If there ever was the need to cater to a very specific niche of the gaming audience wanting to see cartoon animals piloting disproportionate steampunk-themed mechas with grabby limbs that grab things in a grabby/throwy way, Namco Bandai’s “Tail Concerto” (1998) had it all covered. Naturally, with a title like that one would be inclined to assume it’s a game about an unstable cat lady with delusions of grandeur trying to conduct an impromptu feline orchestra in an effort to recreate Toby Fox’s “Megalovania” with the sound of cat tails smacking onto each other – or maybe that’s just me. Instead, the world depicted in the game (and in the eventual sequel) is more akin to an episode of “Tailspin” viewed under the influence of heavy Japanese-imported drugs. Which is to say, it’s an inherently interesting and creative idea that gets progressively more baffling the longer you think about it: it’s literally about an anthropomorphic dog-like creature awkwardly meandering about in a silly looking robot, fighting and defeating enemies by way of pick up and launch based mechanics.
