Nekomew's Potty Trouble is a 2018 horror rhythm game developed by Pikewin, released on Steam. A sequel called Nekomew's Nightmares was released 4 years later.
The game focuses on the titular four-year-old kitten Nekomew, who just moved into a new home with his adoptive parents, who happen to be a dog couple, and he's afraid of going to the bathroom at night. With the help of his doll, Nekomew must avoid being scared by the monsters that are more of memories of his past.
Come with me...
- A Birthday, Not a Break: The mysterious hooded kitten is shown peeking outside the window during Nekomew's birthday party, causing him to faint in the middle of his birthday and kickstarting the final level.
- Abusive Parents: Nekomew's former mom is this after his former dad died in a car accident. She's even the final nightmare in both this and Nekomew's Nightmares to drive the point home.
- All the Worlds Are a Stage: In the final level in story mode. Nekomew has to face every single nightmare before, and "*Squeak* *Squeak*" counts as this, too.
- Ambiguous Situation: Just who is the hooded kitten? It's unknown if they're Nekomew's sister or simply a figment of his terrified imagination. And why do they appear on top of the ambulance in the ending? Are they actually there?
- Birthday Episode: The final level takes place at the night of Nekomew's birthday.
- Bring My Brown Pants: What can happen if you get jumpscared if the meter is close to full, the possible result? Nekomew wets himself in fear. That's a game over after a swift jumpscare.
- Brown Note: The pipe the lizard's on gushes water, which can lead to Nekomew ruining himself earlier if he doesn't cover his ears.
- Brutal Bonus Level: The extra levels can be this, especially "Wimp" where it's one scare and you're toast, and ''Crazy'' which... Well, it explains itself from name alone.
- Camera Fiend: The Photographer, Nekomew has to cover his eyes to not get blinded by him.
- Can't Move While Being Watched: The Clown tends to sneak up behind you, all you have to do is turn around and blind him to send him packing if he's close. But just turning around does the trick if he's not too close. The Policeman hides behind doors too, you'll have to turn and look to see if he's behind a door you just passed by.
- Catapult Nightmare: Nekomew wakes up like this after having a nightmare in each level's intro. He slowly calms down everytime.
- Cats Are Mean: Justified with Nekomew's former mom, who only acted very abusive towards her own children because her husband died in a car crash while he was trying to get Nekomew. Also, the hooded kitten is this if you ruin yourself before you can reach the bathroom.
- Cats Are Magic: It's heavily implied if not confirmed that maybe Nekomew's former mom is dabbling in some dark rituals just to find Nekomew. as shown in the cutscenes rewarded after beating the bonus levels.
- Detective Animal: The Policeman is an anglerfish... well, policeman.
- Dirty Coward: The Clown, the rag doll even calls him a "pretty cowardly" character!
- Don't Wake the Sleeper: Implied or at least downplayed with Ms. Paloma, as Nekomew has to step to the rhythm of the counter to avoid being scared by her.
- Dream Intro: Nekomew dreams of his past experiences in every level.
- Endless Game: After clearing all of the Extra Mode challenges, you unlock the game's Endless Mode. As the name implies, you have to make it through an endless hallway with various nightmare monsters stalling you. With every 20 steps you take, the bladder meter decreases a bit. Once the meter reaches fully, the game is over.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: There's one in *Squeak Squeak* in the form of a Victory Fakeout.
- He Knows About Timed Hits: The doll tells Nekomew how to deal with each nightmare after he wakes up. The only one who he doesn't talk about is Nekomew's former mum.
- Justified Tutorial: The tutorial level of the game is done through Nekomew's adoptive dad telling you the basic commands of the game, such as taking a step, covering your eyes and ears, and lighting up your ragdoll.
- Madness Mantra: Happens in almost every nightmare, like "Come with Me", or "Get out of here!".
- Missing Child: One of Nekomew's friends... Well, goes missing. Nekomew's former mom might have something to do with that.
- Monster Closet: The Policeman doesn't exactly hide in a closet, but he hides behind doors and attempts to get you from behind once you pass the door, you can tell if he's there if you turn around to see a glow behind a door.
- Monster Clown: The Clown. Just like with The Carer, Subverted. He was just trying to get Nekomew to tell him what happened to him after his former mom abused him to the point it landed him in the hospital one night.
- Nightmare Sequence: Nekomew has a nightmare about each monster, causing him to wake up with a fright in the middle of the night.
- Nighttime Bathroom Phobia: Nekomew's not really a fan of going to the bathroom at night, and considering he has to deal with imaginary monsters on the way doesn't help.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: Or rather "One Scare Wonder", as in the Wimp challenge, one scare and you'll fail the challenge, and Ms. Paloma doesn't tolerate any mess-ups here!
- Pajama-Clad Hero: Nekomew, justified because he has to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
- Post-End Game Content: After beating the game, the player unlocks the gallery, which shows everybody seen in the game, with some you'll have to unlock to see.
- Potty Emergency: The main goal of the game is to go to the bathroom before Nekomew does it all over himself.
- Potty Failure: Failing to get to the bathroom in time will result in Nekomew ruining himself... Followed by a jumpscare and a Game Over.
- Psycho Poodle: Pierro the Clown is an anthropomorphic poodle depicted with blood-shot eyes and sharp teeth. Subverted when its revealed that he only wanted to cheer up Nekomew after he fell down the stairs and was sent to the hospital.
- Schizophrenic Difficulty: The Crazy challenge, where the tempo is all over the place, take a guess what that means.
- Security Blanket: The doll counts as this, it even actively fends off some of the nightmares such as The Policeman and Nurse by flashing them with light.
- Sinister Car: The Car, it even tries to run Nekomew over itself. You can prevent this by flashing it with the doll's light.
- Victory Fakeout: Happens twice, both times are thankfully only in the last two levels.
- The penultimate level has Nekomew finally reaching the potty... but then a monster pops out as it tries to drag him down the toilet through a quick-time event. Once he escapes, the level cuts back to the last quarter, and then the level finishes proper.
- The final level sees Nekomew finally reaching the toilet with no casualties after facing many monsters on his way. The results screen not showing up is a sign that there is more to the level; as the house suddenly catches on fire with the bladder meter changing into blood as Nekomew tries to make his way back to his parents before the evil former mom shows up.
- Wicked Wasps: One of the nightmares is a wasp caretaker who zips around in a blink of an eye. Subverted, in an unlockable memory in Nekomew's Nightmares reveals she was simply tidying up the playroom and carefully inspecting the children. It's likely the sole reason Nekomew's having nightmares about her is her frightening appearance.
- Would Hurt a Child: The Car, but even more so with Nekomew's former mom.
- Yandere: Nekomew's former mom might be this to Nekomew, platonically for obvious reasons. She might be dabbling with black magic just to try and find and get him back after losing custody of the kitten.
