Petz: Catz 2 and Petz: Dogz 2 (also known in the UK as just Catz or Dogz and known as The Kitten/Puppy and the Magic Hat in Japan) is a RPG released in 2007 for the Wii and PlayStation 2.
The story revolves around the magic hat, a... well, magical hat that maintains peace on the island you inhabit. You are the child of the magic hat's owner, but there's an evil wolf on the island by the name of Ivlet, currently being held in your town's prison. You and your best friend decide to visit him, but he deceives you into giving him the magic hat! Ivlet uses his new power to decimate homes and buildings, turn previously-friendly animals into aggressive beasts, and quietly plan to destroy the world as we know it. the early game is spent helping the townspeople get back on their paws, but eventually you'll get to take on Ivlet yourself.
Gameplay-wise, the games are Role-Playing Games in a similar vein to the Legend of Zelda franchise, but with less combat and more exploration. The game's story is rather short and is mostly a vehicle to discover the various environments the game has in store, with many things to collect and sidequests to accomplish. Related to The Dog Island, which uses the same engine.
These games provide examples of:
- Ability Required to Proceed: This comes in the form of boulders, which you can only gain the strength to push at certain points in the story.
- Absurdly High Level Cap: Unless you're rusty on your rock-throwing skills, you will most likely not need 8 hearts note to defeat Chaotic Dragon and Ivlet.
- Adults Are Useless: Zig-zagged. On one hand, your parents are some of the most useful characters in the game, and the others can sometimes help as well. On the other hand, the tasks of fixing the town and eventually fighting Ivlet are entirely up to you (even though Ada and Augusta explicitly tell you not to go after Ivlet, and the grown-ups will handle that).
- Alliterative Name: Lappy Lake, Whisper Woods, and Crystal Caverns.
- In the Japanese version of the game, Monolith Isle's new name translates to "Isolated Isle".
- Ambiguous Gender: Chaotic Dragon's gender is never hinted at.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: The rewards for filling out the Magic Encyclopedia.
- Anti-Frustration Features: The Warp Stones, as going back-and-forth later in the game would be very tedious without them.
- Artifact of Doom: The magic hat is mainly a force for good, but if put in the wrong paws, it becomes this.
- Badass Adorable: Yes, your player character can defeat world-threatening evil. Yes, they're a cute little kitty/puppy.
- Bears Are Bad News: Bears are some of the enemies you can encounter.
- The Beastmaster: Sai, and your character after learning the Call action.
- Big Bad: Ivlet is the main antagonist of the game; he tricks your character into getting the Magic Hat for him and he causes chaos and destruction with it being in the wrong hands.
- Big Eater: Sai asks for food items all three times you encounter him.
- Bigger on the Inside: Your house, which appears normal-house-sized on the inside, but on the outside appears to be only twice as big as your player character.
- Bleak Level: The Crystal Caverns have a very drab appearance, on top of including the games' most difficult enemies.
- Bonsai Forest: With the exception of the palm trees in Dolphin Coast, the trees in the games are only a few times taller than your player character (who is rather small, keep in mind).
- Boss-Only Level: The Dimensional Rift only exists to fight the Chaotic Dragon and Ivlet in, and the area quickly falls apart once they're defeated.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Every enemy with the exception of the Chaotic Dragon. Downplayed with Ivlet, as he was already evil before, but the power of the magic hat made him even more so.
- Broken Bridge: Several cases throughout the story. Stanley fixes them as it progresses.
- Bubblegloop Swamp: Lappy Lake is a brighter and cleaner-looking example than most.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Ivlet is rather proud of his evil status.
- Catchphrase: Kenneth says "Hey hey hey! Hello-hello-hello!" every time you talk to him, sometimes with an added "If it isn't young [player name]!"
- Character Customization: You can choose from 40 breeds of cat/dog, and later in the game you can choose what clothes to wear.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The colors of the magic hat; blue is good, gray is... well, morally gray, black with white clouds is leaning towards evil, and black with gray clouds is pure evil.
- Convection, Schmonvection: Downplayed. You need a special clothing item to walk in Inferno Cave, and even then you are prone to heat exhaustion. However, the heat takes a while to settle in, and you can easily negate it just by drinking water.
- Cool Shades: Sai always rocks a pair, regardless of the time in-game.
- Covers Always Lie: Yes, the game has cute cats/dogs, but none of the cats/dogs on the cover are characters in the game, and the cover doesn't give any indication of the gameplay or plot, either. The Japanese cover at least shows some of the cast, though.
