With the new Metroid Dread still a month away, you might be looking for something to scratch that Metroidvania itch. And if you’d like a Metroid-like game on Nintendo Switch today, I would recommend Gato Roboto.

Gato Roboto is essentially an indie Metroid game, but one in which Samus Aran is replaced with a common house cat. It's a charming monochrome adventure, with a visual sensibility similar to Minit, that strikes a good vibe as some kind of Super Metroid-as-light-hearted-comedy.

A particularly cool gameplay mechanic is that Kiki (the cat) can jump out of the mech suit at pretty much any time. Somewhat similar to this mechanic in Panzer Paladin, Kiki is extremely vulnerable outside of the suit; here a single hit from anything spells doom for the kitty.

But instead of always jumping in the Power Armor-style mech suit, Kiki can also hop into other vehicles—like a submarine. These underwater sections almost remind me of Super Mario Land, where the addition of vehicles turns the platforming game into a shooter for one level at a time.

This game’s monochrome visuals also lend to the original Game Boy game comparison. Funnily enough, there are various visual styles for the player to unlock along the way, and every single one is just another shade of monochrome. Black & white, navy & white, green & black—this game’s got’em all!

Even though Gato Roboto clearly has the speedrunning community in mind, the actual adventure had a surprising amount of conversational text to read. While the dialogue is generally quite short and packed with jokes, the nature of this game means that a lot of the humor is overly silly. That said, I doubt cat lovers will have any problems with it. Plus, you can skip through the text as fast as you’d like.

All in all, Gato Roboto is really fun time. If you’re looking to play some Metroid and have any interest in cats in space, then this is the game for you. It’s not overly long either, just as the Good Lord intended. So check it out!