Cat collectors rejoice: the cult favorite mobile game Neko Atsume has finally made its way to Android—and soon, to iOS—in English under the name Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector.
Originally created by the Japanese company Hit Point, the game had been available solely in Japanese since its launch, but the idea of collecting a coterie of cats in a digital backyard proved so adorable that it acquired a community of international fans anyway. Devoted players quickly created guides to help non-Japanese speakers navigate the menus, acquire fish and attract a wide range of kitties to romp around inside their phones.
"When we made the game we weren’t thinking about foreign users — we were only thinking about the Japanese audience," Neko Atsume project manager Yutaka Takazaki told the Verge. "It’s very helpful that the community is helping each other out." The English version also localizes the names of the cats to more typical English pet names, like Snowball, Smokey, and Shadow. If you've been holding out because the Japanese version seemed too complicated, now you have no excuse.
