Video Game / Cat Girl Without Salad

Puzzler, platformer, shmup, action, shooter, adventure, strategy, fighting, rhythm, arcade, horror, tactical, RPG, TPS, RTS, and visual novel...

Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse​-​Bouche is a quirky Shoot 'Em Up game developed by WayForward Technologies.

Originally announced in 2013 as one of the company's usual April Fools' Day jokes: Fan response resulted in the game actually being put into development, though obviously not as the eclectic Genre Mashup suggested in the initial press release.

The game originally released exclusively for Humble Bundle subscribers on June 3, 2016, with a Nintendo Switch port releasing years later on April 1, 2020. On April 1, 2023, in celebration of the game's “10th anniversary” (no joke), the original PC version of the game would find another home on itch.io, after having been absent from the Humble Games Collection (previously known as the Humble Trove) for years.

A side-scrolling shooter that somehow includes platforming, puzzle, rhythm, RPG, and even sports elements by way of its myriad of weapons, Cat Girl Without Salad stars Kebako, a robot-Cat Girl bounty hunter, tearing through various galaxies and capturing targets, all while bantering with her Beleaguered Assistant and loyal companion Squiddie.

Tropes present in this game:

• Accidental Misnaming: When Kebako and Squiddie get a message direct from Gunnar, she calls him Strummer, before Squiddie corrects her.
• Alternative Calendar:
  • As said in the Radical Galaxy after the Inbedia appear, and Kebako is surprised by the existence of numbered years, Squiddie relates that years stopped being numbered in "Back in Lemon Pop Donut".
  • Gunnar mentions the year Lemon Waffle Cronut.
  • The Collector's Edition Space Bounty Hunter License has Kebako's birth year as Pretzel Grape Chickenwing.
• Bad Boss: Kebako is... hard to deal with. Poor Squiddie.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Gunnar's as Kebako says:
  Your eyebrows are ginormous.
• Black Comedy: Ooh boy, it sure is.
• Book Dumb: In the Radical Galaxy, Kebako confuses "pyromania" with "kleptomania", thinking that pyromania is about stealing things, and kleptomania is about stealing fire.
• Cat Girl:
  • Guess what Kebako is.
  • Her archnemesis Uramiko is a "Cat Grill".
• Chef of Iron: Kebako:
  • As the joke announcement says:
  Cat Girl Without Salad! follows the adventures of Kebako - a female space bounty hunter and four-star chef
  • As related in the RPG Galaxy by Squiddie:
  Squiddie: Weren't you a chef at one point, Kebako?
• Cloudcuckoolander: Kebako... isn't very bright.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Continuing after a loss costs $50,000, a.k.a 50,000 points.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Almost all the weapons are this to some extent, since not only do each control differently but you must focus on them while dodging bullets. Special note goes to the Dance gun, which requires you to play a rhythm game while dodging bullets.
• Does Not Like Spam: Kebako hates salad, hence the title. Picking one up damages her.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Kebako manages at least ONE of these per level.
• Expy: Chefinoff is a parody of Sephiroth, and his battle includes Final Fantasy references by having a Character in the Logo-esque picture for when his name appears to start the battle.
• Extreme Omnivore: Kebako will eat literally any kind of comfort food. This includes pairing a strawberry parfait with cheese doodles.
• Funny Background Event: In the Radical Galaxy, when Gunnar's space-call is interrupted by him noting the existence of a giant space cow, and Squiddie tells Kebako to keep an eye out for one, one is passing across the screen.
• Gesundheit: Said by Kebako after Chefinoff says his name in his boss battle.
• Gold Makes Everything Shiny: The Collector's Edition, everything, including Squiddie, except the food, Kebako, and the pink carpet, are in gold.
• Goomba Stomp: The Platform Gun does more damage if you have the guy bounce on an enemy's head.
• Genre Shift: While the original Cat Girl Without Salad was announced as a "puzzler, platformer, shmup, action, shooter, adventure, strategy, fighting, rhythm, arcade, horror, tactical, RPG, TPS, RTS, and visual novel", the real game is much simpler: Kebako's various weapons all function as different mini-games. Platform Man shoots a little man that jumps on enemies when you tap a button. Puzzle shoots a series of Puzzle Bobble-esque orbs that detonate the screen if three like orbs connect. And so on.
• Heart Beat-Down: Gunnar can attack with a wave of Heart Symbols, presumably as Cardiovascular Love for Kebako.
• Heart Container: The items given by the bosses on defeat also increase Kebako's Hit Points by 1.
• Hearts Are Health: Kebako's, and Uramiko's Life Meter is made of Heart Symbols, one per each Hit Points. Except Uramiko's, like all bosses have Vague Hit Points, with multiple Pea Shooter shots needing to take down one symbol.
• Jerkass: Kebako plays this noticeably straight for a Wayforward main character.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kebako's dialogue towards Gunner Crossbones after you beat him implies that she is this.....assuming you don't break his heart.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Kebako...mostly if you actually DO try and go for the cruelty bonuses.
• Lame Pun Reaction: In the Kawaii Galaxy, Uramiko's Relish pun for food and victory, and Squiddie's "Lettuce (Let Us) go", get unappreciated by Squiddie and Kebako, and Kebako, respectively.
• Life Meter: Enemies' show upon being hit in the upper middle right of the screen, Vague Hit Points of an ungradated meter style.
• Mickey Mousing: The game does this for its stage music, timing the music to the stage’s scripted events.
