‘Patapon’ successor ‘Ratatan’ takes home $1.49 million in crowdfunding

MANILA, Philippines – Ratatan, the spiritual successor to the popular rhythm game Patapon, ended its month-long fundraising campaign with $1.49 million in tow.

Originally announced as Project JabberWocky last May 2022 by Patapon designer Hiroyuki Kotani, Ratatan was announced officially last July 15, and the Kickstarter campaign began last August.

The side-scroller features designs reminiscent of the original Patapon games, with one-eyed creatures, this time called Cobuns, controlled by the eponymous Ratatans using different musical instruments.

The last Patapon game released was Patapon 3 for the PlayStation portable in 2011, following Patapon 2 and the original Patapon in 2008 and 2007 respectively.

The campaign was met with overwhelming support from fans of the series, having completed its funding target of Y20,000,000 ($136,382.40) in under an hour. 

Funding continued to come in throughout the month, clearing stretch goals such as console versions of the game, expanded music, translations into other languages, customizable characters, and collaborations with other artists and composers.

According to the developer’s roadmap, the game is expected to have a closed beta test in late 2024, with an official release by April 2025. 

Japanese artist Kemmei Adachi, who also composed the soundtrack for Patapon, thanked fans on X for the support they have shown for the campaign. –Rappler.com

Disclosure: The writer also backed the project on Kickstarter.