Patapon Spiritual Successor ‘Ratatan’ Launches Kickstarter; Clears First Goal in 47 Minutes

The Kickstarter for the recently announced Patapon series’ spiritual successor, Ratatan, has launched, and in just 47 minutes, its initial goal has already been cleared.

You can view the full thank-you message from team Ratata Arts below:

“We’ve poured through all the different comments we’ve seen once we teased the game at Bitsummit and were a bit worried. It seems like many people have had bad experiences with crowdfunding and we didn’t know if enough people would support this project. That’s why we are so happy to see even today this many people have faith in this project! It really is the only way for a creator to own their IP and have full control over the games they make so thank you again!

Of course, we have lots of content and SURPRISES (Ratataaaan!) in store for you on this campaign. We’ve seen other big Japanese campaigns put out 3 updates a week and that seems like a good amount so we’ll be following their lead:

• Majestic Mondays – Design and new merchandise introduced from our wonderful partners at Red Art
• Whimsical Wednesdays – Focus on Art and Music of the game as well as a selection of fan art
• Fabulous Fridays – Interviews with the core creators

Updates will be broken down into Campaign Information and Development Information.

We’ll constantly be updating our stretch goals and community game goals throughout the campaign which can unlock a lot of new content. As an independent developer having a direct pipeline to the community is very important so please consider joining the Discord, Twitter, Threads, Youtube channel, or Reddit! Your voice matters and we really want to hear it! Plus, you can earn physical reward upgrades by fending off those pesky baddies via the community game goals.

Thank you again for all the support! Now please allow us to sleep for a few hours before we get back to updating anything you amazing fans have smashed while we were asleep!”

The following illustration was shared to commemorate this swiftly achieved feat:

The game development team includes Hiroyuki Kotani, creator of the Patapon series. Ratatan will be developed in collaboration with TVT and a veteran group of developers, including Nelnal (main artist), Kemmei Adachi (main sound designer), and Kenei Nakasha (director) of the .hack series.

Ratatan’s gameplay fuses rhythm and strategy as players step into the role of a conductor controlling a charming army of “Ratatan” characters through musical phrases represented by controller commands.

To succeed, button presses need to be pressed in sync with the rhythm. The game elevates its musical theme with Ratatan characters wielding musical instruments, unleashing powerful skills during battles while also modernizing the movement system without compromising the beloved four-beat attack-defense gameplay adored by fans.

In case you missed it, check out our announcement coverage containing gameplay footage.

Gameplay Trailer Cast:

• Fortrun (Tomokazu Sugita)
• Harigittan (Hika Tsukishiro)
• Nyandola (Haruna Yuzuki)
• Mimizukyun (Youhei Azakami)
• Keroronpa (Masaya Fukunishi)
• Cobun (Gaku Kato / Ann Yamane)

Developer TVT is using its “Theory Engine” to ensure a seamless online multiplayer gameplay adventure, enabling players to join up with friends. Further, Red Art Games will be handling the potential physical release along with merchandise.

You can back Ratatan via its Kickstarter page and view more details about the goals.