Patapon creator reveals spiritual successor Ratatan
Tan tan ra-ta-tan?
The creator of standout PSP rhythm game Patapon has revealed a spiritual successor is in development called Ratatan.
The game was announced at BitSummit and is being helmed by Patapon creator Hiroyuki Kotani, with audio by original Patapon musician Kemmei Adachi.
Not much is known about Ratatan just yet (including release platforms), though it will include roguelike elements and up to four player multiplayer.
"The three main game concepts are over 100 cute characters fighting it out on screen, four-player simultaneous battles, and more adventure and roguelike elements than Patapon had," producer Kazuto Sakajiri told VGC.
Kotani said he wanted to create a Patapon-like experience with new elements. "Patapon was a really unique experience at the time of its release and reflected the development environment of that era. We wanted to make another game like that for the modern age," he said.
"There's a possibility of maybe doing a Patapon sequel in the future, but for this we really wanted to make our own game, in our own style, with specific types of gameplay that reflect what we want. After that, if there's a chance to speak to Sony about doing a Patapon sequel then we'll go from there."
Patapon was developed by the now-closed Sony Japan Studio and featured cute eye-like creatures who could be commanded using rhythmic orders. It was first released in 2007 and was followed by two sequels.
The first two Patapon games were ported to PS4 and are now available to play on PS Plus.
Ratata is a collaboration between Ratata Arts, Tokyo Virtual Theory, and pH Studio. A Kickstarter will go live from 31st July.