- Cowardly Sidekick: Bartholomew to Theophilus. Theophilus seems hesitant to receive his help, and Bartholomew cowers in fear seeing Ivlet while the player character and Theophilus are more determined.
- Cowboys and Indians: You play the "Cops and Robbers" variant with Victor during the tutorial.
- Crafted from Animals: The Flame-Retardant Suit requires komodo dragon skin to make.
- Cue the Sun: When the Apollo's Flower banishes the rain from South Pawville, and again when the Magic Mirror ends the neverending night on Monolith Isle.
- Darker and Edgier: While not in itself a dark game, it is certainly this compared to other entries in the Catz/Dogz series, which are simple pet simulators.
- Death Mountain: Lonesome Park and Gongoro Peak are set in mountainous areas.
- Demoted to Extra: Victor becomes this after putting himself in jail, despite being your second-in-command before then. You will never speak to him again unless you go out of your way to do so (and going to the prison itself is only required one more time in the game).
- Dragons Are Demonic: The Chaotic Dragon is a ferocious-looking dragon summoned by Ivlet himself.
- Dressed to Plunder: Natasha, the sailor at Dolphin Coast.
- Dying as Yourself: Ivlet's fate, assuming that the portal he's sent to leads to his death (which it's never said where it goes, so it's likely a visual version of Never Say "Die").
- Easing into the Adventure: Much of the earlier game is spent in Pawville and the few areas surrounding it.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: Every area in the game where enemies can be found, but especially areas like Crystal Caverns and the three crystal areas where enemies are more common.
- Evil Is Bigger: Ivlet becomes bigger as the evil of the magic hat overtakes him. Though even without it, he still has the largest model of any character beside Chaotic Dragon.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Ivlet's bark is deeper than the meows/barks of any other character.
- Exposition Fairy: Beat, though downplayed as he mostly keeps quiet during gameplay.
- Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: Two sidequests involve you collecting 10 of these for Charlotte (fruits) and/or Ambrose (vegetables). Each will give you an extra heart container if you succeed.
- Faux Affably Evil: Ivlet acts nice towards the protagonist and Victor, claiming he needs to see the magic hat to make sure it's the real one. His mask quickly slips the moment the hat is close enough to steal.
- Final Boss, New Dimension: The final boss battle against the Chaotic Dragon and Ivlet is set in the Dimensional Rift.
- Fire/Water Juxtaposition: Inferno Cave against the other two crystal locations.
- First Town: South Pawville is the hometown of the player character, featuring shops and its citizens. Also doubles as a Hub City.
- Fishing Minigame: Including 70 different types of fish to catch! There are two instances in which it is required to play; one to get a sardine during the tutorial, and another to get a swordfish for Sai.
- Floating Continent: Sky Heights. Makes sense as it is the home of the wizard Theophilus.
- Food as Bribe: Sai will give you the Legendary Pattern, instructions on how to use the Call action, and lighthouse fuel in exchange for homemade pie, a pear tart, and a swordfish respectively.
- Free-Range Children: The protagonist, and Victor before he locks himself up.
- Genius Bruiser: Ivlet got caught on purpose because he knew he would be imprisoned on the very island keeping the magic hat.
- The Ghost: Townsend, Sai's father who died before the events of the game. There's also Godfrey's partner that he built the water wheel with, though their dead-or-alive status is never stated.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Chaotic Dragon, the only supernatural being to show up in game, and only shown briefly in one scene beforehand.
- Go Wait Outside: In the tutorial, Victor will give you time to explore Dolphin Coast as he cleans the bug cage and fishing tackle, saying to talk to him again when you're done. You have the option to talk to him again immediately after he sends you off, and the cage and tackle will be clean.
- Guide Dang It!: Sai asks for a swordfish, which he says can be found at Dolphin Coast. What he doesn't mention is that swordfish can only be caught on the pier of the island, meaning any player's first instinct to use the pier next to Warren wouldn't give any results. Even worse, some players might not even notice that island had a pier upon first visit.
- Hell Hound: Ivlet slowly becomes one of these, especially with the red, glowing eyes and long, sharp fangs. Not to mention the power he gets!
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: You can name your protagonist whatever name you so choose, and has no effect on the overall narrative.
- Herding Mission: The sidequest to retrieve Kenneth's zoo animals.
- Heroic Mime: No actual words appear in your character's dialogue, mostly using pictorial speech bubbles (and, during cutscenes with dialogue, just punctuation).
