Kumanchu Royale (lost J2ME mobile phone game; 2011)

A high-resolution image of the game's title, from the official website.

Status: Lost

Kumanchu Royale (クマんちゅ ロワイアル Kumanchu Rowaiaru) is a mobile phone tower defence game developed by PONOS corporation and released on i-mode and Yahoo Keitai phones. After its release in July 2011, the game was discontinued on January 6, 2015, and is no longer available for download.

Content

Kumanchu Royale was a sequel to one of PONOS's other mobile titles, Nyanko Great War (にゃんこ大戦争, Nyanko Daisensō), which survives to this day as The Battle Cats on modern devices. The game's official website shows images which appear identical to those on their page for Nyanko Great War, but with the units and enemies reskinned. Several new enemy designs appear to have been present in the game.

Gallery

A video showing footage of the Easter Island level from Kumanchu Royale.

A video showing footage of the final level.

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  A low-resolution image of Kumanchu Royale gameplay from the official website.

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  An image of the enemy guide from the game, showing an enemy that later appeared in The Battle Cats.

On January 30, 2013, a video was uploaded by the YouTube channel "ogurahn" titled "What is Kumanchu Royale?" (クマんちゅロワイアル とは？) It appears to show a playthrough of a level set in Easter Island. This video reveals a few things about the game:

• As suspected, the game appears to play identically to Nyanko Great War and the modern-day The Battle Cats.
• The units appear to be identical in functionality to the ones in Nyanko Great War; the player sends out a wall-shaped bear with the same stats and attack speed as Tank Cat, and other cats have their own equivalents in the video. The only exception can be seen for a second near the end of the stage, as the player sends out the missile bear. Although it has the same price and position on the menu as Cow Cat, it appears to attack once by exploding, then die, instead of attacking rapidly like Cow Cat does.
• The enemies also seem to be identical in functionality. Judging from its long attack range, the moai head enemy appears to be a reskin of either Le'boin or Teacher Bear; however, as it never takes damage and the stats of the player's units are unclear, it is impossible to tell which of these it is.
• The enemy base is the same one used on the Easter Island level in The Battle Cats. However, this level in the modern game has a completely different set of enemies, suggesting that the stage designs were pulled from Nyanko Great War, while only the enemy bases were used from this game.

Later, on March 31, 2013, the same YouTube channel uploaded another video, titled "Kumanchu Royal. Final runaway !! (Sequel to Nyanko Great War)" (クマんちゅロワイアル。 最終面大暴走!!（にゃんこ大戦争の続編）), showing Kumanchu Royale's final level. This video shows a giant level 99 bear (replacement for Mythical Titan Cat) clearing the final level by itself.

• The final boss of the game, a ghostly woman holding a spiked club, appears to have identical stats to The Face, which appears at the end of Empire of Cats chapter 1. This suggests that Kumanchu Royale only had one story chapter.
• A merlion enemy appears in the video. Judging from its weak stats and attack speed, it appears to be a reskin of Hippoe. This enemy was later added to the modern game as Mr. Mer, with identical sprites, but completely different stats.
• Late in the video, a soldier enemy holding a gun appears. It's impossible to confirm what enemy this might have been an equivalent of, as it dies almost immediately after spawning.
• Those Guys, Gory, and B.B. Bunny appear with identical stats and appearance to what they have in the modern game, suggesting that only some enemies were given a reskin.

On November 15, 2022, a Twitter user posted footage of the game's final level. In addition to showing the names and appearances of more units, it confirms that the game's Brave Cat equivalent was later reused as Welterweight Cat in The Battle Cats. Later, this same user uploaded a video of the game's upgrade menu and enemy guide, revealing the names and appearances of every enemy in the game. Notably, this footage confirms that Angelic Sleipnir appeared in Kumanchu Royale first, and was later added to The Battle Cats.

External Links

• Battle Cats Wiki page on Kumanchu Royale