Neko Atsume
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is a
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cat-collecting game developed by Hit-Point Co., Ltd. for
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
and Android, released on October 20, 2014.


Gameplay

Gameplay revolves around the player purchasing food, cat toys, and furniture to attract a variety of cats to their home. The player can watch cats interact with objects, take photos of them which can be saved in an album, and receive gifts of fish and mementos from them. Cats will leave the player either silver or gold "
niboshi Niboshi (煮干し), often called iriko (炒り子) in Western Japan, are Japanese dried infant sardines (sometimes incorrectly translated as anchovies). They are one of many varieties of small dried fish used throughout Asia in snacks and as ...
" (, small dried
sardines "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Ital ...
), called "fish" in the English version, after leaving the yard. Players can also enter a daily password to receive a random amount of silver or gold fish. After five daily passwords are entered, the player will receive a free can of "Ritzy Bitz (3 gold fish)" or "Sashimi boat (50 goldfish)" (high-quality food). The fish can be used to purchase new types of food and goods, remodels, as well as extensions to the yard. Cats may leave collectible "mementos" for the player. After purchasing the initial expansion to the garden, the player can then purchase a remodel for their yard. Players have the option to remodel their yard to one of seven different styles: Original, Zen, Rustic, Modern, Western, Sugary, or Cafe. There is no end game and cats will continue to come as long as the player puts out food for them. The game is
free to play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...
, though additional fish are available for purchase.


Cats

there are 66 cats for the player to collect. Among these, 26 are considered "rare cats" and only appear when certain items and foods are placed in the yard. Each cat has a unique name, personality, and appearance (e.g. the heterochromiac Pepper). The player may rename the cats after they have encountered them. Rare cats have a unique interaction with their items. Many of the rare cats in the English version of the game are named after famous people, both fictional and non-fictional, with the names of the cats being
pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
s, like Lady Meow Meow (
Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
), Mr. Meowgi ( Mr. Miyagi), Chairman Meow (
Chairman Mao Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
), Guy Furry (
Guy Fieri Guy Ramsay Fieri (, ; ''né'' Ferry; born January 22, 1968) is an American restaurateur, author, and an Emmy Award winning television presenter. He co-owns three restaurants in California, licenses his name to restaurants in New York City, Las ...
), Saint Purrtrick ( Saint Patrick), Xerxes IX (
Xerxes I Xerxes I ( peo, 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ξέρξης ; – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling from 486 to 465 BC. He was the son and successor of D ...
), Hermeowne (
Hermione Granger Hermione Jean Granger ( ) is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter'' series. She first appears in the novel '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997), as a new student on her way to Hogwarts. After Harry and ...
), Billy the Kitten (
Billy the Kid Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty; September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), also known by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at th ...
), Bengel Jack (
Calico Jack John Rackham (26 December 168218 November 1720), commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the calico clothing that he wore, whi ...
), and Joe DiMeowgio (
Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...
, complete with megaphone and baseball).


Development

Yutaka Takazaki, the developer of the game, said that his goal was to create a game that even children could enjoy without a significant investment of skill or time. While he loves cats himself, he has said that "to be honest, I do not know why this game is so popular." The game "was made between the development of other applications." Originally, it was software for players who like cats to just watch and enjoy, and could be completed in 2–3 weeks for free. Takazaki says, "We're not going to put cheats or complexity in it, and we would like to pursue a game that can be enjoyed with only simple operations."


Release

On October 30, 2015, an English version of the game, titled ''Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector'', was released on the Android and iOS app stores. As of version 1.4.5, players can switch between the Japanese and English versions of the game any time they want by using the in-game menu. Even before the English version, guides were written for English-speaking users to play the game. In version 1.5.5, there is a chance that the player's yard will be covered in snow. The snow event typically lasts for 24 hours and changes the appearance of the yard as well as the background music. The player also has the opportunity to get a new rare cat, Frosty. Version 1.6.0 was released on March 24, 2016. This version added two new common cats and two new rare cats, more toys, and introduced the "gallery" where players can buy wallpapers for their phones with gold fish. Version 1.7.0 was released on July 14, 2016. This version added three more cats (two common and one rare), more toys, and more wallpapers. Version 1.8.0 was released on October 13, 2016. This version added two new common cats, more toys, and a new remodel. Version 1.9.0 was released on December 15, 2016. This version added new toys, one rare cat, and enabled snow days like version 1.5.5. Version 1.10.0 was released on July 20, 2017. This version added two new common cats, a rare cat, and more toys. Version 1.11.0 was released on December 22, 2017. This version added one new common cat and more toys. In September 2017, developer Hit-Point announced ''Neko Atsume VR'', a
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...
version of the game available for the PlayStation 4
video game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...
. It supports the
PlayStation VR The PlayStation VR (PS VR, known by its code name Project Morpheus during development) is a virtual reality headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which was released in October 2016. It is fully functional with the PlayStation 4 an ...
headset and was released in Japan on May 31, 2018 with an international release following in August 2021.


Reception

By May 2015, the game had achieved 4 million downloads for Android and iOS combined. On August 20, 2015, ''Neko Atsume'' won the CEDEC Awards for best game design. As of December 4, 2015, the game has achieved 10 million downloads. In January 2016, the game was honored as one of the Top 5 Mobile Games of 2015 by GameSpot, who cited the game as "intensely quirky" and "increasingly compelling." On September 15, 2015, Google and Hit-Point teamed up for Game Week with
Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sy ...
to produce a live video event called Real Neko Atsume (), which was broadcast on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
from a
cat café A cat café is a theme café whose attraction is cats who can be watched and played with. Patrons pay a cover fee, generally hourly, and thus cat cafés can be seen as a form of supervised indoor pet rental. "Cat café" has been officially reco ...
in Osaka. In February 2016, Petio Corporation released toys for the game, designed to be played with by real cats. Later on, some toys were discontinued.


Film adaptation

A Japanese movie 「 :ja:ねこあつめの家」(''Neko Atsume no ie'', "The House of Cat Collection") based on Neko Atsume, was released on April 8, 2017. The movie is directed by Masatoshi Kurakata and distributed by AMG Entertainment. The plot is mainly about a novelist struggling with
writer's block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...
, who moves to a small house in the country that turns out to be a cat magnet. As he furnishes his yard with items to make their lives more comfortable and starts working at the local shop, his capacity to write begins to revive itself.


Spin-offs

* Kamen Rider Atsume, a spin-off featuring Kamen Rider characters. Released March 2016. * Spoon Pet Atsume, a spin-off featuring
Sega Toys is a Japanese toy company and animation studios, owned by Sega Sammy Holdings. The company was founded when Yonezawa Toys, Japan's largest post-war toy manufacturer, was absorbed into Sega in 1991 as Sega-Yonezawa. Sega Toys have created toys fo ...
's "Spoon Pet" characters.


See also

* Travel Frog


References


External links

* * {{twitter, nekoatsume_tw, Neko Atsume Official 2014 video games Android (operating system) games IOS games Video games about cats Video games developed in Japan Free-to-play video games Proprietary cross-platform software Virtual pets