(Update) Mad Rat Dead is a crazy new rhythm-action game coming to PS4 and Switch

All that’s left is Revenge

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[Update: NIS America has confirmed that Mad Rat Dead will launch in North America and Europe on October 30, with Australia and New Zealand to follow on November 6. The publisher also released a new English language trailer, which you can check out below.]


Nippon Ichi Software has revealed its mystery new title, Mad Rat Dead, a stylistic and frenzied rhythm-action adventure currently in development for PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Mad Rat Dead is the morbid tale of a poorly-treated laboratory rodent who is on the brink of death, visited by the showy Rat God in his final hours. Our hero is granted one final day of opportunity to leave his glum cage and wreak vengeance upon those who consigned him to such a miserable life. And so, guided by the Rat God and… umm… his own sentient talking heart, Mad Rat sets out to earn back just a modicum of street justice.

While gameplay looks like your standard side-scrolling platformer, Mad Rat Dead is actually a rhythm-based title, with Mad Rat’s movement and action designated by beat-based button presses. Think Crypt of the NecroDancer but from a platforming perspective. Keep a steady rhythm and make the right choices to guide yer boy through enemy territory, whacking baddies and dodging hazards en route to the cheese waiting at the end of each course. A funky, big-band-style soundtrack is provided courtesy of a string of artists including a_hisa, Kouichi Sakita, Dyes Iwasaki, and Camellia, among others.


Mad Rat Dead certainly looks the part, with a vulgar and garish punk-rock aesthetic from Yomawari designer Yu Mizokami. I’m digging this blend of quirky gameplay, wild visuals, cool music and weirdly morbid narrative. Provided that the gameplay holds up, Mad Rat Dead looks certain to become a cult classic within the rhythm-acton genre.

Mad Rat Dead launches in Japan on PS4 and Nintendo Switch October 29. No western release has been detailed as of yet.

Nippon Ichi Software announces rhythm game Mad Rat Dead [Gematsu]


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Chris Moyse
Senior Editor - Chris has been playing video games since the 1980s and writing about them since the 1880s. Graduated from Galaxy High with honors. Twitter: @ChrisxMoyse