• Mirror Boss: The final boss also uses attacks based on video games. Squiddie even describes her as fighting like Kebako, but better.
• Moe: Cheffinoff's directions to the Big Bad are:
  Follow the Moe Star, then hang a left at Tsundere Moon. You'll find her there.
• Multiple Life Bars:
  • Gunnar has progressively longer ones the more times they're taken out, until the last one at 9 cassettes.
  • Cheffinoff starts with 5 swords, then keeps increasing by one.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Kebako is a robotic Cat Girl Bounty Hunter with pink twintails, a succubus' tail, an angelic wing and a demonic wing the latter of which she literally ripped off someone else's body and a gatling gun-arm.
• Otome Game: Referenced with the otome alternate cover:
  Feast your eyes on another alternate cover to Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche for Switch, this one inspired by the otome genre! When did Squiddie get so handsome!?
• Our Dragons Are Different: Called H.L.D-s in the RPG Galaxy, and the "High Level Dragon II" enemy reveals what the initialism stands for.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Bedsheet Ghost-looking Gosts are fought in the Radical Galaxy.
• Palette Swap: Referenced with the RPG Galaxy enemy, "Crabohydrate but Red", which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• Punny Name: The RPG Galaxy enemies:
  • The Crabohydrate-s, which are crabs that spray water bubbles as their attack.
  • The Animeye-s, which are anime eyes that fly.
• Really Gets Around: Gunnar has apparently dated thousands after losing Kebako.
• Renaissance Man: Kebako, who as of the RPG Galaxy, is also known to have been a pop idol:
  Squiddie: Weren't you a chef at one point, Kebako?
  Kebako: Probably. I do lotsa things.
• Repetitive Name: As the joke announcement says:
  Kebako is joined by her insipid squadron of Calamarites on their quest to rid the cosmos of the notoriously-tardy NekoNekoNeko Clan.
• Running Gag:
  • Kebako's nonsensical statements.
  • Her forgetting her experiences with each bounty before the events of the game, along with Accidental Misnaming them, directly referenced and used by this RPG Galaxy conversation:
    Squiddie: Weren't you a chef at one point, Kebako?
    Kebako: Probably. I do lotsa things.
    Squiddie: Have you ever met our bounty before?
    Kebako: He sorta reminds me of my old cooking instructor, but that guy's name was Chefinoff.
    Squiddie: But... that's our bounty's name!
    Kebako: What? I thought his name was Angelcake Jones!
    Squiddie: Angelcake Jones? But that sounds nothing like Chefinoff!
    Kebako: Exactly. So how do you know it's the same guy?
    Squiddie: Ugh...
    Kebako: I could really go for some angel cake now.
    (Subtitles not exclaiming, but she's yelling his name, and tersely speaking the rest) Squiddie. Get me some angel cake.
  • Puns (especially if they're bad ones or food related).
• Takes One to Kill One: When Kebako wants to "fight fire with fire" against the shirt-disliker Gunnar and wants to take off her shirt. Squiddie tells her not to do it.
• Teen Idol: Well, as said by Squiddie after Gunnar's space-call about getting "her" back, Kebako used to be a pop idol:
  Kebako: I think so. That means singing, right?
• Tsundere: Cheffinoff's directions to the Big Bad are:
  Follow the Moe Star, then hang a left at Tsundere Moon. You'll find her there.
• Turn-Based Combat: Referenced in the RPG Galaxy, when Kebako thinks all RPG-s work like this, and she doesn't like it:
  Because it should always be my turn!
• Underground Monkey:
  • There's Batteneye-s, then there's Batteneye Soar-s, the latter which appear in the RPG Galaxy.
  • In the Radical Galaxy, there's grey Flittermouse-s, and red Angry Flittermouse-s.
  • In the Radical Galaxy, there's blue with orange goggles Cool Ball-s, and then there's magenta with green googles Diggy-s.
  • In the RPG Galaxy, there's Animeyes, and Shiny Animeyes, which are more durable.
  • In the RPG Galaxy, there's H.L.D-s, then there's the red High Level Dragon II, revealing the meaning of H.L.D.
• Unknown Rival: All of the bosses are people that Kebako has ruined the lives of, but has no memory of due to being an idiot. Uramiko is a slight exception, being someone who Kebako only affected indirectly as a result of her actions... except for the one time she ripped Uramiko's wing off and started wearing it herself.
• Sequel Hook: Uramiko says that Kebako has to be on the lookout for "six others" coming after her. Squiddle apprehends her after Kebako cuts her off.
• Shout-Out:
  • Just about all of Kebako's and Uramiko's weapons are this.
  • The alternate covers for the physical release:
    • The Ugly◊ is a reference to the infamous Mega Man American cover.
    • The 2077 one is a Cyberpunk 2077 reference.
• Space Is an Ocean: As the joke announcement says, Kebako's
  searching for love and adventure on the intergalactic space seas.
• Unusual Euphemism: Many of Kebako's death messages involve either health food, which she hates (including "Nothing but raisins/cilantro") or otherwise unpleasant foods ("Empty burrito", "flat soda", "smelly sushi", etc) as negative interjections.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Kebako eats so many cronuts that, in her own words from the Gunnar battle, her heart is "filled with blood and frosting".
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: The cruelty bonus, in which you destroy the (COMPLETELY HARMLESS) item that each boss gives you. Which also means sacrificing a Heart Container. The reaction to Gunnar's item (his own beating heart) doesn't help either.
• Wingding Eyes: Gunnar Crossbones's eyes turn into Cardiovascular Love-type Heart Symbols, when talking about his love for Kebako.
• "World's Best" Character: On defeat, Chefinoff remarks to Kebako:
  Maybe you are the galaxy's greatest chef.

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