- Hidden Depths:
- Kenneth the zookeeper is a fan of romance novels. One story quest involves you getting one of his books back from Daisy.
- It's implied Ada plays, or used to play, guitar.note How exactly she can play it with paws is not touched upon.
- Hub City: South Pawville leads to North Pawville, Dolphin Coast, Lappy Lake, and Jade Fields- from there you can get to every other area there is.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: A given, since all healing items in the game are either food or liquid medicine.
- Idle Animation: A few, including swiping at the air, yawning, and rolling over when left alone for too long.
- Insurmountable Waist-High Fence: Any of the progress-blocking boulders are this.
- In the End, You Are on Your Own: Double subverted. You spend most of the game on your own (except for Beat, who is an Exposition Fairy anyways and therefore useless in combat), but in the final battles you bring Theophilus and Bartholomew along for the ride- who stay back to maintain the shields laid out across the map. Have fun taking on that dragon and demonic wolf on your own, little kitty/puppy!
- It's All My Fault: Victor after Ivlet steals the magic hat.
- Just a Kid: You're told to only help the townspeople, and to steer clear of dealing with Ivlet because it's a job for the adults. Obviously, this doesn't stop you from confronting Ivlet anyways.
- Justified Tutorial: The tutorial comes from playing a few games with Victor as you wait for night to fall.
- Kid Hero: The player character is no less younger than any of the other characters, and they are the one who ultimately saves the day in the end.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: The protagonist is completely capable of digging out random things from the police station and Theophilus and Bartholomew's home.
- Last Villain Stand: Ivlet after the Chaotic Dragon's defeat.
- Lethal Lava Land: Inferno Cave is set in a volcanic area. Your player character cannot withstand the heat and must wear a special coat to prevent their fur from being singed.
- Lighthouse Point: There's a lighthouse on Dolphin Coast that gets torn apart by Ivlet. The lighthouse itself gets fixed without your help, but you need to find fuel for it in order to progress.
- The Lost Woods: Whisker Woods is set in a forest-like area.
- Money for Nothing: Unless you're looking to buy a lot of clothes, you will likely end up with more money than you know what to do with. Most items are obtained for free and having a lot of medicine on hand is usually unnecessary.
- Mr. Exposition: Victor and Beat, Beat more obviously so.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ada and Augusta, as well as pretty much the whole island, after the player character gives the magic hat to Ivlet. The rest of the game is a quest to fix their mistake.
- The Night That Never Ends: Ivlet places this curse on Monolith Isle after Noel refuses to tell him where the Water Crystal is. This is reversed with a magic mirror.
- While not stated, this seems to also be the case when Ivlet curses eternal rain on Pawville, as the sun doesn't shine at all during that time.
- Non-Linear Sequel: Taken to its logical extreme. It's a sequel to Petz Catz/Dogz in name only.
- Notice This: Used a few times early in the game, specifically when the player has to use the bridges that were previously unable to be crossed.
- Obviously Evil: Ivlet, even more so in the last few scenes he appears.
- Oddball in the Series: In a series of Raising Sims, this is an RPG/adventure game where you play as the animal and have to Save the World from an evil wolf.
- Older Than They Look: The player character and Victor are meant to be children, but appear the same age as the adults.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Ivlet, though whether he was one to begin with or the magic hat pushed him into more evil goals is debatable.
- One Game for the Price of Two: The Catz and Dogz versions are essentially sprite-swaps of each other, though there are a couple of sidequests that are exclusive to each version.
- Only One Name: None of the characters have surnames.
- Pacifist Run: Downplayed. There are a few instances where catching or fighting an enemy is required, but other than those few, the game is completely possible to beat without confronting a single enemy.
- Palmtree Panic: Monolith Isle and Dolphin Coast are set in a tropical island and a beach, respectively.
- Point of No Return: Once you enter Theophilus' house to confront Ivlet, Beat warns you that you can never go back once you confront him. Better hope you saved your game before this very moment.
- Purely Aesthetic Gender: Besides from impacting what clothes you can wear, what gender you choose for your character has no impact on the game.
- Purple Is Powerful: Ivlet's main motif, which becomes more prevalent as he gains more power from the magic hat. Even his boss battle location is purple!
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Ivlet's final form has red, glowing ones.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Snakes, alligators, and komodo dragons are common enemies.
- Roar Before Beating: Both final bosses, Ivlet more obviously so.
