Cat joins the battle! Feline fighter frolics with Piranha Plant, other characters from the Nintendo hit.

Released in December, Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was an immediate smash hit. Sorry if that joke seemed a little juvenile, but in my defense, the crossover fighting franchise owes much of its success to how it can appeal to young kids and veteran adult gamers alike.

With gameplay that mixes immediate pick-up-and-play accessibility with deep strategic thinking cultivated by a dedicated competition community, Smash Bros. can be enjoyed by anyone, even if you’re lacking in experience with the series or simply the whole being-a-living-human-being thing. As a matter of fact, you don’t even have to be a human to enjoy the game, as shown by this pet cat in Japan who’s become playmates with the game’s recently released DLC fighter, Piranha Plant.

In the above video, Japanese Twitter user @Rojar0310 is playing as Piranha Plant and tossing out a steady string of spiked balls. None of them are coming anywhere close to hitting her computer-controlled opponent, but that’s OK, because the balls are actually for her pet kitty, who’s skillfully “catching” each one up clamping its paws over the screen as the projectiles fly forth.

The cat is serious enough that it blurs the image when it makes its moves, and it even tries to visually track the balls it “misses” as they whiz past.

But Piranha Plant isn’t the cat’s only Smash buddy. When the carnivorous plant isn’t around, @Rojar0310’s pet is also happy to play with Mega Man, catching the Metal Blades the Blue Bomber throws.

▼ Thankfully the virtual nature of the weapons means they’re not sharp on the cat’s paws.

Of course, like any serious Smash Bros. player, @Rojar0310 knows that there’s no way to truly master the game without logging some serious time in its training mode.

▼ Studying King Dedede’s pattern and timing

@Rojar0310’s cat can even have fun while the game is still on the character select screen, like how it’s desperately trying to select Metal Gear protagonist Solid Snake here.

▼ Some might say it’s just chasing the on-screen cursor, but might it also be trying to say it wants to play the real-life Metal Gear infiltration game in Tokyo?

As a matter of fact, @Rojar0310’s kitty is such a Smash Bros. fan that even after she’s turned the console off, her pet still lingers around the TV.

▼ Apparently it’s yet to learn that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate can be played without a monitor by using the Switch’s handheld mode.

Luckily, @Rojar0310 has some other, non-video game play equipment for her cat as well.

https://twitter.com/Rojar0310/status/1093677074416525312

But odds are it’s already looking forward to their next Smash session, especially since @Rojar0310 sounds a lot more fun to play with than the Japanese dad who beat his son to tears in the game.

Source: Twitter/@Rojar0310 via IT Media

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he figures that cat would also enjoy Richter Belmont’s cross/boomerangs.