, so why would that matter?     There are ice levels in the middle of the game, too.    There are 24 levels in this game, but the levels don't do much aside from MAYBE add more enemies and MAYBE slightly change the level design.

Difficulty - 7

This is another reason why Koneko Monogatari - The Adventures of Chatran is mediocre and underwhelming; the difficulty.   I'm not against challenging games IF the challenge isn't cheap.  I'm also not against games with one hit kills IF it's done correctly.  However, this game's "challenge" is rather cheap, mostly due to enemy placement and level design and the one hit kills are not done correctly.  Not to mention, you don't get ANY continues if you happen to run out of lives.    Also, Milo ISN'T the fastest character on the NES (he's pretty sluggish to control).  While he does have a fairly high jump, some of the jumps that you're required to make is ridiculous and frustrating.   You have to be on the edge in order to make some of the later jumps in the game.    I mean, if Milo could just move a bit faster then perhaps those jumps wouldn't be ridiculous and frustrating to make.   Also, those burrowing fighter files keep on burrowing and the enemies keep on coming, too....that's something to watch out for.   Now, the time limit is at least reasonable (unlike some other games which have ridiculously low time limits to begin with) and it isn't an accelerated timer unlike Super Mario Bros's timer, so it is possible to wait for the enemies to get out of the way, but that's boring.   The enemies are really slow, too.     You do start at a checkpoint every time you die too.

Addictiveness - 2

Well, I WAS interested.....for a little while.   My interest to play this game was kind of shot after seeing the bad level design, bad enemy placement, stupidly frustrating and ridiculous jumps that you have to make, boss battles that are VERY anti-climatic (I mean, seriously, you don't even need to completely incapacitate the bears to pass the level) and just waiting around for the super slow enemies to get out of the way.    The only reason I can see anybody playing this is if they like cats....and they probably won't want to play this for very long for the reasons above.  

Overall - 4

OK, fine, it's not the worst movie-to-video game license I've ever played....but it's certainly mediocre and underwhelming at best.   The controls are not THAT bad, but they can be better.   Milo should have had direct attacks (like hissing, meowing and clawing and stuff like that).   Also, Milo should've been moving a little bit faster.   Some of the jumps in the game should be less frustrating.   The enemy placement can be a bit better.   The waiting around for enemies should've been cut back a bit.   The music should've been improved, because it's borderline ear-bleeding at best.   There could've been a life bar or some kind of power-up that makes Milo take more hits.   The boss battles should've been either omitted or improved.    The level design could've been improved.   This game is sub-par playable, but not worth going out of your way to get (unless you can get this game for a really cheap amount of money - like 5 dollars or less).   

This is Kenneth$2 and I will see you people, later.