- Rule of Three / The Three Trials: You need to find three crystals to make the Magic Shield.
- There's also three times in which you encounter Sai in the game.
- Save Point: In South Pawville, Monolith Isle, Inferno Cave, Polar Fields, Tail Heights, and Gongoro Peak. After Arvin gives you the Warp Ring, they will double as warp points.
- Saving the World: Your player character's main objective is to prevent Ivlet from destroying the world.
- Shall I Repeat That?: Ione will introduce you to the South Pawville residents by having you give them homemade treats (donuts or cookies depending on the game). There's quite a few and she gives instructions on where to find each, so she'll forgive if you need her to repeat all of it.
- Shout-Out:
- Theophilus being the level-headed, older, red-themed brother and Bartholomew being the clumsy, younger, green-themed brother make them almost certainly a reference to the Mario Brothers.
- It's likely that Godfrey is a reference to Jay Gatsby, given their similar names and status as the rich person of their town.
- Sliding Scale of Linearity vs. Openness: Type 4. You need to do almost all of the storyline in order to unlock the entire map note , but every area has a lot to explore and find, meaning you can put off the main storyline for quite a while if you so choose.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Polar Fields, though there is no sliding or slipping present. Like Inferno Cave before it, the player character must wear a special type of clothing to prevent them from being frozen.
- Spikes of Villainy: Ivlet already has a spiked pattern on his fur, but as the game progresses and he becomes more evil, the fur itself becomes rather spiky (or fluffy, depending on how you see it).
- Stealth Pun: To get the komodo dragon skin for your flame resistant suit, you have to sneak up behind the reptile and screech. It jumps in surprise and faints. You quite literally scare it out of its skin.
- Taken for Granite: A rare example in which a character does this to themselves. When you find Bartholomew in Gongoro Peak, it turns out the reason he's been gone so long is because he turned himself into a cat/dog-shaped rock to better understand the other rocks in the area, and he simply lost track of time.
- Take Your Time: Ivlet's power is growing stronger very quickly, and the world is in extreme danger... but you can take all the time you need.
- After defeating Ivlet and receiving the ending cutscenes, the game will reset to right before confronting the Chaotic Dragon, basically making this trope enforced.
- Tragic Keepsake: Sai's Legendary Pattern, which he inherited from his decreased father Townsend. He later gives it to the player in order to fix the Fashion Store.
- Underground Level: While Crystal Caverns is not underground, it fits all other parts of this trope to a T.
- Underground Monkey: The different types of snakes that can be encountered. Bears also count, as they come in grizzly and polar variants.
- Unwitting Pawn: The player character and Victor are manipulated into giving the magic hat to Ivlet, as he said it was damaged and he had the means to fix it.
- Vague Age: Every character. Likely justified given that cat years and dog years are difficult. The biggest example is Clara, who unlike the other characters, isn't even specified whether she's a kid or an adult.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Most areas in the game are realistic settings with lots to explore- except the Dimensional Rift, which is a rip in spacetime and is just one flat circle.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The game is mostly exploring calming areas of nature. If it weren't for the storyline reminding you so much, it'd be easy to forget the antagonist is a wolf using the island's main source of power to destroy the entire world, all the while his mind and body transform to be even more wicked-looking because the magic hat just can't handle how awful he really is.
- Visible Silence: Used quite a bit, especially by the protagonist.
- Warm-Up Boss: The Chaotic Dragon is quite easy to deal with compared to Ivlet, who is much more complicated to defeat.
- Warp Whistle: The Warp Ring, though it can only be used by Warp Stones.
- We Buy Anything: Tom, owner of the pawn shop, will buy anything that's not a key item.
- Weak, but Skilled: The protagonist is estimated to be as strong as the average housecat/dog, but makes up for it with the abilities to sneak, screech to stun opponents, and throw rocks with great precision.
- Whack-a-Monster: The prairie dogs you can find at Dolphin Coast and Gongoro Peak, which can be caught for food items. Different from most examples as prairie dogs will not harm you in any way, but otherwise fit the bill.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Saul and Sai are never seen again after their scenes are finished. It's strongly implied Sai was only visiting the island for a short time, though.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: It's stated Ivlet's mind has become warped by the magic hat, especially since the good and evil in the hat became unbalanced and only the evil remained. How much of his wrongdoing was due to the hat and how much was just evil being evil is a bit ambiguous.
- Windmill Scenery: There's one just outside of the Sky Heights entrance, but you need to remove the briars from it to get it working.
