Patapon creator Hiroyuki Kotani and Patapon musician Kemmei Adachi have announced a spiritual successor to the beloved rhythm platformer, known as Ratatan. The game was unveiled at BitSummit 2023, with a brief trailer showing off a toe-tapping track, and key visuals. While not a true Patapon sequel, it does appear this project adopts a very similar aesthetic and gameplay style.
Ratatan will be crowdfunded, with the project going live on Kickstarter on 31 July 2023. Given the nostalgia around Patapon, which was first released for the PlayStation Portable in 2007, there’s certainly high hopes for the crowdfunding avenue.
Patapon and its multiple sequels each garnered critical acclaim. While it’s been several years since the last entry in the franchise, it’s still highly regarded. A spiritual successor with the original creators at the helm could certainly find a passionate audience.
Read: Gex officially returns in new Limited Run trilogy collection
You can check out the first look at Ratatan via VGC.
Per reporting from VGC, Ratatan will include roguelike elements, and multiplayer for up to four players, as well as a number of new elements to mark it out from Patapon.
‘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,’ Kotani told VGC. ‘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 isn’t the only beloved property with a recent revival of sorts. Earlier in July 2023, it was announced that underrated mascot Gex will also return, with a new trilogy collection set to arrive on modern consoles.
Nostalgia for the late 1990s and early-to-mid 2000s is currently growing, paving the way for the return of many beloved franchises. We expect Ratatan won’t be the only spiritual successor to spin out of this classic era in the coming years.
Those keen to support the upcoming project’s Kickstarter should keep an eye out for more details towards the end of July 2023.
