Neko no Oden is a “Puzzle Battle” game which can be played with up to a maximum of 32 other players over a network. It was released by Kaidan Telecommunications for download onto standard holographic projection capable communicators from their Net site for 200KS. Sometimes it comes pre-installed on certain devices.
This game can be played in 'Story Mode', 'Versus Mode', 'Multiplayer mode' or 'Practice Mode'
First, Blocks of a certain colour and with the 'Foodstuff' imprinted onto them come down onto the Playing field. If the blocks are placed correctly, they meld together to form a bigger block. Every now and again, a Breaker piece (represented by the foodstuff itself) comes down and if it comes into contact with the corresponding blocks, it breaks those blocks. On the other player's field, a small amount of Iron blocks will come down, and will soon turn into regular foodstuffs, possibly ruining a strategy.
However, if you make a 'Tower' by stacking the same blocks vertically, and break them. The resulting effect on the other player's field depends on the type of piece used. The longer and thicker the tower, the more devastating the result will be. Skewer type foodstuff towers and blocks create vertical skewers which come down from the top and tear through the blocks, and then turn into 'Iron' blocks. Needle type foodstuff towers and blocks create needles which come in from the sides near the bottom and rip through blocks, then turn into 'Iron' blocks. Players who can manage to shatter two towers or blocks at once have both effects happen on the other player's side, so it's a good idea to have a combination of attacks, you can also have single iron blocks come down afterwards if you managed to get any just to annoy the other player.
The game ends when the player's field is too full to fit any other foodstuffs.
| Foodstuffs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Skewer Type | Attack Type | Needle Type | Attack Type |
| Egg (Yellow) | Thin Skewer | Meat (Red) | Thin Needle through the top row, stops halfway |
| Nori (Green) | Two Skewers, either side | Fish (Blue) | Thin Needle through the top row |
| Potato (White) | Thick Skewer | Devil's Tongue (Black) | Thick Needle through the middle, stops halfway |
| Pepper (Maroon) | Skewer through the middle | Eel (Purple) | Two needles through the middle, in various places |
| Cucumber (Lime) | Large Skewer | Noodles (Pink) | Huge Needle through the bottom |
You can vary the number of possible Foodstuff types from 4 to 10 in the options menu.
General reviews for the game were positive. Reports from players couldn't resist having party games. However, some critics and players have opted for the release of extra, human characters in the near future. Kaidan is currently working on a patch to rectify this.