Challenge from the Black Cat

Challenge from the Black Cat is a block-breaking game about a lonely cat challenged by a black boss cat after being driven away from its pack in a territorial dispute. You use cat punches and special moves to hit bells back across the field and strike enemy cats. The bells speed up as they bounce around, and each stage adds difficulty.

The challenge

The game has 10 stages, with an ending for clearing Normal mode. You begin with one life and gain another each time you clear a stage; if your remaining lives reach zero, the game ends. Obstacle blocks interfere with your attacks, but you can destroy them with shout attacks to add to your score.

There are two difficulty modes. Easy mode has five stages and lets you restart from the stage where you lost. In Normal mode, losing sends you back to stage 1; use items and Nyan Power to get through the stages. Clearing Normal mode with a high score may bring an additional reward.

Attacks and powers

You can use left and right cat punches, shout attacks and spells. Shouts can hit bells back and break special blocks, while casting spells builds the Nyan Power Gauge. You can choose a Nyan Power for each stage:

• Nyan Block: creates a barrier at the bottom of the screen that makes you invincible for a time.
• Mirage Nyan: summons an alter ego that moves like you for a limited time.
• Nyan Blaster: fires a large screaming attack in front of you that penetrates enemies and damages them, and can also pass through and destroy special blocks.

Items

Damaging or defeating an enemy has a chance to make an item appear. Items are selected at random:

• Tule: turns the bell red for a time, letting it pass through enemies and damage them.
• Fish: greatly slows the bell.
• Cat Can: triples the bell's size for a time.

Stages and controls

The stages have been redesigned, and the game now includes 10 stages instead of five. It also adds achievements alongside the additional stages, a tutorial mode, and 10 cat images shown after clearing a stage. Options include a sensitivity adjustment for player speed, and you can change the button configuration.