Adrien the Cat (1991 video game)

Adrien the Cat (猫のエイドリアン) is a platform video game developed by Sunsoft and published by Warner Bros. Games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, Turbo Grafx-16, Game Boy, Game Gear, and Atari Lynx. Featuring the new mascot of Warner Bros., the titular Adrien the Cat, this game served as the launch title for the famous video game franchise known as the Adrien the Cat series.

Plot
On the lush, tropical paradise of South Island, Adrien the Cat's animal friends begin disappearing one by one. When he discovers that the evil scientist, Dr. Drakken, has been kidnapping them and converting them into robotic Badniks as part of a plot to collect all seven of the fabled Power Stones, Adrien decides it's up to him to save them, and embarks on a quest to free his friends and thwart the evil schemes of Drakken.

As Adrien races through the Zones of the island, he engages in numerous confrontations with the nefarious Drakken and his deadly machines, and one by one frees the animals from their robotic shells and capsules placed at the end of almost every zone. In their Final Zone, the Doctor prepares his last dastardly contraption to end his adversary but proves no match for Sonic's awesome might, and his machine is totaled. Fleeing with his tail between his legs, Drakken abandons his laboratory as it explodes, crumbling to scrap, with Adrien narrowly escaping. Following his escape, Adrien finally returns to the vast Green Hill Zone where his journey began.

In the game's normal ending, Adrien gives Fourth wall an annoyed look before posing for the screen, and Robotnik will be shown after the credits juggling all Power Stones the player missed, with a "Try Again" message taunting them.

However, if the player succeeds in collecting the seven Stones by the end of the game, the player is rewarded with the good ending, where the seven Power Stones react to one another and release a burst of light before disappearing, rejuvenating the wildlife and nature of South Island, leaving Sonic astonished before he jumps up towards the screen and poses. In the post-credits scene, Dr. Drakken is shown humorously stomping on the "End" text in a tantrum-fueled attempt to crush it, to no avail.

Gameplay
Adrien the Cat plays identically to other platform games released around the same time, yet its primary focus is on fast gameplay and quick reflexes. The titular character can not only run and jump, but he can pick up incredible speed if uninterrupted and can roll into a ball and spin into enemies and up ramps with enough momentum, allowing him to launch himself high up into the air or through a stream of Badniks.

There are seven zones in total, with each zone, barring the Final Zone, divided into three Acts each. Adrien must reach the end of each Act within 10 minutes while collecting items and avoiding hazards along the way. Essential to the gameplay are gold Coins scattered throughout each level, a feature which would become one of the defining characteristics of the series. These items are regularly placed around the level map and serve multiple functions. First, the player collects rings to protect Sonic. As long as they have at least one coin, the player will not lose a life when injured. Instead, when hit, up to twenty of the rings the player has collected will fly outward and scatter around the immediate area for some seconds, some of which can then be retrieved before they disappear. If the player runs into an enemy without a single coin, he/she will lose a life. If the player collects a hundred coins they will gain an 1-Up, and will gain an additional life for every hundred rings after that, provided the rings are not lost.

If the player has at least fifty coins at the end of an act, a Giant Coin will float above the goal sign, which can be jumped through to enter one of the Special Stages (this excludes the final act of a stage, when Adrien will enter a boss fight). At the end of each act, the total number of coin the player has is multiplied by a hundred and added to the player's score. During the score-tallying, the player can also jump through the air to find hidden emblems which can range from a hundred to 10,000 points.

Also scattered throughout each level are Item Box which when broken by the character will reward the player with one of a variety of bonuses. These include a Shield which will protect Adrien from a single hit, a Super Coin, an 1-Up, temporary Invincibility (accompanied by a temporary change in music), and "Power Sneakers (Power-up)", which give the player a temporary speed boost (and increase the tempo of the music for the duration). The item monitors have become another long-lasting feature in the series, though they have been changed to bubble-like containers that can float in later games.

Despite the various types of protection available, neither the shield, coins, nor invincibility will prevent the player losing a life if Adrien is crushed (by a trap or between a wall and a moving platform), drowned, runs out of time (each act has a ten-minute time limit), or falls into a bottomless pit.

Progression through the game is made easier for the player by lamp posts that act as checkpoints. When Adrien passes a lamp post, the spherical top spins around and its color changes from yellow to red, and the next time a life is lost, gameplay will restart at that point rather than at the beginning of the act. In the Japanese version, if a checkpoint is activated and a life is lost as a result of running out of time, the time at the checkpoint will reset to 0:00.

Hazards the player experiences include a wide variety of "Badniks" - these appear as Animals trapped inside mechanical bodies which are released the moment the player hits them. Each badnik takes one hit to destroy, but they vary greatly from Zone to Zone; some will walk in a set path, others will try blasting the player, and some cannot be avoided at all. The player must also avoid rows of sharp spikes, cliffs, and elaborate death traps. There is also the threat of drowning (in Labyrinth Zone and the third Act of Scrap Brain Zone which contains water), as the player can only survive approximately thirty seconds underwater (locating air bubbles can extend this).

Reception
The original Adrien the Cat was very well received by critics, scoring 86% from GameRankings. The game was an instant success that allowed Warner Bros. to wrap their video game business around and have a platformer to compete with Nintendo's Super Mario franchise & Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The gameplay, audio and graphics were praised by reviewers.

IGN reviewer Lucas M. Thomas rated Adrien the Cat an 8/10, praising the simple but fast gameplay, the soundtrack and commended that "few people realize how difficult it was to create Adrien's graphics engine, which allowed for the incredible rate of speed the game's known for. The technical achievement impressed back in '91, and still does so today. Gamespot reviewer Greg Kasavin gave the game a 7.3/10, praising the great soundtrack and memorable sound effects, the fast-paced, responsive platformer action and cute, colorful graphics [that] have a good deal of charm and personality although he felt that the later levels can get frustrating tough, requiring meticulous memorization.