"Can I have you turban?" [sic]
— Kittey (requesting a random genie woman's turban)
A Game with a Kitty
, the first game in the A Game with a Kitty series by Bernie, is the tale of Kittey, a cat charged with exploring a recently-appeared tower by his fellow residents of Kicas, because—well, there really isn't much of a reason. They just don't seem to like him. Along the way, he explores various environments, gains new powers, and challenges some random guy with a bottle rocket.
It is every bit as weird as it sounds.
That being said, A Game with a Kitty is certainly worth downloading. Even assuming you aim for 100% Completion, it only takes a few hours to complete.
This game has various sequels, such as A Game With a Kitty 2: Darkside Adventures, but not all of them are protagonized by Kitty.
A Game with a Kitty provides examples of the following tropes:
- Air-Aided Acrobatics: In Windy Whiskers and elsewhere where there's wind, you mostly have to keep fighting against it to avoid falling and dying, but occasionally the wind changes direction and helps you jump higher/farther.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Kittey is, you guessed it, a kitty.
- Alliterative Name: The level called Windy Whiskers.
- Always Check Behind the Chair: That last money bag in Alibaba Heights, in a room you can't find the door to? Check the window with a triangular top, just a bit ahead of there.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: While Kittey's blue fur may seem like the obvious choice, the fur of one Kicas resident is red.
- Ambiguous Gender:
- Applies to everyone at Kicas Village, with the possible exemption of the bearded elder.
- Glasses. Although later games confirm that Glasses is a guy, for this first one, their gender is left ambiguous. This particular dialogue exchange between Kittey and Glasses on Crystal Moon lampshades this:
Kittey: Are you a boy or a girl?
Glasses: Oh, shut up! Does it really matter? I'm EVIL, that's all you need to know! - Kittey Can Breathe In Space
- Boss Remix: Both the standard Boss Battle and the Final Boss themes are remixes of the world map theme, with the latter incorporating parts of the tower level theme into it.
- Cash Gate: You need $350 to enter tower #2, encouraging the player to find those bags.
- Charged Attack: A power-up capable of instantly killing standard enemies and thrusting Kittey across great distances without falling.
- Charge Meter: Emptied whenever the Charged Attack is used, or Kittey passes through a one-way ring.
- Collision Damage
- Convection Shmonvection
- Floating Platforms
- The Fool: Kittey. Always willing to go adventuring in search of treasure, and far too oblivious to realize all the potential things that might be in store for him.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Glasses may seem like a silly, ineffectual villain at first, but during the final confrontation with them on Crystal Moon, they reveal that they're planning on using a machine to stop all ocean waves in the world. And it only gets worse in later games in the series.
- Goomba Stomp
- Goomba Springboard
- Gotta Catch Them All: Of the Optional type: bags of money aren't absolutely necessary, since you can receive money from defeated enemies, but they make things noticeably easier.
- Gusty Glade: Windy Whiskers, with wind appearing in other places as well. The wind is frustrating to fight against until you get to use Kittey's hat as a parachute.
- Improvised Parachute: That little red cap gets some decent wind resistance.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: Whoever owns all those money bags isn't going to be happy with Kittey.
- Lava Pit
- Leitmotif: The boss theme is used to this effect for Glasses, as it plays for the entire second half of Crystal Moon, home to their base of operations.
- Marathon Level: Tower #2 and Crystal Moon are essentially one giant level, since you can't access the latter through the overworld, only through the former. It's divided into three distinct sections: The tower itself, then a vertical session that leads into The Three Trials, then finally into the death course that is Glasses' base. It can easily take up 1/3 of the game's total playtime to complete.
- Mercy Invincibility
- Mind over Matter: When you use the Charged Attack, you float.
- Non-Lethal Bottomless Pits: ZigZagged. Jumping off the bridge in Kittey's hometown only injures you, while trying to jump down from one of the outside puzzle rooms to another in Alibaba Heights results in instant death.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Glasses and Elder. Later games imply that Glasses' actual name may actually be Glasses.
- Platform Hell: Starts to really kick in after the first tower, and remains present all the way through Crystal Moon.
- Retraux: According to the Web site, it's “designed to play like older SNES/SEGA games.”
- Ridiculously Cute Critter : Kittey and his villagers.
- Selective Gravity
- Shock and Awe: If you're near Glasses' robot, it'll sometimes shoot a lightning bolt out of its mouth at your current position. It comes out extremely fast, so it's advised to either always be on the move or to maintain your distance to avoid getting zapped.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Especially evident given the lack of a time limit whilst underwater.
- Spikes of Doom: Really weird-looking ones.
- Stupid Good: Also Kittey. Being the catalyst for Crystal Moon's destruction turned out to be a good thing, since it put a stop to Glasses' plan.
- Suspicious Video-Game Generosity: If you run across a Save Point that isn't near the beginning of the stage, use it.
- Tactical Suicide Boss:
- The first encounter with Glasses applies as well. Glasses would be undefeatable if they were to just fly their bottle rocket a slight bit higher and never, ever consider flying across the arena at floor level in an attempt to damage Kittey.
- Also, Glasses' giant robot. It's only weak when it hoists itself into the air, then slams its head down.
- The Three Trials: On Crystal Moon. First is you progressing with the arrow tiles, and you have to jump so you don't drop into the Bottomless Pit, without being able to use the glide. Second one is basically yourself defending from enemies which come in waves, while third is you escaping from rising lava.
- Temporary Platform: On Crystal Moon.
- Recurring Riff: Part of the title theme can be heard in a few of the level themes.
- Wall Crawl / Wall Jump: Both learned via a single power-up.
- Walk, Don't Swim: You can even run really fast while underwater, against currents, which is one of the only ways to reach a couple of bags hidden in underwater areas.
- A Winner Is You: The ending is very brief, and the credits consist of a single screen.
