One of the Best Pokemon Clones is Officially Getting a Sequel, But There's a Catch - MCE Notices | California State Portal

Though they were once fairly scarce, Pokemon clones are fairly common across all gaming platforms in the late 2020s, and one of them in particular stands out as a highlight of the niche. Cassette Beasts 2002, the unexpected sequel to the ’80s-based Cassette Beasts, aims to take the original concept and evolve it in some unexpected ways, but there’s a catch with how its multiplayer works.

Cassette Beasts‘ unique take on creature fusion was just one of the reasons why the game was as critically acclaimed as it was. With a compelling narrative, interesting characters, and an outright incredible number of over 14,400 unique creature fusions to hunt for, Cassette Beasts showed just how far the creature-catching formula could go. The sequel naturally aims to expand upon all of these things further still, and it’s going to be on every genre fan’s radar.

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Cassette Beasts 2002 Changes How Its Co-Op Works

Cassette Beasts had a lot of things working in its favor, but one of its most interesting features was the local co-op support. Cassette Beasts‘ co-op multiplayer worked remarkably well across the board, but its local hotseat functionality meant players didn’t need the Internet to play. Regrettably, Cassette Beasts 2002 appears to be limited to online co-op only this time around if its Steam page listing is correct. Specifically, though Cassette Beasts 2002 lists single-player, online PvP, and online Co-Op as options for playing, local Co-Op is nowhere to be seen, suggesting that it’s been axed out of the feature list.

Put the consoles in the correct order.

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Game Rant reached out for clarification but did not receive a response by press time, but if the Steam page is correct, Cassette Beasts 2002 is losing a potentially extremely important option for some players. While hotseat isn’t as popular as it once was, having the option to play local multiplayer is still a big deal, especially in a creature-catching game like Cassette Beasts, where almost none of its competitors have co-op to begin with. Most other decent monster-taming games simply opt for PvP multiplayer for simplicity’s sake, whereas Cassette Beasts‘ creature fusion mechanics lend themselves particularly well to co-op.

An early-game example of dialogue from Cassette Beasts 2002.

As there’s been no clarification yet, it’s possible that local Co-Op fell through when the developer Bytten Studio was setting up the Steam page for Cassette Beasts 2002. On the other hand, it’s equally possible that hot seat wasn’t particularly popular with players in the first Cassette Beasts, leading to the feature’s cancellation in the sequel. Local co-op games don’t come by all that often, so it’d be a shame to see the series forego the feature entirely.

Find the odd one out before the timer hits zero.

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Granted, Cassette Beasts 2002 may lose some players before multiplayer even comes into the discussion. Whereas the first game took its aesthetic, soundtrack, and general vibe from the 1980s, 2002 is set in the early aughts instead. This means an entirely different look and feel for the title, which some might not be particularly keen on. Thankfully, there are more than a few creature-collecting games to choose from these days, like the horror and cryptid-themed Encryptid, so those disappointed with what’s on show here simply need to keep looking.