Scarcity:

Description: 4k. #8. Long cartridge. This game was intended to be the Arcadia 2001 console group's legalized version of "Pac-Man". It was not the first version made; "Crazy Gobbler" was apparently written before "Cat Trax". (It was intended to be the non-legal copy of the "Pac-Man" arcade game, before Atari bought up the copyrights to various popular arcade games and sued many of its competitors for copyright infringement. See the Commodore VIC-20 section, specifically the "Pac-Man" and "Jelly Monsters" game entries, for more details on these lawsuits.) If you study various game screenshots shown in Emerson catalogs dated 5/82 and 7/82, it quickly becomes apparent that the screenshots are NOT 100% accurate. (Whether you call them "faked" or not is largely irrelevant; they do not match, so any argument would really have to center around intent rather than proven action.) Ward's belief is that the screenshots shown in these catalogs was just an artist's mock-up, based on a hybrid game-in-progress that seems to be halfway between "Crazy Gobbler" and "Cat Trax". Stefan Piasecki correctly observed that most of the screenshot errors involved the gates or tunnels in the sides of the maze, and that those gates could be opened or closed by selecting different game options. However, even this still does not solve all of the problems. If these screenshots were just showing game option 4, with most of the side tunnels closed, it should have also said "OPT 4" on the screen. It did not. It says "OPT 1" just like the start-up screen. Also, "Cat Trax" has two "L" shaped walls in the upper-middle portion of the maze, which are not that shape in the screenshots. See the "Crazy Gobbler" entry for more.

Landmarks: One of three games known to have been ported over to the Atari 2600 VCS console by "UA Limited" in 1983. (See also "Funky Fish" and "Pleiades".) Ward can only assume that the ports imply that UA Limited was throwing in the towel in regards to the Arcadia 2001 console's future. The program ROM image of the Atari version of "Cat Trax" was found inside a 128-in-1 pirate-made 2600 console. Sean Kelly had dumped that large ROM file, and split it up into its many separate games. This game was called "Cat and Mouse" on the on-screen menu, so it has that name as a new ROM image, as well. Jack Spencer Jr. was the first person to make the mental connectiona to notice that "UA" was the copyright holder seen on-screen in the Atari version. The www.AtariAge.com web site has collected some cool information about the other two games (including screenshots), but as of press time the other two Atari 2600 game ports by UA have not yet been archived.

Periodicals: Electronic Games, November 1982 had a positive review of this game, in which they note that it was barely finished at that time.

From the Digital Press "Classic" Guide.

Click here to show Cat Trax for all systems (if applicable).

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This title written and maintained by Jens Brinkmann. Edited by Joe Santulli.
Special thanks to past and present contributor(s) Ward Shrake & Russ Perry Jr.