"Mari—oh, Cat Leo."
Yin clicked into the game's details page.
Next to the janky, scribbled cover art, the info read:
Game Name: Cat Leo
Developer: WindyPeak Games
Type: Platformer
Price: $2
"This art style…" Yin stared at the smug, upright-walking cat and cracked up. "What is this garbage? No wonder it's two bucks."
Still, he hit the purchase button, adding Cat Leo to his library.
Chat went wild over the ridiculous cover:
"What even is this game?"
"Looks like a kindergartner drew it."
"Haha, barely better than stick figures."
"That cat's smirk is pure evil."
"Total Super Mario ripoff. Scam alert."
"Daily clown show begins!"
"Two bucks? Bet they're banking on no one bothering to refund."
"Report filed already."
"Is this even a game?"
The file was tiny, downloading in seconds. Yin skimmed the comments, shaking his head. Chat was right—this looked like a total joke.
"Let's give it a whirl," he said. "If it's just a lazy reskin, we're not wasting twenty minutes. Report it, yeet it, done."
He launched the game.
The screen loaded a pixelated mess—worse than Super Mario Bros. Oval clouds, blocky bricks, clunky pipes, and uncolored round enemies.
Yin groaned. "This is rough. I'm not saying a two-dollar game needs to be a masterpiece, but come on—did they make this in MS Paint?"
He could've done better himself!
"And it's straight-up Mario! Same levels! I could beat this blindfolded."
Yin started playing, guiding the smirking cat forward. "Move, jump, squish the monster, hit the question-mark block for coins—"
He jumped to hit the block.
Diu—
A cheesy sound effect played. The block, instead of spitting out coins, slid up one space.
"What the—?" Yin muttered, holding the jump button.
Diu—
The block floated higher.
"What's going on?" Yin frowned. "Why can't I hit it?"
Chat lit up, sensing something weird:
"Hahaha, self-moving blocks? Wild!"
"Block's like, 'Nah, get lost!'"
"That's disgusting, lol."
"'Beat it blindfolded,' huh?"
"This might actually be fun."
"Shameless move!"
After a couple more jumps, the block kept rising, untouchable. Yin gave up. "Fine, no coins. Whatever. There's mushrooms up ahead."
He moved forward, hitting the next question-mark block.
Ding-dong!
A mushroom slid out, just like in Mario, gliding along the bricks. Yin parked the cat underneath, ready to power up, bragging, "See? I could play this with my eyes closed. I know every—"
Before he finished, a purple mushroom dropped right onto Cat Leo's head.
The cat bounced, then keeled over, dead. A text bubble popped up:
[This mushroom… is poisonous…]
Yin froze, then exploded. "No way! I've been playing Super Mario for twenty years, and now you're telling me the mushrooms are poisonous?!"
Chat lost it:
"DEAD FROM A MUSHROOM HAHAHA!"
"Mario's crying in the corner."
"This is straight-up evil, lol."
"Kid's in great shape—just drops dead!"
"Cause of death: Too cocky."
"Those last words are killing me."
"This game's toxic, hahahaha!"
Yin and his viewers finally clocked it—this game wasn't just a Mario clone. It looked identical but was rigged with traps at every turn.
Yin took a deep breath, eyeing the flood of hype emotes in chat. "Alright, I see you, game. Throwing shade, huh? Let's dance!"
He cracked his knuckles, gripped the controller, and sat up straight. "I'm a pro streamer—PC and console. You think you can punk me?!"
Round two.
No coin blocks—they're cursed.
Poison mushrooms? Hard pass.
Yin even dodged a flying fish that shot out of the first pipe.
"Boom! See that?" he crowed, patting his chest. "Call me the Seattle Speedster!"
Feeling cocky, he hopped over a monster and reached the second pipe. After poking around to make sure no more fish popped out, he grinned.
"You can tell a designer knows Super Mario by this pipe," he said. "Real ones know it leads to a secret room. Let's check it out."
He positioned Cat Leo at the pipe and held the down key.
Sure enough, the cat started sliding in.
"Not bad," Yin nodded. "Nailing the hidden level shows this designer's got some—"
Whoosh!
The pipe started shaking. Flames burst from the bottom, and with a loud rumble, it blasted off like a rocket, launching Cat Leo into the sky where he twinkled out like a star.
Health: -1
Yin: …
"This designer's got issues!"
He slammed the desk, floored by the absurdity. "What kind of game pulls that?! Who taught you to make pipes into rockets?!"