Patapon creator’s Ratatan Kickstarter raises over $1 million in three days

Update 04/08/23: Kickstarter has removed approximately $400,000 in pledges after they were flagged as fraudulent payments. Ratata Arts is now working with the individuals involved to resolve the issue.

Ratatan, a spiritual successor to the cult classic PSP rhythm game Patapon, has raised over $1 million USD on Kickstarter in less than a week, indicating that it will also be released on consoles.

The details:

• Ratata Arts launched its Kickstarter campaign on August 1 with the initial goal of raising 20 million yen ($141,000), which it accomplished in just 47 minutes. In the days since, fans have donated a total of 146.4 million yen ($1,019,093) to the project, exceeding many of its stretch goals, and more are expected to be broken with the fundraiser not closing until September 1.
• A console port of the game for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, as well as an online mode, chiptunes version, secret ending, and orchestrated music, are among the stretch goals. However, one of the most intriguing goals for many fans was a collaboration with composer David Wise, who previously worked at Rare and on music for the Donkey Kong Country series.
• When thanking supporters, the development team revealed that it was hesitant to use Kickstarter as it had heard that other studios had "bad experiences with crowdfunding" and that it was unsure whether it would gain enough traction to meet its initial goal. In the same post, it stated that it will continue to update fans on the game's progress three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, by sharing merchandise designs, art, music, and interviews with team members.
• Patapon was developed by Pyramid for the PSP in 2007, quickly becoming a fan favorite due to its unique art style and fun gameplay, resulting in two more sequels and remasters for the PS4. Ratatan was revealed last month by Kotani and his team, including Patapon composer Kemmei Adachi, and shares many similarities with the original series, from its visuals to its gameplay, which involves the player using drum beats to command an army of characters to move forward, attack, defend, and retreat against their opponent.

More gaming news:

• Starfield will support cross-save between PC and Xbox Series X/S, with those who buy the game digitally from the Xbox or Microsoft stores receiving a free copy for the other platform as part of Xbox Play Anywhere.
• Dev kits for the Switch's successor are said to be in the hands of Nintendo's "key partners," with the console expected to launch in the second half of 2024. It is expected that the lineup of games at launch will be significantly larger than that of the Switch, with more coming soon after the holiday season.