Pix the Cat

When I first played Pix the Cat back in 2014, I instantly fell in love. It was an intoxicating mix of Pac-Man, Chu Chu Rocket and the classic Snake game, and I spent a few weeks hopelessly addicted to running the mazes on the PS Vita. In fact, I liked it so much that I even named it the sixth best game of the year, gently nestled between Sunset Overdrive and P.T. Now it's making the leap to the Nintendo Switch, which would seem like the perfect fit. It has the same retro look, the same stylish mini-games, the same challenging levels; yet there's something holding this game back. Spoiler alert: It's the D-pad.

Pix the Cat is a simple game that is hard to put down. You play the titular kitty cat who is on a mission to collect all of the little ducklings and safely guide them to a protective home. The trick is that you only have a few minutes to race through as many levels saving ducklings as you can before time runs out and you have to start over from the beginning. This quickly turns into a game about memorizing the maze layouts and finding the right path for maximum points.

There are a few things standing in the way of you just picking up a bunch of ducklings and dropping them off. For one thing, there are enemies in the form of skulls floating about the maze trying to break your combo. There are also spikes and other familiar obstacles. However, the most common hinderance ends up being the little ducklings themselves. They'll follow your every move, which can severely limit the room you have to move and even trap you in with no place to go.

And you can't just pick up the ducks and drop them off in any order. The idea in each stage is to collect all of the ducklings first and then find a home for them, otherwise you'll lose a bit of your score multiplier and speed. This is how you end up earning the high scores and go through more stages, so slowing down is a big deal. If you can manage to maintain your momentum and top speed, you'll end up going into Fever Mode, where you can headbutt those skull enemies out of existence for bonus points.

The main game is split up into several different difficulties, going from starter to main course to dessert. What I like is how all of the single-screen mazes are connected to one another. Once you've completed one stage, you'll find an exit that shrinks you down and shoots you into the next puzzle. You just keep getting smaller and smaller as you complete the stages, and can even grow bigger by exiting the wrong way. Not that you'll want to do that, since every second counts when you're vying for a high score.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

For those looking to escape the standard mazes, there are a number of alternate modes that will change up the rules in dramatic ways. For example, Nostalgia mode makes the game look like a 1930s cartoon and has you trying to collect all of the duckling eggs before getting trapped. There's also Laboratory mode, where you play a blue creature collecting a bunch of see-through cells. The trick is that you can only move once you've hit a wall, so you need to figure out the fastest way to pick up all the cells and drop them off in a row. And much like the previous ports, you get an Arena mode that lets you go up against three friends in a competitive game of Pix the Cat.

The memories of these levels and modes all came flooding back to me as I played through the Switch version, but something felt off. I remember spending hours trying to unlock everything and beat my friend's scores, yet I found that I wasn't as motivated to do it all again just five years later. Could it be that I've changed as a person? Maybe the game is less fun than I remember? What's going on?

After spending a lot of time with the Switch version, I came to the realization that the problem isn't me, but rather the gameplay. Pix the Cat is the type of game that lives or dies based on the D-pad, and that's a real problem for the Switch. Neither the Joy-Cons nor the Pro Controller are up for the job when the game hits the high speeds and demands pinpoint accuracy. This is a problem that I've expressed many times before, but the Switch just doesn't have a very good D-pad, and it makes games like this almost impossible to play at a high level. I found my character bouncing all over the place and constantly going in the wrong direction, which is especially frustrating in a game where every move counts.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

Maybe I would be more forgiving if this was my first time playing Pix the Cat, but it's not and I know how well it controls on other systems. It could be that there are third-party controllers with D-pads more prepared for this type of fast-paced arcade game. I certainly hope that's the case. The Switch feels like the perfect place for this kind of game, so it's disappointing to see Pix the Cat let down by the system's hardware.

It only took me a few seconds to remember why I loved Pix the Cat all those years ago. It's a speedy little maze game with a great sense of style, a catchy soundtrack and a bunch of fun modes to master. It's also incredibly hard to put down, especially once you've started to memorize the stages and figure out the right paths. The problem is that the Switch's D-pad isn't up for the job. It's fine at low speeds, but the moment things heat up, the titular kitty cat becomes almost impossible to control. Pix the Cat is a game I recommend to almost everybody, but if you have the option, pick this game up on a system with a better D-pad.