Catz 1
Have you ever played Catz 1? If not, you've certainly missed something, because Jester, Sophisto, Homebody, Pouncer and Scaredy were the first catz to ever come "alive", and they are the ancestors of all modern catz :)
Catz 1 was the first catz game... ever! Not too long ago, Dogz had been released, and this game was next to follow. When catz came, it was happily looked upon! The Daily Telegraph gave it 4 out of 5, and Computer Life gave it 5 out of 5! This was back in 1996, and even though your catz and dogz could not yet play together, I'm sure many dogz owners chose to buy Catz as well! However, the petz community was pretty much non-existant at this time... It wasn't until Petz II was released that things really started to happen!
In the original Catz, there were 5 breedz to choose from (you probably recognize their late relatives!) The descriptions below are from the Help section in Catz 1.
 Jester Jester Catz are always Kittenz at heart. Easily pleased and excited, they never mind clowning around and acting silly. Everything is a game for the Jester Catz. |
 Sophisto Sophistos are proper Catz, concerned about appearance and dignity. They hate being messy and will groom themselves after any activity. |
 Homebody Homebody Catz love your attention. Feeding, petting and a lot of TLC make these Catz as happy as can be. |
 Pouncer Pouncer Catz are ready to hunt anything that moves. They react to every toy and the cursor as if they were live creatures. Pouncer Catz are keen and agile by nature. Take out the cheese to lure the Mouse to the desktop so that Pouncer can sharpen its hunting skills. |
 Scaredy Scaredy Catz startle easily. Petting and gentle playing will mellow their mood a little, but the slightest sound or movement could send them climbing up the walls. It can be very rewarding once you have gained Scaredy's trust. |
In this game, you could adopt one
catz (and one catz only, if you wanted another one you'd have to return the
first). You had a shelf with all the items a catz could need; food, water, toys,
mouse + cheese and of course - the catnip! You could even paint your catz with
the bucket to give it a more personal look.
You adopted your catz as a kitten, and over time you could watch is slowly grow
into an adult. All of the breedz had very different personalities; from the
frightened scaredy catz to the constantly glaring Pouncer! The catz were,
as you can see, not yet textured, and even though they look different today, the
basics, such as the colouring, the personalities and poses (just look at Scaredy
above! Betcha recognize that pose!) are just like they were in the original catz
game... all the way back in 1996! So there's a bit of the old 256-colour
original catz in all modern kittiez!