Metro Cats

Metro Cats
Appears in:	Nyakuza Metro
Species:	Cat
Role:	Minor Character Antagonist
Voice actor:	Kimlinh Tran

Metro Cats are a group of characters in A Hat in Time that reside in Nyakuza Metro, who often take the many trains found in the chapter and collectively work under The Empress as a gang.

Description

Appearance

Each Metro Cat uses one of a set of six different body types, each with varying proportions and general sizes, ranging from short, to normal, to tall. Eyes are also selected in a similar fashion, with many that can be selected.

When doing work for The Empress, they wear a white mask with a simple cat face painted on it to partially protect their identities and identify other gang members easily. They are often seen sitting down and offering Hat Kid something to buy, but in Rush Hour, they are worn by the masses of Metro Cats present in both the crowds and those actively attacking Hat Kid.

Personality

Metro Cats often vary in how they act depending on the stories and gossip that could be being thrown around, though general commonalities can be seen from these interactions.

Almost all cats have strong ties to The Empress, whom employs them to man her jewelry business and crime game. As such, they often show moderate devotion to her cause, often citing their loyalty on the basis that she pays them so they can keep living their lives. Whenever their ties with her business is brought up in casual conversations, it is often treated with an air of secrecy, often trying to silence speaking out about it or getting any bad or dangerous ideas to their operations, though they are often quite conspicuous about their intentions without meaning to.

Above all else, Metro Cats often have two viewpoints of having money, either saving it up to fund bigger and better things, or by blowing it all away as soon as they get it. The latter is also affirmed by an interaction at the top of the Pink Paw Station, where a group of phone-wielding Metro Cats mentioning that they were playing a game and collecting items from 'event boxes' that they were able to purchase with cash from working the jewelry store. This shows that these kinds of Metro Cats have some form of addictive personalities, where high pay/high risk work with The Empress funds their lifestyles.

Since Metro Cats are often found in groups, they are often quite social in their small niches, frequently talking about their lives, venting and scheduling events with their friends.

Roles

Akin to other NPCs with multiple roles, such as the Express Owls, Metro Cats can have their role vary with location in the Metro, as well as the act played.

NPC

Many Metro Cats exist as passive NPCs that walk around or stand still with surrounding cats to talk passively with each other so that the player can overhear as they walk past.

Some cats also have phones and stand next to restaurants, presumably after they had eaten at that vendor. Here, they will show their review above their head as Hat Kid moves past them, showing their score and any text associated with the review.

Vendors

As a part of the gang, some cats actively wear a face mask and lounge around the metro, offering the player purchasable customization options for all areas except for remixes.

Image	Location	Sells
	Main Station - Leftwards of Le Félin, in the alleyway.
	Main Station - On top of the two escalators and right before the Yellow Overpass Station gates.
	Yellow Overpass Station - After the starting train segment, leftwards and at the end of the road.
	Yellow Overpass Station - After the starting train segment, rightwards at the bottom of the drop off.
	Green Clean Station - Before the Pink Paw Station gates and Green Clean Manhole.
	Green Clean Station - At the bottom of the drop off under the Ice Hat panel.
	Bluefin Tunnel - Opposite side of the tracks from that area's Ticket Booth.
	Pink Paw Station - Near the end of the Time Piece route, near the overhand looking over the metro.

Restaurant Owners

Main Article: Restaurants

Restaurant Owners offer their wares for Hat Kid to purchase and consume to heal off any damage received during her stay in the metro, providing unique food menus and varying pricing to let one shop possibly offer different food combinations at competitive prices, while another to offer an obscure food combo to unlock a new sticker.

Enemies

When The Empress finds Hat Kid stealing the Time Pieces back, she announces that Hat Kid has a bounty, sending Metro Cats to reveal their true nature when an easy pay day is on the line.

Metro Cats for the duration of Rush Hour will serve as road blocks, not dissimilar to the Moon Penguin crowds of The Big Parade which damage the player and launch them up into the air if they are flung into the crowd.

More actively, Metro Cats wearing their masks will lunge out and try to attack Hat Kid, whom themselves are invulnerable to any and all damage and must be avoided as the chase ensues.

Secret Boss

Outside those found in Rush Hour, there is one Metro Cat that can be found and fought as a secret boss. It can be accessed at Green Clean Station: Near the end of that station's Time Piece sequence, the player should jump off of the train to the large, green, three-tiered light fixture above the station ledge.

From the bottom tier, the player can wall jump off of a small grey support beam found jutting out from the wall, allowing them to proceed to the next tier. On the top is an egg in a cage which can be interacted with to play the Seal voiceline 'egg', as well as a spring platform. Taking the spring platform will place the player on top of one of the light fixtures attached to the ceiling of the metro.

The arena is generic and flat, similar to the platforms used in the Green Clean Station to platform from the side to the oncoming train. All that is of interest is that the manhole can be inspected, which yields short text before a Metro Cat with an eyepatch arrives to do battle with Hat Kid. The perimeter of the arena is walled off with a field similar to the one produced by the Fire Spirits, and the manhole can no longer be slammed through with the Ice Hat.

This Metro Cat is unique to other Metro Cats who attack Hat Kid head-on, where it can take damage from attacks. When defeated, nothing of note happens, as the manhole can now be slammed through and allows Hat Kid to be placed in the same position she would if selecting the Free Roam option for the Nyakuza Metro.

Gallery

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  Metro Cats gossiping with one another, here talking about The Empress.

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  A group of Metro Cats found in Pink Paw Station of Rush Hour.

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  The secret boss fight.

Trivia

• The secret boss is a reference to SEGA's Ryu ga gotoku (known as Yakuza outside of Japan) franchise with "Kiwami means extreme" appearing right before the fight and the boss looking like Goro Majima, one of the central characters of the Yakuza franchise.
• In one of their gossip stories, Metro Cats mention in passing Cooking Cat having a show.
  • There is also mention of Mafia Town and the ship from Arctic Cruise.
  • The story helps to explain why Cooking Cat is not seen in the life rafts in the chapter end.