Mad Rat Dead

Mad Rat Dead's PS4 cover art

***Mad Rat Dead*** *(マッドラットデッド, Maddo Ratto Deddo)* is a rhythm-based platformer/action game developed by Nippon Ichi Software and published by NIS America Inc. for both the Nintendo Switch and PS4. It was first released in Japan on October 29th, 2020. A day later on October 30th, 2020, it was then released to North America and Europe. Finally, it was then released a few days later on November 3rd to Australia.

The game costs $39.99 on both consoles, digitally and physically. There is a collector's edition that costs $59.99 which is appropriately named *Mad Rat Dead Heart Pounding Edition.* This special edition of the game includes a custom box that holds a physical copy, a cassette tape titled *Dead Beats,* digital soundtrack and an artbook*.* Both the PS4 and Nintendo Switch versions of this collector's edition are currently sold out. There is also a demo of the game for both consoles featuring the first four levels and the first boss fight. It has both Normal and Hard mode, as well as allowing you to change the music in any stage. Players are also able to use both the Sound Check and Options. However, Trophies are not accessible in the demo.

> *"Mad Rat has been given a second life, and now seeks revenge for his death! Jump, dash, and smash through insane stages in this rhythm-based action platformer!"*
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## Plot

The game follows Mad Rat, a lab rat seeking revenge, and his optimistic companion, Heart, on a journey to get back at the human doctor who kept Mad Rat locked up in a cage his whole life. Before nighttime falls on his final day alive, Mad Rat must achieve his final wish in order to be at peace with himself.

## Setting

The game seems to be set in a metropolitan city. There's a complex sewer system underneath the city, a large park adjacent to the city and tall buildings reaching the sky.

In the tutorial level, Mad Rat is placed in a dreamlike paradise full of cheese before he rewinds time to morning. Afterwards, during the next four stages, Mad Rat and Heart are in what appears to be a laboratory before Mad Rat blacks out. Both wake up in the sewers, only to escape out of there. After Mad Rat is woken up from his hallucinations of the lab, the duo appear to be in a park populated with outdoor rats and stray cats. Having navigated their way through the park and tracing back their steps, they reach the sewer a second time only to come out of a different exit leading to the city. After finding their way around the city, Mad Rat and Heart arrive back at the laboratory. After the player makes a choice whether to kill the scientist or not, Mad Rat and Heart make their way above the lab building before Rat God rewinds time to morning, again. Afterwards, all three of them are placed inside of Mad Rat's deteriorating mind. After the final boss battle ends, both Mad Rat and Heart are back in the lab, making it the final place players see in the game.

## Characters

**MAD RAT**: One of the game's protagonists, along with Heart, and the one the player controls. He's a lab rat who lived its entire life inside the lab, used by the doctor for experiments. He has grey fur, with some parts of it being darker due to a surgery that was performed on him; an animal tag (usually used to distinguish livestock, or in this case, lab specimens) in his right ear; stitches throughout his head and body, product of the aforementioned surgery; leather working gloves in his forelegs (with orange cloth in the top of the glove, and red cloth in the palm area), resembling a human's hand. and a visible hole in his chest, where his ribs and Heart are exposed and visible. He is rude, stubborn and somewhat arrogant, but has a character development arc mid-game, making him more selfless, and transforming his stubbornness into determination. He holds a deep grudge against the doctor for keeping him caged his entire life and killing him. He also has hallucinations throughout the whole game, mainly during levels.

**HEART**: One of the game's protagonists, along with Mad Rat. He's Mad Rat's heart, and his guide through a good portion of the game. His shape is the cartoon form of a heart, with the exception of a single greenish eye in the center. The eye's iris is yellow, but doesn't show for most of the game. Heart can pull out two thin arms, ending in white gloves. He shows "spikes" when agitated or scared. He's caring, friendly and supportive to Mad Rat, being the one giving him the name after hearing his plan to "take revenge". For some reason, he can't see the hallucinations Mad Rat has, which helps him realize what is really happening.

**RAT GOD**: One of the central characters to the game. She's an anthropomorphic (human-like) mouse/rat, wearing a red-pink top hat, a one-piece suit and heels of the same color; her hair is a greenish color, and there is red blush in her cheeks; she also has some white wings in her back like an angel. She only appears to Mad Rat when he dies for the first time, and when he faints to "asphyxiation" as Rat God refers to. There, she shows herself as optimistic, benevolent and as a guide to Mad Rat, being the one to give him the chance to relive his final day and help him discover his true inner abilities.