Taking the backtracking and exploration out of a Metroidvania slims it down quite a bit. This plays into the pacing of Gato Roboto, which manages to capture most of the feeling of the genre without playing into one of its core facets. You’re using new powers to push your way forward, and very rarely to backtrack for smaller upgrades. So, once again, think Mega Man, not Metroid. While few in number, each upgrade vastly impacts your options in combat, and the boss fights capitalize on these wonderfully. Those mandatory upgrades I mentioned earlier consist of a double jump (think screw attack), dash, and cooling unit for your missiles. You will have to mash your way through all the dialogue leading up to the fight on every retry, though, half of which usually consists of the words “Meow” or “Squeak.” These can be a bit of a roadblock compared to the rest of the combat, but checkpoints are frequent.

The rat fights are a huge highlight, each sporting a wonky but intensely catchy fight song and capitalizing on the game’s movement and mechanics at the end of each major zone.

Actually, there are some pretty sweet boss battles against a talking rat, living furnaces, and nonliving gun turrets. I lied earlier, you fight more than just frogs in the game. The heat gauge is represented on the outer border of the game’s unorthodox UI, which shrinks the play area to display all sorts of worthless but cool looking information like time played, Kiki’s expression, and radar.

I really liked this little innovation, especially since the mech’s starting gun is all but worthless in the face of long-range foes. Rather, there’s an overheat mechanic that only allows two to be fired in rapid succession before needing to cool. Interestingly, how many missiles you can blast enemies with isn’t determined by ammo count. The combat in Gato Roboto is an obvious strength.

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