Ratatan Kickstarter Soars: Patapon’s Spiritual Successor Achieves Full Funding within an Hour

Ratatan, led by Hiroyuki Kotani, the creator of Patapon, and featuring original Patapon musician Kemmei Adachi for its audio, this game serves as a spiritual successor to the beloved PlayStation series, Patapon.

The Kickstarter campaign aimed to raise $141,098 to support the project at its minimum level, and remarkably, it achieved this goal in a little over 45 minutes. As of the latest update, the project has garnered an impressive $471,165 from 4,004 backers.

The project includes various stretch goals, such as an online mode at approximately $347,000 and a console version at around $492,700. As of the current update, the online mode has been successfully reached, and console version stretch goal is only a few more backers away from its peak!

The basic Kickstarter tier, offering players access to the game, is priced at approximately $48 (approx RM218), and it has garnered contributions from about 2128 players so far.

Originally launched for the PSP handheld in 2007, Patapon is a rhythm-based 2D platform/action game where players command an army of adorable anthropomorphic eyeballs called “Patapons.” These Patapons can be directed to move forward, attack, defend, and retreat by following a sequence of drum beats.

The game had two follow-up installments on PSP, and the initial two games underwent remastering with 4K visuals for PlayStation 4.

In an interview with VGC, the producer Kazuto Sakajiri described the three primary game concepts: featuring over 100 charming characters engaged in on-screen battles, offering four-player simultaneous battles, and incorporating more adventure and roguelike elements compared to the original Patapon.

Kotani, the designer of the original Patapon games, expressed his desire to create a Patapon-like experience infused with fresh elements. Additionally, he kept the possibility open of collaborating with Sony on a conventional sequel in the future. “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.”

For Ratatan, once the console stretch goal has been released, then the game will be looking at an April 2025 release, for the current gen consoles; Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, as well as the initial PC launch.

We can’t wait to see what’s in store for Patapon fans and rhythm game fans!